Deciding where to put a treadmill desk deserves some thought since these large units take up a sizeable amount of space, can be difficult to relocate and can impact on safety and on others in the area.
Placing your treadmill workstation in the wrong place can be detrimental to the:
- functioning of the standing desk and treadmill
- the flow and operation of the room
- socket overloading and cable management
- even your productivity and performance could be jeopardized too!
This article guides you through 10 essential factors which need to be evaluated to ensure that you position your treadmill workstation in the optimum location.
Here, you’ll be guided through questions which will make you really think and ultimately set you up for success when using your treadmill desk.
Physical inactivity contributes to over 3 million deaths worldwide every year. That’s 6% of all deaths which could have been prevented. Source
Where To Put A Treadmill Desk
Choosing a location for your treadmill desk requires consideration, both for the layout of the room, the facilities needed for the under desk treadmill and height-adjustable desk to operate properly, in terms of safety and also to ensure that you can work comfortably and productively at the location.
Other considerations to bear in mind include whether you prefer to be facing the door when people enter, how easily distracted you are by people, if you tend to stare out the window, if you’d prefer to be in the center of the room or away in a quiet corner.
Below are 10 factors to consider when choosing the best location for a treadmill workstation:
- Consider the room layout
- Provide adequate clearance for the standing desk
- Provide adequate clearance for access
- Consider space consumption
- Determine location of electrical sockets
- Assess flooring conditions in room
- Assess noise vibrations in room
- Consider lighting and glare
- Consider draughts and heaters
- Think about your workflow and personal preferences
Consider the room layout
The size of the room where the walking desk will be place will ultimately dictate how much choice you have in where it gets positioned. If it’s a large room or office, it’s sometimes harder to decide because you have a choice.
Whereas, with a compact room, you’ll often be forced to settle on the only available space in the area.
Either way, you’ll need to ensure that placing a treadmill workstation in the room will still allow the people in the room to access equipment, furniture or supplies.
The walking workstation will also need to allow people to perform whatever tasks and activities that they normally do without having the unit interfering in their work or space.
Provide adequate clearance for the standing desk
Height clearance will need to be provided for your standing desk to ensure that it doesn’t come into contact with anything when the height of it is being raised or lowered.
You’ll need to consider this more carefully if you’re positioning the height-adjustable desk against a wall.
Watch out for shelves, sockets, photographs and furniture which could be impacted.
If there’s a risk of them being hit, you can either remove them from the wall or consider pulling the sit-stand desk out the necessary few inches from the wall to ensure it doesn’t get hit.
Also, don’t forget to look out for items hanging from the ceiling, such as low-hanging lights which you could hit your head off while standing at the desk.
Provide adequate clearance for access
Access and egress for both the equipment and the user must be provided. In terms of the equipment, the under desk treadmill will need to have at least 1 inch of clearance from both sides of the standing desk so that it can slot easily in and out without hitting off the desk frame.
There should also be 8 inches of clearance around the perimeter of the under desk treadmill. This should ensure that the user can get on and off without stumbling over objects and also to ensure that no items or equipment in the area interfere with the functioning of the treadmill.
In terms of the user, you will need to position the treadmill desk in a location which allows you and other to enter and exit the room safely.
Imagine there’s a fire or some sort of emergency and you need to immediately evacuate that room. If the treadmill desk was in the room, you need to be confident that it won’t interfere with anybody trying to enter or leave in a rush.
That includes considering whether the treadmill workstation could trip people up.
The area around the door itself should also be able to fully open and close.
Plus, it’s probably better to give some extra space around here since it is where the highest amount of footfall tends to be in rooms and offices.
Tip: Allow for approximately 8 inches of clearance behind the under desk treadmill and 3 inches of clearance on either side of the treadmill desk.
Consider space consumption
The amount of space consumed by treadmill workstations is rather large and may even surprise you!
It would be wise to get the measurements of both the standing desk and the desk treadmill and measure the length, width and height that the two items will consume.
Measure out the area consumed by the treadmill and standing desk before buying them if possible!
Alternatively, you could measure the amount of footprint available for the standing desk and treadmill and then choose items that will fit the area.
This way you can make an informed decision and determine whether you need a compact treadmill desk workstation or if you can afford to fit a larger unit in the area.
Bear in mind that the under desk treadmill may overlap under some of the standing desk, depending on how far you intend to place it under the sit-stand desk.
Determine location of electrical sockets
If you are using an electric sit-stand desk and an electric under desk treadmill, then you’ll need a power source. Generally, you’ll need one socket for both the treadmill and standing desk.
Ideally, the treadmill desk workstation should be located as close as possible to the power sockets.
However, if you’re using computers and other equipment on the treadmill workspace, extra sockets will be needed. It is preferable to avoid using extension leads and running cables from other sides of the room.
The loading of the wall socket should also be considered to ensure it is not overloaded.
Treadmill desks use an average of between 300 – 900 watts whereas standing desks tend to use around 200 watts when being raised or lowered and only around 0.2 watts when on standby.
Most breakers in the USA have a rating of between 15 – 20 amps.
Check the number of watts that the treadmill and standing desk use and comparing this with the maximum load of the socket to ensure it isn’t being overloaded.
Overloading a socket could cause plugs to overheat and result in a fire.
Assess flooring conditions in room
The floor where the walking workstation will be positioned needs to be solid, flat and capable of withstanding the weight of the treadmill and standing desk.
Ideally, the floor will be free of creaky boards to minimize noise generation.
Also, if the floor is made of an expensive wood or carpet and you’re concerned about it being damaging, you might need to consider placing a treadmill mat
underneath the treadmill.
Assess noise vibrations in room
If the treadmill is positioned on an uneven surface, touches off the standing desk or other furniture or if it isn’t very sturdy, it is liable to creating vibrations.
These vibrations will result in noise generation.
If noise is a worry for you, there are techniques to reduce the noise created by using a treadmill desk.
As said in the previous section, assess the flooring for noisy or squeaky floorboards
as this will only exacerbate the noise levels created while working at the treadmill workstation.
While there are endless fantastic health benefits associated with walking treadmills, the last thing you want is to infuriate yourself or people in the area with extra noises.
Also, worth bearing in mind is the fact that noise vibrations from the treadmill desk may be worsened if it is in close proximity to a wall.
Consider lighting and glare
If you’re positioning the workstation next to a window, you are likely to receive more lighting. Equally, there’s a possibility that sunlight and glare from the sun could interfere with your visibility as you work.
This is particularly true if you’re using a computer.
Plus, if you’re someone who tends to be on conference calls frequently, you’ll want appropriate lighting for the camera.
Sun blinding your view or distorting your image on camera is something you’ll want to avoid.
This can be alleviated by ensuring that you have blinds or curtains to prevent blinding sun and glare blocking your vision.
If you’re working from home, lights tend to be positioned in the center of the ceiling. This might mean that you have less lighting in the corners of the room.
Fortunately, this can be easily resolved by having desk lights, LED panels or spotlights added to your desk or the area you work in.
Ideally, lighting should come from the top down as opposed to from the side so that it is more evenly spread out.
Consider draughts and heaters
Draughts can be caused by doors and windows being opened or left open. While this may be advantageous in warm weather, it can be a rather large source of discomfort in cold weather or for people who tend to be naturally cold individuals.
Hot water bottle, anybody?
On the other hand, having a heater nearby can help you keep warm during those chilly days, but if you’re not a heater hugging hooligan, then perhaps not hogging the heaters would be helpful for us hypothermic humans.
Fortunately, a heater can be turned off if you’re not sharing the room with others, and so the location of the treadmill workstation in relation to heating may not be a concern for you.
What’s more, if you’re going to be walking, you’re less likely to be cold.
Plus, if the room is small, heating it may not be as much of an issue.
Think about your workflow and personal preferences
The position of your desk will be influential in determining your productivity levels, efficiency, safety and also the amount of space consumed in the room.
If you want to increase productivity at your desk, then the below should be considered:
- Placing your desk away from windows and doors
- Position your desk so that you’re facing a wall
- Place your desk in a quiet corner of a room are office
- Locate your desk treadmill near to equipment and supplies for quick access
- Locate your treadmill desk away from people
- Position your desk away from noisy items, e.g., printers and water fonts
Don’t forget to avoid sitting near any chatty Cathy’s too!
If reducing the amount of footprint consumed by the treadmill desk is your priority:
- Position the treadmill desk against a wall
- Position the treadmill desk back-to-back with another desk
- Avoid positioning the treadmill workstation in the centre of the room
On another note, you’ll be better off burning calories with your treadmill and not burning bridges with your family or colleagues in the area. For this reason, being mindful of using the treadmill for running will be important.
Perhaps, use it for running in the evening when people are gone home or when there are quiet periods in the house or office.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the location where the treadmill desk is positioned can have a huge bearing on your comfort levels, productivity and space consumed in the room.
However, taking these 10 factors into consideration can ensure you optimize the treadmill desk location and save yourself hassle, frustration and.
By properly positioning your treadmill desk in the right location, it can even minimize the risk of fires and trip injuries.
Before ever using a treadmill desk, you should know what to look for when choosing a treadmill desk.
If the fantastic range of health benefits of using a treadmill desk sound appealing to you, then checkout my personal favourite products listed below for the under desk treadmill that I would recommend.
However, treadmill desks are not for everybody, and far be it from me to try and ram the benefits of it down your throat.
Fortunately for you, I have been looking into the many other ways which can be employed to introduce movement into your workstation.
The below items are what I’ve looked into so far in order of preference:
- Treadmill desks
- Standing desk converters
- Ergonomic chairs
- Standing desks
- Desk bike
- Kneeling chairs
- Standing desk chairs
- Anti-fatigue mats
- Balance boards
My personal favorite products so far are the:
- Sunny treadpad slim under desk treadmill 20740
- Sunny Portable Stand Up Elliptical
- Ergotron WorkFit-LX
- Bush Electric Height Adjustable Standing Desk
- CoolMesh Pro Multi-Function Chair
My aim with this website is to help you on all matters related to your home office and your work area. With that in mind, if you have any questions or comments on the above, please drop them in the box below. I’d love to hear them!