Differences Between Poly Lumber Furniture, Plastic Furniture, Composite Furniture, and Resin Furniture
Once you decide to purchase furniture for your place, the most important aspect is to finalize its material. Since your furniture’s durability, aesthetics, and sustainability determine its worth, you should understand these factors before spending big bucks. Picking a low-quality or tacky-looking furniture set won’t do justice to your home; get something that stands out but doesn’t dent your budget either.
Here are a few questions to cross your mind when you start looking into furniture collections:
Is the classic-looking wooden furniture your only option, or there are better things too? Which furniture type offers the best value for money? Should you prefer recycled materials? What are the key differences between different furniture types? And so on.
If you’re stuck in the same loop, you’re in the right place. Today, we’ll discuss four different furniture materials and explain their primary differences to assist your decisions. So, let’s dig deeper and see what’s the deal with these different plastic types!
1. Poly Lumber Furniture
When we talk about durability and versatility, poly lumber furniture stands in the first row. Since this is a sturdy and unique plastic variant, you can trust it for your home’s highly-used furniture. If you need something that puts up a good fight against the weather and looks good too, poly lumber is a good material.
This high-density furniture material doesn’t let UV rays, weather extremes, and everyday harshness impact its look. Thanks to its heavily-molded frames and solid designs, poly lumber doesn’t need any babying.
Manufacturing
Poly lumber furniture is a thermoplastic polymer made from petroleum. Your poly outdoor furniture will be made from high-density polyethylene, foaming compounds, plastic additives, and a UV-inhibiting pigment. This powerful combination stands solid against the usual wear & tear, ensuring you enjoy good value for the money.
Unlike other types of plastic, poly furniture is manufactured as boards that are later assembled to form furniture items. If you want to avoid pure wooden furniture but still expect something classy, poly lumber furniture is a good bid.
Salient Features
Since poly furniture is made from recycled plastic, it’s an environment-friendly and durable option. The primary items used in poly outdoor furniture are recycled milk, shampoo, detergent, and soda bottles. These items are melted into solid frames to form boards and then cut into different pieces for furniture making.
- Made from recycled plastic
- Assembled as wooden furniture
- Quite heavy and bulky
- Strain-resistant and UV-protected
- Sleek-looking
- Available in most colors
Price Range
Your poly outdoor furniture will be fairly cheaper than wooden furniture because it’s made from recycled plastic. But if you expect it to be as affordable as other molded furniture items, you’re wrong. Poly lumber furniture lies in the mid-tier of affordability, something you’d like to explore further. This furniture lives up to your aesthetic preferences but doesn’t cost a fortune.
2. Plastic Furniture
The most common type of plastic furniture we see is rotational molded or injection molded plastic. This plastic variant is produced in bulk, and there’s not much assembly effort involved, so it’s cheaper than other types of plastic. If you seek affordability and variety, rotationally molded plastic is your answer.
But remember that rotationally molded plastic is not as thick or durable as your poly outdoor furniture is. The rotationally molded plastic is prone to superficial chipping and color fading, but that’s justifiable given its price range.
Manufacturing
This furniture is also made from recycled plastic like poly lumber furniture, but it involves more molding than assembling. The manufacturers melt the recycled plastic polymer and pour it into ready-made furniture molds to form the final products. This melted plastic quickly cools down to create the final polymer.
Since the injection-molded plastic quickly adopts the given mold, it doesn’t solidify or gain much weight. That’s the reason plastic furniture is very lightweight and meltable. If you leave plastic furniture in your patio or lawn, where sunlight and weather changes directly hit, you’ll soon notice signs of color fading and chipping.
Salient Features
Molded plastic is produced in bulk and is easily available, so it’s not something you’ll have to dig. Walk into any plastic goods store, and you’ll find these molded chairs, tables, and stands there. Besides the plastic furniture’s easy availability, its variety of colors and designs is also worth mentioning. From garden chairs to patio tables for those occasional sittings, you can find everything in plastic.
- Manufactured from used plastic
- Lightweight and stain-resistant
- Not-so-durable
- Thin build
- Prone to scratching
Price Range
This is the best part about molded plastic furniture. If you don’t want to splurge on the outdoor furniture but need something presentable, you’re good with plastic furniture. Since this kind of furniture is produced in bulk, there’s nothing fancy about it; you can get it at an affordable price.
3. Composite Furniture
Who said plastic furniture looks boring? Because if you invest a little more time in research, you can find excellent quality composite furniture for your home. Now, the name composite might make you think this is wooden furniture, but that’s not the entire truth.
The composite furniture is a blend of wood pulp and plastic melted under extreme pressure to form a thick polymer. When this plastic cools down, it assumes a rich grain-like appearance that looks classy and solid.
Manufacturing
Furniture manufacturers melt wood pulp and plastic polymer together to form a thick substance called the composite. When this mixture cools down, it looks like polished wood and feels smooth to touch. Since this furniture material has qualities of two substances, it’s solid, shiny, and sleek.
Salient Features
Composite is a good option if you want a two-in-one furniture material to beautify your place and save some bucks on the side. But because composite wood is mostly used in making decks and fences, you might have difficulty finding chairs and tables made from this material. Since composite is thick and heavy, it’s a great choice for outdoor furniture because of weather harshness and other usage-related problems.
- Rich grain-like appearance
- Thick build
- Heavy and bulky
- Scratch, stain, and mold-resistant
- UV-protected and resistant to color fading
- Heavy
- Classic wood-like look
Price Range
Composite furniture is more on the expensive side because of its uniqueness and rarity. This material is mostly used in yard decking and fencing, so you’ll have trouble finding composite furniture.
4. Resin Furniture
When high-density polyethylene is woven, we get resin furniture. Furniture manufacturers make thin wicks of HDPE and weave them to form a wood-like material called resin. This resin furniture looks classier than other types of plastic because of its woven appearance. If you have come across wood-like plastic tables in coffee shops and outdoor eateries, know that those are made of resin.
Resin is considered a high-end plastic variant because of its beautiful appearance and sturdy build. If you want to invest in long-lasting and stunning plastic furniture, the resin is the way to go.
Manufacturing
Resin furniture is made from high-density polyethylene to achieve that classic wooden appearance to beautify your place. Original wooden furniture’s scarcity and price range compelled manufacturers to create a material that looks like wood but is plastic; that’s how we got resin furniture. Thin wicks or strands of HDPE are woven together to make resin furniture that looks stunning and doesn’t give into every day wear & tear.
Salient Features
Besides looking like wooden furniture, the resin also flaunts impressive stain-resistance properties. This high-quality plastic is heavily-used in outdoor settings because of its durability. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find something for your home in resin material because it is equally suitable for outdoor and indoor settings. If you need something minimalistic for your place, resin furniture is a good choice.
- Thick plastic gradient
- Wood-like appearance
- Heavy build
- Fade and scratch-resistant
Price Range
Thanks to its unique look and batch manufacturing, the resin is more expensive than poly lumber furniture and plastic furniture. This plastic’s high-end price point might shock you, but its durability and look make it worth the money.
Summing Up
Selecting the right kind of furniture for your home is essential because it is often a one-time investment. When you don’t research your prospect furniture’s pros and cons, you might not like the results either. That’s why we explained four common types of plastic furniture to assist your decision and ensure you get the best value for your money.
If you seek exclusivity and durability, poly lumber, resin, and composite are good options. These plastic variants are sturdy, sleek, and heavy. But if you need something more affordable, molded plastic is the way to go. This plastic type is pocket-friendly, and you’ll find a wide variety of furniture in this material. However, since plastic furniture is lightweight and thin, it’s not the ideal choice for outdoor settings.
But whichever furniture material you pick, make sure it’s made from recycled plastic to play your part in environmental conservation. We advocate sustainability and eco-friendliness, something you should also be considerate about. Good luck with your furniture shopping!
