DEMO — fictional range. Local brief only, NOT SENT. No personal data is collected or transmitted.
FINISH
A finish outdoors is a protective decision that happens to be coloured.
Inside, a finish is mostly appearance. Outside it is the layer doing the work, and what it has to resist is water, frost and ultraviolet light.
- Unfired-look terracotta
- Left as fired · breathes and dries out, and shows lime bloom
- Glazed
- Sealed against water · but a glaze chip exposes the body underneath
- Sealed cast stone
- Required rather than optional, because cast stone holds water
- Powder coated
- For steel · the coating is the material, and a chip is the failure point
- Galvanised then coated
- Two layers · the second protects the first and the colour
- Weathered zinc
- Deliberately unfinished · forms a stable surface rather than rusting through
Illustrative finish reference
| Finish | Typical use | How it fails |
|---|---|---|
| Unglazed clay | Planters in the open | Splits if it holds water through a frost |
| Glazed clay | Planters on a sheltered terrace | A chip lets water into the body |
| Sealed stone | Troughs and heavy planters | Seal wears and must be renewed |
| Powder coat | Crates and frames | A scratch spreads as rust under the film |
Why an unglazed pot is often the better choice outdoors.
Because it can dry out. A glazed pot holds water in the body, and if that water freezes the pot splits in a way an unglazed one would not.
The one worth avoiding.
A coating applied thinly to a steel frame that will be scratched. The failure is not the scratch; it is what the scratch lets in afterwards.