dgsmith Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 One of our IT rooms has some really, really tatty chairs in (got them from argos 3 and a half years ago for less than a tenner each), and they literally are "falling to bits" (with the bits scattered across the room). So, where can we find solid, height-adjustable chairs for a good price? I have seen mention of remploy and their Polypropylene Chair for £24.50 each (30+), and wondered if anyone else has these and if they work ok/are solid enough? Alternatively, any other suggestions?
plexer Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 Get ones with gliders instead of castors for sure. Ben
stu Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 Get ones with gliders instead of castors for sure. Ben whats a glider compared to a castor?
plexer Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 A glider is a disc of smooth plastic that will allow a chair to be moved around when someone isn't sitting on it but it can't be used when sat on. Similar to how a locking castor would work i.e you sit on the chair and it locks but there is less to go wrong and they are sturdier than castors. Ben
MatthewL Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 I would have a look at your local office supplies company, many of them do office furniture now, they maybe able to do you a deal on a bulk purchase.
leco Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 So, where can we find solid, height-adjustable chairs for a good price? I have seen mention of remploy and their Polypropylene Chair for £24.50 each (30+), and wondered if anyone else has these and if they work ok/are solid enough? I have these in my ICT suite. They work well and the pupils like them. As plexer mentioned, these have five gliders, giving less likelyhood of pupils tipping the chair.
dgsmith Posted February 10, 2009 Author Posted February 10, 2009 They work well and the pupils like them. That's a blessing in itself! I don't know our's will react with going from padded chairs that have wheels and the occasional game of bumper-cars (or bumper-chairs) to cold, plastic chairs that are going nowhere! Good stuff! I take it they don't get much of a hammering then and they still look reasonably the same as they were when you bought them?
laserblazer Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 We use plastic stools and the kids are fine with them. There's not enough room for a proper chair. We do have height adjustable monitors and the kids never spend more than 40-50 minutes on their bums.
tech_guy Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 I can say with lots of experience - never ever have chairs with wheels on in an IT suite. They ordered them here against my advice. The kids played up with them and now the solution is? Have the wheels removed so the chairs end up bu@@ering up the carpets.... D'oh!
leco Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 I take it they don't get much of a hammering then and they still look reasonably the same as they were when you bought them? With them being plastic they scrub up nicely. They are also "safer" if anyone has an "accident" - not happened many times but with younger children always a worry.
Sylv3r Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 We've started to buy the following chairs from a local supplier Godfrey Syrett for our newer suites / clusters. These are gas canister height adjustable and without wheels so they can't be easily moved around the place. They also are not as uncomfortable as they look, easily cleaned by cleaners and I think we paid about £35 each.
laserblazer Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 I plan to replace the stools with these http://www.tonysimon.org/graphics/2004/june/keg01.jpg Need to empty them first though!
dhicks Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 So, where can we find solid, height-adjustable chairs for a good price? Focus DIY have gas-lift barstools in for £25 at the moment, we could do with some for the staffroom. You could do worse than check out the Ikea catalogue. -- David Hicks
leco Posted February 10, 2009 Posted February 10, 2009 Need to empty them first though! Do you need volunteers to help you do that?
dgsmith Posted February 12, 2009 Author Posted February 12, 2009 We've started to buy the following chairs from a local supplier Godfrey Syrett for our newer suites / clusters. These are gas canister height adjustable and without wheels so they can't be easily moved around the place. They also are not as uncomfortable as they look, easily cleaned by cleaners and I think we paid about £35 each. They look suitable (and slightly more appealing), though I can't find reference to them on the website? Is there a discount for buying in bulk? Do you happen to know what the chair model is to see if any other local suppliers to us can stock it?
stephenleak Posted February 12, 2009 Posted February 12, 2009 (edited) Focus DIY have gas-lift barstools in for £25 at the moment, we could do with some for the staffroom. You could do worse than check out the Ikea catalogue. -- David Hicks Gas lift = potentially dangerous? Edited February 12, 2009 by stephenleak
plexer Posted February 12, 2009 Posted February 12, 2009 Why are gas lift potential dangerous? Users are supposed to be able to adjust their chair to a comfortable position. Ben
Sylv3r Posted February 12, 2009 Posted February 12, 2009 They look suitable (and slightly more appealing), though I can't find reference to them on the website? Is there a discount for buying in bulk? Do you happen to know what the chair model is to see if any other local suppliers to us can stock it? This is all I have, they have their own factories so I think they may make their own. I would imagine they should be a discount for bulk buying they is for us but we are a regular customer - after checking we paid under £15 each when we bought about 150. Description: Computer chairs (on skids?) Model: P5ECAN Cost: £15.80
K.C.Leblanc Posted February 12, 2009 Posted February 12, 2009 We just use standard classroom chairs (some rooms have got ergonomic ones). I'm under the impression there is not requirement for an adjustable chair unless they're being used for more then one hour at a time.
dgsmith Posted March 2, 2009 Author Posted March 2, 2009 Just revisiting this again as we'll be looking to put some costs/proposals foward shortly regarding this. K.C.Leblanc, do you know if the duration is a legal requirement? As such, is it written somewhere that chairs that are adjustable would be necessary only for prolonged (1hr+) usage? Does anyone who has standard chairs (not gas lift) find that small/tall students have any difficulty in seeing the screen/using peripherals? We have only ever gone for gas lift chairs in the past for IT rooms, so wouldn't fully know the extent of using standard ones (we do have a few standards in place of broken gas lift chairs, but (un)surprisngly these aren't favoured)! What costs sound reasonable for a class of 35 chairs? Sylv3r's £15.80 sounds very appealing, however not being a regular customer anywhere like this or looking to purchase in any close quantity to 150, I doubt we could secure a price like that.
dhicks Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 Gas lift = potentially dangerous? Eh? I checked on the [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_lift_chairs]Wikipedia article[/ame], they seem fairly innocuous - "gas lift" is just another term for a "gas spring", there's no canisters of compressed gas or anything flying around (and there's no relation to oil-well gas lifts, either). Regarding legislation on chairs: this would be the Health and Safety act. This doesn't apply to children, as far as I can figure out you can have children sat on whatever you like. -- David Hicks
localzuk Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 I think it comes down to reasonable care for things like chairs in schools. For example, backless stools are a big no-no now, as there is no support for a child should they lean back - and the school would be at fault. Personally, we use sebel fixed plastic chairs, nothing fancy. Nothing to be broken. Nice long warranty. But then, the height range of the kids isn't huge here, with us having only 4 years.
RabbieBurns Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 google for "chair explodes" and youll see the recent story of a kid killed in not a nice way by his chair exploding.
Daniel Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 And for those too lazy to google: Man Vs Machine: Boy Killed Anally When Office Chair Explodes That is one nasty way to die! Guess that will teach him to stop bouncing up and down on his chair....
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