Choosing Materials That Last

Most materials fail in predictable ways. Knowing which way a given material tends to go is more useful than knowing what it costs, because the cost is paid once and the failure is paid for repeatedly.

Four questions worth asking before committing to anything:

• How does it fail? Some materials wear evenly and stay usable. Others hold their appearance until they give way all at once.
• Can it be repaired in place? A finish that can be sanded and redone outlasts a finish that has to be stripped entirely.
• Does it tolerate being wrong? Humidity, sunlight and heat are rarely what the specification assumed. Materials with some tolerance survive the gap.
• What happens at the joins? Failures cluster at edges, seams and fixings, not in the middle of a panel.

None of this argues for the most expensive option. It argues for knowing which failure is being bought.