Finishes
The part of a schedule a client can see and touch, and the part most often chosen from a screen and regretted in a building.
The finishes we schedule most
Hue only. Ask for a sample.Plates on this page are drawn, not photographed. They indicate hue only. Metal finishes are directional and specular, and they vary by manufacturer, by lacquer and by the light in the room. Ask for a sample before you specify a finish.
The codes are not standardised. One manufacturer’s PC is another’s PCP, so when a schedule crosses two makers we write the full name as well as the code. PVD is a process rather than a colour: it replaces the lacquer, and lacquer failure is the normal way polished brass goes wrong.
ContrastDoor furniture should differ from the door face by at least 15 LRV points. Visual contrast and LRV
A finish can be wrong for a building. That is a specification fault, not a manufacturing one.
Lacquered brass fails at the coast. Standard stainless fails in a pool. Grade 316 adds molybdenum and resists chlorides, which is why it is the coastal and pool specification, and why the corrosion grade sits as a digit inside the classification code on the hinge, the closer and the lock rather than in the brochure.
The marks are the finish maturing, not failing.
Brass and bronze intended to develop a natural patina are exempt from the corrosion requirements of the standard, because the patina is the point. On an unlacquered bronze lever, the marks left by hands are what was specified. That has to be explained to a client before handover, not after the first complaint.
We will post the finishes that will survive your building.
Tell us the shortlist and the building. Samples go in the post, and always where a doorset is being prepared to receive the hardware.
Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 17:00. Or forward the whole email thread to drawings@prolinesales.co.uk.