Office chairs come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Sometimes office chairs also double as gaming chairs; thus, naturally, they must be comfortable and supportive to one’s back, spine, and neck pain-free. The problem comes when you want to raise your office chair but your chair lacks a lever to adjust its height.
So, what do you do under such circumstances?
How would you raise your office chair without the lever?
Should you let the chair be at the same height and continue being uncomfortable throughout the day?
Certainly not!
Thankfully, we have done some deep digging for you and found some practical solutions to raise the office chair without a lever.
While some of the chairs are ideal for spending long hours in, they might miss a lever for height adjustment. Another reason could be that the chair may be broken, or it may be an older model lacking a height adjustment lever.
Fortunately, there are a few means to adjust the height of your office chair even when it lacks a lever.
Keep reading…
Understanding Correct Height
The first step in adjusting the height of your office chair starts from understanding the correct height that you need in order to maintain a good posture.
But how do you do that?
We have a few tips to help you out.
- Consider your computer’s monitor: A general rule of thumb is that your forehead should be in straight line to the top of the monitor. Try sitting in your chair and see what adjustments you need to make in order to achieve the right posture.
- Do you have your keyboard closer to your chair or further away? Your elbows should be in 90 degree angle while you work on the keyboard.
- Ensure that your feet can touch the floor easily. Your feet should lay flat on the floor and in a relaxed position. Your legs and thighs should form a 90-degree angle as show in the picture above.
- While in the office, find out the type of chairs used. Please note that newer models have levers that can be easily detected, while older models often do not have levers.
Once you have figured out the type of chair in your office and have decided the perfect sitting height for yourself, keeping the above points in mind, it’s time to adjust the height.
Five ways to raise an Office Chair without Lever
1. Turn Chair in Clockwise and Anticlockwise direction
This is probably the easiest method that you can follow to adjust the height of a chair without a lever.
As mentioned earlier, there are few chairs that don’t have a lever but they may have a clockwise and anticlockwise movement mechanism to adjust the height.
The process to adjust the height is really simple with these kinds of chairs:
- Stand up from the Chair
- Start turning your chair in clockwise direction slowly. Observe carefully if the height of the chair is increasing or decreasing. If it increases then keep turning clockwise until you get to the desired height.
- If the height of chair starts decreasing while you are moving in clockwise, then start turning it in anticlockwise direction until it reaches the desired height.
Keep turning the chair in both directions until you achieve the best height, that you are looking for. If the chair does not have this mechanism then look at other options below.
2. Use Threaded Post
Many chairs have a threaded post to adjust their height. So to increase the height, lubricate the threaded post by placing the chair in an upside-down position.
However, before applying the lubricant, make sure the chair is clean. Additionally, use a clean cloth to protect yourself and your clothes from the oil.
While securing the base, use your feet to prevent it from moving either way. Then move the chair in an anti-clockwise direction to increase the height and a clockwise direction to lower it.
Once you see a height difference, sit on the chair and determine if that’s the height you aimed for.
But go slow with it. You don’t want to rush and mess the process.
However, if you are still not happy with the height, keep spinning the chair. The height increases by approximately 1/4 of an inch, with each spin. Therefore if you have to increase the height up to 2.5 inches, you will have to spin it for at least 10 times in an anticlockwise direction.
Remember you can only do this if your chair has a threaded post. If not, then look at the next option.
3. Wooden Piece Adjustment
You can also use a wooden piece to adjust the height of the chair by a few inches. For this, place a wooden piece between the seat and the chair.
But before that, take a drill and make a hole in the wooden piece. Ideally, a 2 x 2 inch piece will provide the ideal grip.
You will have to pass a long screw or nut through the hole. The number of wood pieces depends on the number of screws in the chair.
Now you will need to place the wooden pieces in between the seat and the lower part.
Once you are done placing all the wooden pieces, attach the seat back and reattach it. This should raise the chair by a few inches.
This entire process is a bit technical in nature and that is why we recommend that you take help of a professional, especially if you have never done something similar before.
4. Bolt movement
Some chairs have a bolt location placed at the bottom. To adjust this bolt location, stand up from your chair.
Move the bolt up or down to fix the chair’s height and stop it when the desired height is achieved.
Now check if the height position is ideal by sitting on the chair. If it’s comfortable, then your work is done. If it’s not, change it further and repeat the process as long as you don’t get the required height.
4. Back Height Adjustment
Some office chairs in the market have backrest and armrest height adjustment features. These chairs allow you to adjust the height of the backrest, up and down, and also adjust the height of the armrests, up and down.
So, while adjusting the height of your seat you also need to ensure that the backrest and the armrests of your chair are also aligned to give you the best posture and best position to sit in.
Therefore you must adjust the height of the backrest or the armrests until you get the best comfortable position. Once you have the best position, just lock the tilt of the chair so that the position remains fixed.
Why office chairs don’t have a lever?
There are few reasons why an office chair does not come with a lever. Some of these reasons are mentioned below:
1. Non-Pneumatic Chairs
Non-pneumatic chairs are pretty old, however some offices still have these chairs. The chances are slim but it is possible that few offices still have these non-pneumatic chairs.
To adjust the height of these chairs, you will need to take the following steps:
- There is a small lock in such chairs that stop you from accidentally adjusting the height. Spot that lock by flipping the chair over.
- Use a screwdriver to unfasten the lock.
- Once you have loosened the lock, flip the chair once again to its normal position.
- Now you can adjust the seat’s height by turning the chair clockwise to lower the seat and then counterclockwise to raise it.
- Continue the process till you reach the desired height.
Once you reach the desired height, reinsert the lock and tighten it.
2. Missing or damaged parts
In some cases, you may find an office chair with damaged or missing parts.
In such cases, you have to repair or change those chair parts. Fortunately, such chair parts are found in several stores.
You can also attach these parts on your own without any problem.
Of course, you can also take the chair to any repair shop to get it fixed if you cannot do it independently.
If you have a pneumatic chair with a broken or damaged lever, take it to a furniture repair shop to get it fixed. You can also create a makeshift lever to lower the chair’s height if it’s urgent.
A more permanent fix will be to replace the lever altogether.
The easiest alternative is to buy a new office chair to save your time and effort.
Rearranging Parts
If your seat height is not appropriate, you can fix it by fixing or rearranging the different parts. To increase the seat height, you can add a seat cushion for office chair. This should help you with the ideal seat height.
Even after you have done all that is possible to fix your chair’s height, your office desk might still be higher. In such a case, you will need to get a lower desk or increase your chair’s height further.
However, if your desk is now lower than the chair, use desk elevation blocks to raise its height.
Place the blocks, one on top of the other, to raise the height.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How to make Office Chair higher?
There are a few ways mentioned above to adjust the height of your office chair. The most easiest and practical options are:
- Use a height adjustment lever
- Threaded post (in case chair doesn’t have a lever)
- Make use of a longer gas lift cylinder
- Add pieces of wood at the bottom
- Replace the wheels or caster with bigger variations
- Use an extension set
- Add a platform below the chair
- Use a pillow on the seat to lift the height
- Opt for a bigger chair
Why is it important to adjust the height of an office chair?
It’s important to keep the office chair at an ideal height as it comes with many benefits.
Firstly, a proper height enhances comfort and attention while working. Plus, a healthy sitting posture is crucial for the health of your spine and neck.
Thus, a healthy sitting posture eliminates the pains associated with wrong sitting positions.
Finally, a comfortable and well-adjusted office chair enhances the productivity levels of workers.
Why does an Office chair keep going up?
This might happen if the screws on the new cylinder are not well adjusted.
If the screws are too tight, the air cylinder will remain activated most of the time. Thus the air will rise on its own. It might also get lower when additional weight is applied to the chair.
Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, sitting for long hours can be highly uncomfortable if you do not have the ideal chair with the proper height adjustments. An uncomfortable chair can cause extreme backaches, knee pain, and in the long run, damage your spine.
Many people live and work through that pain, but you don’t have to.
Now that you know how to adjust your chair’s height with or without a lever, you can share this article with people who you know are struggling with the same issue.
They could be in the same office that you work or they could be working from home and may need some help with adjusting the height of their chair that does not have a lever.
So go ahead and share this article with them.
Recommended Articles to Read:
