Why we use raw metal finishes?

Let’s take a moment to talk about copper finishes and how they develop over time. One of the biggest comments we get is, “Polished copper is nice, but it will go green in a week” As with any unsealed finish our polished copper, and indeed our Antique Copper finish will both age over time.

First let’s talk about materials and why we use them

All of our products are made of solid copper or brass, or a combination of both, Copper and Brass share a couple of key characteristics:

1 – They are tough, Both copper and brass give strong components that will last for a long time.

2 – They don’t break down, While both copper and brass tarnish, this doesn’t affect the integrity of the product over time. Take the statue of liberty for example, The Statue of liberty is made of copper and is constantly exposed to the elements however the weathering and oxidation of the Statue of Liberty’s copper skin has amounted to just .005 of an inch over the last century, according to the Copper Development Association.

Both of these characteristics make our material choices good for plumbing fittings, especially for outdoor showers.

Copper Goes Green

As with any unsealed material copper oxidises over time with exposure to moisture and air. One big difference with a metal like iron is that while copper discolours it doesn’t “break down” Iron will rust, eventually leading to the surface breaking and becoming weaker. So copper ages, but id doesn’t necessarily go green, it will after about 3 years if you don’t ever clean it, or if chemicals are left on the surface and react causing it to discolour.

When copper ages it actually goes brown, it should go green after about 3 years of weathering, this can vary depending on the climate.

A copper roofing colour guide, showing the change in colour over time

The next thing people usually say after understanding how copper will age is “Why not just lacquer everything to stop it from aging” Which is a fair point, till you understand the pros and cons of lacquering a shower and how it will last over time.

Pros –

The copper and brass will stay shiney while protected by the lacquer

You won’t have to polish the shower to keep the finish

Cons –

Lacquer seals in any tarnishing making it impossible to clean

Scratches in the Lacquer are very apparent

If the Lacquer breaks down the shower will age at different rates causing odd discolouration.

Lacquering copper and brass is common practice for things like brass lamps and decorative copper pans or trays. Lacquer doesn’t handle moisture very well and therefore doesn’t do very well in bathrooms, if lacquer is exposed to moisture every day it will greatly reduce the lifespan of the finish making it impractical for bathroom fittings.

Another problem with Lacquer is scratching. Scratches in lacquer break the finish allowing moisture onto the surface below, allowing it to age. generally water will get under the lacquer and create black spots which can’t be polished off because they are under the lacquer.

Lacquered brass that has tarnished

Another suggestion some people make is to spray each component with automotive clear coat, the clear gloss paint applied to cars to protect the colour finish, again this has the same drawbacks of lacquer and also isn’t designed to be applied directly to metal, especially copper or brass. Automotive clear coats are designed to be applied to painted surfaces that have been sanded to give a “key” for it to adhere to.

A Kick Start

Some people like the polished look, it can help your shower fit with copper roofing for example, allowing everything to age together and match. Some people prefer to get their shower already aged, maybe to fit with a look they have or to help the fittings blend in. To give a shower an antique finish we take a polished shower and submerge it in a water based chemical dip that kick starts the aging process, in about 20 minutes (faster on a hot day!) you can make a shower look like it’s a year old already.

A 250mm shower rose in the aging solution

As with the polished finish we don’t apply any form of lacquer to the shower so it will continue to age over time.

Keeping your finish clean

Copper is a very low maintenance material and won’t fall apart after a short period. but if you want to keep your shower clean and shiney over time we would recommend you use an automotive metal cleaner, generally these types of cleaners will remove any oxidation from a metal surface without scratching it.

If you want to remove any build up of tarnish you can use a very fine wire wool which will clean the surface back to bare metal and allow it to age again.

Final Thoughts

While these are the general rule for how our showers will age, different climates will change how quickly the process affects your shower and how quickly it colours and what colour it goes.

A few things to remember:

Copper and brass dont break down when exposed to moisture, making them great for plumbing fittings.

While copper will go green eventually, it doesn’t happen overnight, generally it will take about 3 years for a copper surface to go green.

All of our finishes are unsealed and will age over time.

The Antique finish kick starts the process but will continue to age over time.

We use copper and brass because we strive to build a product that will last a lifetime, we want to move away from plastic injection molded showers that we replace every 2 years because the chrome has worn off, or because it banged off the wall and broke. We want to build a shower that will never fall apart and will always give you the best showering experience ever, every day.