How Much Space Will My Rental Chairs Take Up? (2024)

FAQs

How Much Space Will My Rental Chairs Take Up? ›

Individual plastic folding chairs have a footprint of around 18'' x 39'', which comes in at slightly under 5 square feet (if you are not using a dolly cart).

The general rule of thumb for standard chair installations is eight square feet per chair. For example, an 800 square foot room (or a 20 x 40 Tent) should fit 100 chairs – this includes aisle spacing.

For a mixed seated and standing crowd”such as reception-style seating”increase the per-person rule of thumb to eight square feet: Your 100-person event will now need 800 square feet of usable space. And for reception-style seating with a dance floor, estimate nine square feet per person.

For storage, a stack of 7 takes up around 5 square feet, which means that 200 cross back chairs will take up approximately 150 square feet. These measurements do not apply to Cross Back Barstools, which can only be stacked up to 5 stools high due to their much taller construction.

In general, it's advised that you leave roughly 8-10 inches between chairs to ensure they're not placed too close together. This will give your guests a comfortable amount of room to eat and manoeuvre.

Calculate Seating Capacity

Divide the usable square footage by the standard space requirement per person for your seating style. Seating Capacity per Square Foot: Ensure that the seating capacity per square foot aligns with safety standards and guest comfort.

Make sure there is enough room to pull chairs out from the table. You'll need at least 18 – 24 inches clearance just to pull chairs out. 42-48 inches is the most ideal clearance between the table and a wall if you have the space to do it.

If we assume that we want seated dinner space, we need 400 sq ft to seat them at 8 ft tables, 10 per table, 500 sq ft to seat them at 60 in round tables 10 per table or 72 in round tables 12 per table.

The minimum space to be considered for a chair behind a desk, or around a desk should be 1 to 1.2m.

How much clearance do you need for a chair? ›

Most chairs have a seat height between 17” and 20”, and most standard dining tables are approx. 30” tall, so try and allow for between 10” and 12” of clearance between your chair seat and your tabletop.

A chair will take up approximately 800mm behind a desk but it is always better to allow a minimum of 1m. When you have two chairs back to back, a minimum of 1.8m should be allowed as an absolute minimum between the desktops.

As you plan your office layout, remember that a standard desk chair usually requires an area footprint of about 42” (107cm) square. Most of this dimension (approximately 20-30” or 50-76cm) is behind the desk chair.