Branch Verve office chair: make it taller!
July 28, 2023
I recently bought the Verve chair by Branch as an upgrade for my office. It was quite pricey, but not Herman Miller pricey, and itās really comfortable.
Before that, I was sitting on the JĆRVFJĆLLET chair from Ikea, and to be fair, for half the price of the Verve chair, it was easily 80% of the comfort. I had no trouble sitting on it all day long, and thatās even without putting the armrests because I like to play guitar!
Anyways, Iāve had only one complaint about the Verve chair: itās too short! Its highest setting is still pretty low, and that just doesnāt cut it for 1. me being a tall guy and 2. my workstation being a tad higher than your typical office desk.
Quite a number of reviews did mention that issue, but you know how it is, I only searched the reviews for that particular problem once I encountered it. š¬
How to make the chair taller
As far as I know, this is gonna be applicable to pretty much any office chair. The best thing you can do is replace the gas cylinder for a taller one.
Luckily, this seems to be standard, and the Verve chair was no exception. Iāve got one off Amazon. Pretty much any replacement ones I browsed through were taller than the one that came with the chair, and tall enough for me. Double check the size for your particular situation though!
In order to replace the cylinder, I also had to buy a mallet in order to pop the old one out without damaging it. (Really, get a mallet if you donāt have one, I struggled pretty hard with a hammer and couldnāt get it out, then a single tap with the mallet once I got it got the job done.)
Iāve also got some replacement casters with brakes because my floor is still slanted. If even with a new cylinder your chair is not tall enough, you can consider getting some those rollerblade-style casters that are gonna be taller than standard wheels, and apparently have a bunch of advantages like not damaging floors, working better on carpets, and being smoother in general, and obviously a sick look. Although I didnāt get to try them yet.
Conclusion
In the beginning I was so disappointed to find that I couldnāt use my brand new chair because it was too short, but at the end of the day it was actually pretty easy to fix. A $30 replacement gas cylinder and a cheap mallet got the job done in no time.
That being said, given the price of the chair, I wish I didnāt have to go through that extra trouble.