Handling church chairs and seating normally only gets attention when the chairs need to be moved regularly, and even then only by those individuals who have to actually move them.  Here are some factors to consider to help appreciate the efforts of the chair movers in your church.

• Weight: The most common style of worship chair weighs around 20 pounds.  If you have to reset a 500 seat auditorium, that means more than 10,000 pounds have to be moved.  That will build a few muscles!  In addition, standard worship chairs stack six or seven high, and the higher you have to lift a chair, the more that weight affects your handling.  There are lighter-weight alternatives of chair styles for worship of course, but the trade-off is always higher costs.  However, I always encourage churches to take a serious look at these options as the benefits over time for handling can be tremendous.
• Gripping Points: Handling chairs becomes far easier when the chairs have convenient gripping points for lifting and moving.  Some worship chairs provide such gripping points, others do not.  If your application calls for chairs to be moved regularly, making sure such gripping points are available is important.  Look for a bar running laterally across the top back of the chair.  These provide a great grip point and with a wise choice of frame finishes, looks great as well.  It’s far better to have your hands rub on metal than repeatedly on the fabric itself from a “fabric wear and tear” viewpoint.
• Chair Trucks: When moving a large number of chairs, not having enough chair trucks can greatly impede the process.  I recommend one chair truck for every 100 chairs that need to be moved.  This provides a good balance between those stacking the chairs and those moving them.  Make sure your chair trucks have good quality tires and side rails to help prevent chairs from slipping off the side of the bottom plate for safety is important.  Church Furniture Partner has a great selection of chair trucks at low prices so be sure and obtain a quote from them if you’re planning to purchase.