Color Choices
Henry Ford and his Model-T.
You can have any colour as long as it’s black. — Henry Ford
Henry Ford was known for offering only one color on the Model T, and that’s our preference as well.
Here’s why.
Powder coating is a process of baking a powder into the steel. It is a very durable finish for indoors or out, and while there are several other color options, touching up future scratches can be problematic for all colors except black. For that reason, we use only black for our standard stock. Because of the nature of steel and its use in varying conditions, we guarantee our powder coating for one year.
However, if you want to explore other color options, we’ll be more than happy to talk with you about your options. We can also make panels with no powder coating at all.
Rust Never Sleeps
Since 1980, when I built my first weathervane, I have been concerned about the finish we apply to our products. At first it was just “rattle can” paint. Then we “wet painted” everything for years with a high quality black paint. In the mid 1990s new environmental regulations made the paint companies take the most protective elements out of their paint. Remember seeing trucks and cars from that time with the paint flaking off?
Then came the wonder fix—powder coating. The original paint lasted for a few years before it started fading and maybe getting some rust spots on it. Powder coating is, in our experience, pretty much the same. After a few years, it has to be refinished.
Anything—be it steel, copper, stainless steel, galvanized steel, aluminum, and even some plastics—will fade, deteriorate or rust after a period of time. Every few years, you probably need to repaint your house. It’s the same with our products. The original finish will last for several years, but you’ll eventually need to refinish them.
I recently spoke with a woman who had a deck railing that was 10 years old and rotten. She wanted to replace it with our steel railings, but was concerned about rusting. So my answer to her was, “Yes, steel will rust if it is exposed to nature.” Almost everything will change if it is exposed to nature. The nice thing about our steel balcony panels is that the woman who called won’t have to replace our railings, only refinish them, eventually.
We guarantee the finish on our products for one year, and they should look fine for many years after that. But eventually, they will need to be refinished.
