To ensure a consistent flow of customers through the park you manage, maintenance is part and parcel of your daily grind.
Depending on the material used for the picnic tables, routine repairs could become more regular – and costly. Frequent maintenance is equally frustrating for management, staff, and your clientele.
Here’s an example.
A picnic table made from wood requires periodic finishing, changing the frame when it weakens, and replacing the tabletop due to the effects of bad weather.
After a year with extreme temperatures in winter and summer, you’d be forced to buy a whole new set of tables.
With those shortcomings at play, it's important to select a stronger alternative — like metal picnic tables. Metal is hardy, resistant to environmental factors, and will save your finances in the long run.
Let’s look at the comprehensive benefits of using metal picnic tables in a park.
1. Metal Picnic Tables Are More Durable
To create long-lasting appeal, the park requires consistent branding. Frequent changes in colors and material water down the image of your establishment. To that end, installing metal tables extends the look and feel of the park.
Some of the aspects that make metal picnic tables particularly durable include:
Metal Is Rust Proof
The outdoor environment offers the perfect conditions for rust to develop. However, that’s not the case with rust resistant metal picnic tables. In fact, to make them rust-resistant, they are sprayed with a thermoplastic coating.
The thermoplastic coating — which is sprayed electrostatically — creates a layer that prevents moisture and air from penetrating the metal. An extra coating can even be added to create a glossy look and increase the longevity of the table.
Metal Is Fireproof
A fire outbreak is a risk that any commercial park must be prepared to handle. By installing metal picnic tables, you’ll mitigate the effects of such a disaster. Tables made of other materials like plastic or wood stand little chance in a fire compared with metal.
As part of the safety measures, metal manufacturers use technology to enhance fire resistance. This includes intumescent coatings and rigid board fireproofing.
The ability to withstand such tragedies or environmental hazards increases the value and life of picnic tables.
Metal Is Resistant to Harmful Sun Rays
The sun produces harmful ultraviolet rays that destroy various materials like plastic and wood. Ultraviolet rays can degrade a wooden frame over time. As the rays penetrate through a wooden frame or tabletop, the wood enlarges and becomes weaker.
The cracks continue to expand from temperature fluctuations and contact with raindrops and fluids, despite constant wood treatment.
However, constructing a picnic table from metal makes the frame and surfaces more resistant. Additionally, a layer of paint or thermoplastic coating can add further protection.
The extra coating reinforces the impervious nature of metal and helps increase how resistant the picnic table is to ultraviolet rays.
2. A Metal Table Is an Environmentally Friendly Option
As part of the global efforts to tackle climate change, it's important to choose materials that are friendly to the environment. Metal comes out as a better option because of its sourcing, reusability, and longer life compared to other materials.
Here’s a breakdown of the ways metal helps to protect nature:
Metal Production Generates Minimal Waste
It's normal for a portion of the materials to go to waste during the design and production stages. With metal, the waste generated is less profound compared to other materials like wood or plastic. Production of metal picnic tables minimizes the waste from offcuts, sanding, and finishing associated with wood.
Generally, other types of materials can create up to 20% waste compared to metal’s 2%.
Additionally, a portion of metal waste can be recycled, which reduces the total cost of production. This takes us to our next point.
Metal Tables Can Be Recycled
Metal is a unique material that can be recycled indefinitely. This is unlike other materials like glass, wood, stone, plastic, or ceramic.
If you’re looking to change the overall theme of the park, a metal table frame can be remodeled to produce a new impression.
Due to the ease of recycling, a metal picnic table also has a higher economic value.
For instance, you can recoup money by selling metal furniture at the end of its useful life. Alternatively, they will also improve the sale value of your park in case of a takeover.
Alternative Materials Degrade the Environment
Plastic and wood are the primary alternative materials used in making picnic tables. To get a quality picnic table from those materials, lumberers cut indigenous trees, degrading the environment.
On the other hand, waste from plastic tables often ends up in water bodies — or creates a mess in the environment.
Metal is therefore a better alternative because, after mining, it can be used for many years to create outdoor items. Instead of changing the entire table, you can keep the frame and only change the table surface.
3. Metal Is Less Prone to Vandalism
A metal picnic table installed in a park is always in contact with multiple hands. Most of the time, those hands have little to no supervision. Metal picnic tables are therefore likely to take some abuse from kids, vandals, and other users who are not careful with them.
However, metal tables come with certain aspects that limit damage:
Expanded Metal Surface
A metal table with a flat surface offers a perfect platform for artistic users to engrave drawings. A solution to this problem is using expanded metal for your tabletops.
Expanded metal is a type of metal design that is perforated for better visual impression, usability, and maintenance.
In a nutshell, expanded (or perforated) metal is beneficial in the following ways:
Improves aesthetics
Deters vandalism
Helps to maintain seat strength
Makes it easier to create different shapes and designs
Therefore, designers prefer perforated metal to create the frame for tables and seats as a platform for unique designs and added strength.
4. Metal Tables Offer a Better Platform for Creativity
In commercial or public parks, part of marketing involves the creation of a visually appealing seating arrangement. It's therefore important to select a material that allows room for creativity.
Let’s review the two aspects that make metal better suited for improved visual appeal:
Colors
Check out the color options on our Extra Heavy Duty Picnic Table.
Extra Heavy Duty Picnic Table
With advanced coating technology, it's possible to include different colors on any metal surface. Park owners and managers can request thematic painting, colors that mimic the surroundings, or any other preferred colors.
Unlike other materials like wood, metal picnic tables can take on different colors: blue, amber, black, cream, or any other color that suits your fancy. Metal material, therefore, makes it possible to include branding colors and logos.
Different Shapes and Design
Choosing metal as your table material allows you to make more interesting shapes and designs than plastic or wood. Metal makes it possible to integrate complex shapes like circles, diamonds, or squares when designing picnic tables.
Using expanded metal material, you can include simple or complex shapes to create the perfect outdoor aesthetic. Metal frames created using this technology don’t take away strength, resistance, or durability from your picnic tables.
Have a look at the circular design on our metal ADA Span Leg Table.
5. Metal Is a Low Maintenance Option
Ease of maintenance is an important aspect to consider when selecting the ideal material. For commercial purposes, it pays to keep your picnic tables clean, in good condition, and safe for use.
Here are some of the reasons metal material bears low operating costs:
A Coated Surface Is Easy to Clean
The metal tables can be coated with either paint or thermoplastic coating, making them easy to clean. With coated surfaces, wiping up liquid spills, dust, or any other dirt becomes a breeze.
Other types of materials are prone to the formation of surface mold and stains. However, on metal tables, you can easily wipe away dirt using a wet cloth and soapy water. Plus, you don’t have to worry about mold formation.
Metal Material Requires No Repairs
The commercial nature of parks makes the furniture depreciate quickly – fostering a need for consistent repairs. For wooden tables, part of the repair may involve changing the table frame. However, a frame made of metal almost never requires replacement.
Metal structures are made to withstand bad weather, a large number of users, and are also rust-resistant. Settling on metallic tables makes economic sense for the commercial park in the long run.
Are You Ready to Transform Your Park?
It's both hectic and expensive to keep your park furniture in top condition. Upkeep requirements are made worse by a poor choice of materials.
Ultimately, the materials you choose will impact your finances, the park’s branding, and loyalty from regular users.
To cut down on the risks, it's wise to invest in quality metal picnic tables by working with a reputable company like WillyGoat.
Talk to us today to sample our offers and upgrade your park.
