Plastic vs. Stainless Steel Bathroom Partitions

When building a commercial or public bathroom, the partition material is usually one of the most overlooked elements. At first glance, its only purpose is for privacy, so the only thing you need to consider when making your choice is visual appeal, which is why most people opt for stainless steel bathroom partitions. However, is this really the best choice for your bathroom partition material?

Scranton Products wants you to make the best choice for your new bathroom partitions, so we’re here to compare plastic HDPE bathroom partitions against stainless steel so you can see the difference before your choose.

Strength and Durability

You want a strong bathroom partition in order to maintain value for years to come and deal with any stress that occurs. This includes being able to hold up against impacts. The better they can hold up to such hazards, the longer they’ll last.

While stainless steel partitions look great, one of the major downsides is that they’re known to dent and scratch more easily than other partitions, such as HDPE plastic partitions. HDPE plastic bathroom partitions are made with solid color throughout so scratches are less noticeable. And during an impact test, HDPE partitions had more than 59 times greater resistance to impacts over stainless steel. This is because HDPE plastic partitions are solid, while stainless steel partitions have a honeycomb core made of cardboard.

For bathroom partitions that will hold up and not show scratches, HDPE plastic has the edge over stainless steel.

Cleaning and Upkeep

Commercial bathroom stalls will inevitably need to be cleaned, and the material you choose will have an impact on how often or thoroughly you’ll need to clean yours. Let’s consider something that commonly needs to be cleaned off bathroom partitions: graffiti.

Graffiti shows up on bathroom partitions all of the time but more so on stainless steel than on HDPE plastic partitions. This is thanks to HDPE’s formulation which allows graffiti to be removed easily with a non-abrasive cleaner.

Upkeep is another consideration for your bathroom partitions. While it may not seem important at first, it’s important to think about in terms of future maintenance costs. HDPE plastic’s solid build and homogenous color eliminates the need for repainting and isn’t susceptible to rust or corrosion, which means upkeep is easy and doesn’t require more than a quick power wash.

You can’t expect the same from stainless steel bathroom partitions which have been known to need significant upkeep to maintain their appeal, costing you time and money.

While stainless steel bathroom partitions may seem like the easy choice, there are actually significant advantages to using HDPE plastic bathroom partitions. Because of these advantages, Scranton Products builds our restroom partition brands strictly with HDPE to ensure that you have the best quality.

If you’re interested in HDPE plastic bathroom partitions, find out where you can get them near you, or contact your local Scranton Products Product Specialist today.