Buying guide

Which adjustments matter, how to read a warranty, and how to match a chair to the hours it has to survive.

Most people buy an office chair the same way: they look at the picture, they look at the price, and they hope. It usually works out. When it does not, the chair gets shuffled to the spare room and somebody buys a second one six months later.

This guide is the short version of the advice we give on the phone.

The single most useful question is how long somebody sits in it per day. Everything else follows.

A chair rated for eight hours is not a luxury for somebody who sits for eight hours. It is the correct specification. A three-hour chair used for eight hours will be uncomfortable within a fortnight and worn out within two years.

Ignore the number of levers. These four do the work.

• Seat height. Feet flat on the floor, thighs roughly level, knees a little lower than hips. Every chair we sell adjusts this.
• Seat depth, sometimes called seat slide. There should be two to three fingers of gap between the back of your knee and the front of the seat. Without a seat slide, a tall person and a short person cannot both be comfortable in the same chair. This is the adjustment most often missing on cheap chairs and the one people miss most.
• Backrest angle and tension. A synchronous mechanism reclines the back and seat together at different rates and lets you set the resistance to your body weight. A simple tilt does not. If the chair tips you backwards the moment you lean, the tension is set for somebody heavier.
• Lumbar support. Ideally height-adjustable, so the curve sits in the small of your back rather than wherever the factory put it.

Arms matter less than people expect, but if you type all day, height-adjustable arms are worth having and width-adjustable arms are worth more.

• Mesh breathes. It is the right answer for warm offices, for people who run hot, and for anything in a south-facing window. It looks technical rather than formal.
• Fabric is the default for a reason. It wears well, it comes in every colour, and it is comfortable in a normal room. Look at the rub test figure if you are buying for a shared desk.
• Leather and faux leather look the part in a meeting room or a director's office. They are warmer to sit on and they mark more easily. Faux leather has come a long way and is usually the sensible choice for anything that gets heavy use.

If several people will share the chair, fabric or mesh. If it is going in front of clients, leather.

Standard task chairs are typically rated to around 110kg. If the user is heavier than that, or is tall, buy from the heavy duty range rather than hoping. Those chairs use a stronger gas lift, a wider seat and a reinforced base, and they carry the rating on the specification. Sitting outside the rating is the fastest way to fail a gas lift.

Warranty length is the manufacturer's own estimate of how long the chair will last. A one-year warranty and a ten-year warranty on two similar-looking chairs is the clearest signal you will get about the difference between them.

Read what it covers as well as how long it runs. Most cover the frame and mechanism for the full period and the foam and upholstery for less. Warranty claims on our ranges are handled on a replacement part basis, which is faster than sending a whole chair back.

If you are buying for a team, three things save money and grief:

1. Order one first. Have the person who will sit in it sit in it for a week. Then order the rest. It costs you a few days and it avoids buying twelve of the wrong chair.
2. Ask about volume pricing. Prices on the site are for single units. Once you are into double figures, phone us.
3. Ask for pre-build. Chairs can be delivered assembled and ready to use. For twelve chairs that is most of a morning saved, and no cardboard mountain.

Tell us the hours, the height and weight of the person, whether the room is warm, and roughly what you want to spend. We will name two or three chairs and tell you honestly what the difference is. That conversation takes five minutes and is a great deal cheaper than the wrong chair.

Call 0208 103 4875 or email info@officefurniturestoreuk.co.uk. No charge, and no obligation to buy anything.