Bench seating, how to select the most appropriate and cost effective.

Selecting bench seating is all about understanding the environment the seating is to be installed in and the construction of the room walls. Once this has been established it will narrow down the options available to you.

If the changing area where the seating is to be installed has high humidity and showers then you will need to consider corrosion. If the areas are for food preparation, food industry changing rooms, clean rooms or pharmaceutical use then cleaning the seating will be important and you may want to consider stainless steel or plastic construction, disassembly to allow a thorough clean may be something you will need to consider. For standard dry changing areas the construction and robustness of the seating is more likely to be an issue and for the economy and clean lines wall to floor and cantilever seating should also be a consideration. Wall to floor searing is a cost effective solution when used as perimeter seating in conjunction with a hook board, this is by far the most economical solution and very robust, the seating slats are usually supplied in random lengths and cut to size on site providing good looking seating with clean lines.

Cantilever seating is also a good option when easy and thorough cleaning of the floor under the seating is important and there are no brackets fastened directly to the floor, for both wall to floor seating and cantilever seating wall construction must be substantial enough to provide an adequate fixing. The main construction materials for changing room seating are mild steel in the form of welded sections, stainless steel as fabrications or welded sections, plastic and to a lesser degree aluminium. The mild steel welded sections are often zinc coated before painting and often a special powder coating paint called plascoat is used to provide a more chip resistant coating. Stainless steel is usually supplied self-coloured in a polished or brushed finish, plastic is available in a variety of colours as part of the extrusion proses and aluminium is often anodised. For standard dry specification, bench seating powder paint is the usually used. Standard bench seating is usually available in the following forms, wall island bench seating, single sided bench seating with integral hook board, double sided bench seating with integral hook board, wall to floor bench seating and cantilever bench seating. Free standing hook board that can be secured to the perimeter wall of a room is usually available as part of a range of bench seating. Both cantilever and wall to floor seating is restricted to the perimeter of the room as it must be fastened to a subtle wall, this is often used in conjunction with a free standing hook board. Wall island seating and single sided bench seating with integrated hook boards and be used around the perimeter of a room or away from a wall to break up and control the room space available whereas double sided bench seating with integrated hook board is restricted to being an island unit protruding from a wall or in the middle of a room. Budget seating, wall to floor, cantilever and plastic seating are more likely to be provided as a flat pack unit the remainder of the seating are more likely to be supplied assembled. Most forms of seating can be assembled and installed by someone with basic DIY skills, Cantilever and wall to floor seating require a much higher skill level as cutting of slats, marking out bracket positions, drilling walls is usually required, ensuring the seating is at the correct high and level is a must. So now you have some information about bench seating you may want to see what is on offer, Total bench seating has a wide range of budget bench seating that is stocked for 300mm deep seating in standard lengths of 1, 1.2, 1.5 and 2m lengths which can normally be dispatched next day, they also provide wet area seating and seating deeper that 300mm on a two week lead-time. bench seat £141.12 Available today! For a premium bench seating range where you can specify the exact length of seating, you require Total Locker solutions have a complete range of wet and dry bench seating, supplied fully assembled other than cantilever and wall to floor seating, stainless steel is also one of their options. The seating is usually on a 2 week lead-time. 

Plastic bench seating
Plastic bench seating is available from Total Locker Solutions the range consists of wall island bench seating, single-sided bench seat with integrated hook board, double sided bench seat with integrated hook board and a and a coat rail, this product is usually shipped flat pack on a 2 week lead-time. Standard sizes available are 1, 1.2, 1.5 and 2m though they do provide custom length seating on request.

John Scott