FAQs

CSA is proudly Australian, with all products designed and manufactured in Kilsyth, Victoria. Our diverse team of labourers skilled in timber, welding, painting and assembly ensures each item that we produce has been done so with great quality and consistency. Our products are 100% Australian made and owned!

All our products are made to order and our typical lead time varies between products and current workload, as a rough guide most products are between 6-10 weeks but to be safe it’s best to contact our friendly team for a current lead time. For custom products or new designs, this production time begins from the date of design sign off from your team. Below is an overview of our typical process here at CSA.

At CSA we can help you with the following (and more):

• Adapting client specified designs
• Customising existing CSA products
• Creating brand new products based on your ideas

Our team of product design engineers will work with you on perfecting the design.

Sorry to hear it! Get in touch with us to find out more about options such as replacement timber battens and parts, clean up and maintenance or ordering new products.

Alternatively, we can also provide anti-graffiti coating on selected parts and products when you order products. This almost unnoticeable coating is most effective when applied to powdercoated or galvanised mild steel and stainless steel parts. The coating protects against scratching and means spray paint graffiti is easy to remove.

DDA is the regulation for designs in Australia to meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act. In short – for CSA – it means designing our furniture in a way that makes it accessible for more people to be able to use. Using the Australian Standards and working with consultants such as the Equal Access group, CSA can make sure your furniture meets the required standards.

This includes modifying the heights of furniture items, allowing space and access for people with wheelchairs, designing arm rests that have the correct geometry and that all of these elements are safe to use.

Why Powder Coating?

Powder coating of furniture frames is the best way to get a consistent, smooth and cost effective colour finish. CSA furniture frames are sand blasted and given a phosphate treatment to best clean the steel surface and improve the coating bond to the steel surface.

CSA use the large Dulux powder coat colour range as its standard colour range, which can be viewed here.

Why Hot Dip Galvanising?

For the most cost effective, corrosion resistant and durable finish, hot dip galvanising may be the right choice for steel framed furniture. The finish give the final product a bright silver finish and is widely used for outdoor infrastructure. The process involves dipping the steel frames into a tank of molten zinc, which isn’t suitable for sheet metal products.

Why 2 Pack Painting?

The third option to achieve a durable, bright coloured frame finish is to 2-pack paint the frames. This gives you the flexibility to choose a colour that isn’t in the powdercoat range, however this is typically a more expensive process.

Can we Galvanise and Powdercoat/Paint?

Yes you can, and if you want a colour finish on a shelter we recommend it. But for smaller furniture elements it isn’t always required. It will offer superior corrosion resistance if the coloured surface is damaged, but the surface may not be as smooth and the bond to a galvanised surface is not as strong. With the proper maintenance we expect our furniture to last outside for many years.

Stainless steel is becoming increasingly popular for long term products. Giving modern aesthetics, a durable finish, a high resistance to corrosion, is easy to clean and requires very little maintenance.

What are the types of Stainless Steel?

There are two grades of Stainless Steel that are primarily used on outdoor furniture. 304 Stainless Steel is the primary grade that is the most cost effective for most situations. But for coastal environments it is recommended that 316 grade Stainless Steel be used. It is slightly more expensive but contains a higher nickel content that helps to prevent surface discolouration (ie. Tea Staining).

What are the available finishes of Stainless Steel?

Stainless Steel comes in a variety of finishes. The most common is as a ‘brushed’ polish finish. Also known as a ‘satin’ polished finished. The next level of finish is a ‘mirror’ polish which is buffed to a finer finish that gives the material a reflective surface. The material is a lot easier to clean, but over time the surface can be more susceptible to showing dirt and other blemishes.

Electropolishing is an additional electrochemical treatment that is also available. This process removes the very fine imperfections on the surface of the material which brightens and improves the corrosion resistance of the material.

Glass bead blasting is another mechanical treatment to remove the top surface of Stainless Steel material to give you a uniform grey finish. This process is usually coupled with Electropolishing to clean the blasted surface.

CSA only use AFS / FSC Certified timber. This means that the hardwood used on all of our furniture is sourced from managed forests that do not deplete the natural old growth forests in Australia. CSA predominately use Class 1 Spotted Gum as the main source of timber due to its hard wearing properties and its aesthetic character. Blackbutt and Ironbark are also common Australian hardwoods used on outdoor furniture.

For more information on the batten profiles that we use, have a read of our CSA Batten Size Guide post.

What are Timber Tannins?

Timber tannins are the natural internal properties of timber that can leach out of new timber when it is first exposed to the elements. You can see the complete information post about Timber Tannins, here.

CSA can design tree grates for all kinds of applications from Class A pedestrian areas to Class D Vehicle loadings. It is important two advise us what application that these tree grates will be used for so that we can best work within your projects budget.

Are our tree grates Heel Safe?

All of CSA Tree Grates can all be adapted to meet heel safe requirements. If this is a requirement of your project, please let us know so that we can best adapt the design to suit you.

Are our tree grates Anti-Slip rated?

CSA offer a variety of coloured and clear anti-slip coatings that can be applied to give the surface an R12 ramp test slip rating. For our V-wire tree grates, we can also supply a dimpled finish that gives up to a P5 wet pendulum slip rating.

Yes! As standard, all of CSA’s timber screws have a tamper resistant square drive screw head. CSA can also provide alternative security fasteners (such as Torx screws) if requested.

CSA provide all of the nuts and bolts required to join and assemble all of the components for the furniture supplied. When it comes to supplying the bolts to fix the furniture to the ground surface, these are supplied by the installer.

Get in contact with our team here for any questions, queries or comments!