Tips for Selecting Suitable Care Home Contract Furniture

The primary goal of care homes is to be empathic with the people who need our help. Carrying out simple activities such as getting in and out of the chair can be challenging for individuals in care homes, and with the right contract furniture, we can make their lives easier. Ensuring proper height, safety, support, cushioning, upholstery, and compliance with standards will lead to a better supportive environment and enhanced reputation.

Finding durable contract furniture that ensures longevity is also vital. With the proper maintenance, care home contract furniture can last decades. This article will focus on and explain this type of furniture and provide tips on selecting the appropriate care home contract furniture. Let's begin!

Understanding the Needs of Care Home Residents

Care home residents are vulnerable. They require furniture that can ease their daily activities. Carefully designed furniture can help them feel comfortable and supported. Here are some aspects we need to consider in care home contract furniture:

▍Physical Comfort and Support

Residents in care homes spend 9-10 hours of their day sitting in a chair. Ensuring the care home contract furniture ensures physical comfort and support can make most of their day enjoyable. Some chairs specifically have a seat height of 450-480mm and a slight 100°–105° inclination towards the back for easy in and out of the chair motion. The lumbar support should be 150–250 mm above the seat height and focus on the lumbar (L3-L5) area. It will enhance sitting posture and provide comfort and support.

▍Safety Considerations

Ensuring safety for the care home residents is vital. Any slips and falls can cause serious physical injuries. Care home contract furniture that specifically targets safety will have the following features:

• Rounded Corners: Avoiding knicks and bruises when transitioning from standing to sitting or vice versa.
• Non-Slip Feet: These ensure a firm foundation for the seat, avoiding sudden movement that can make older people vulnerable to falls.
• Seamless Frames: The joints on contract furniture are metal and welded, so they do not loosen with time. They can support up to 500 lbs of weight without deformation.

▍ Aesthetic and Emotional Well-Being

Using light furniture that evokes biophilic feelings is vital for the mental comfort of care home residents. The care home contract furniture uses metal for stability while utilizing wood grain technology to emboss a woodgrain structure on the metal frame. The warmth of being close to nature provides aesthetics and extraordinary emotional uplift. Moreover, the use of soft upholstery offers a premium aesthetic feel. 

Key Features of Quality Care Home Contract Furniture

Another key aspect to consider in care home contract furniture is its ability to withstand the test of time. Wear and tear in furniture is a common concern, and finding furniture that can bear load and remain in its shape, color, and design over decades can prove long-term savings. Here are some features to consider:

♦Durability and Longevity

Durability and longevity are essential to consider when buying care home contract furniture. Contract furniture is defined by its ability to stay in shape, color, and design over time. Brands like Yumeya Furniture provide 10-year frame warranties. They utilize seamless welding techniques and aluminum frames that can retain shape over time. Despite showcasing the warmth and elegance of wood, they provide extraordinary performance.

Contract furniture is essential in care homes as it does not lose shape or warp over time. Its long-lasting capability guarantees savings and aesthetic consistency.

♦Ease of Maintenance

Alongside their incredible strength, care home contract furniture is easy to maintain. These types of furniture incorporate medical-grade PU leather that provides exceptional performance against moisture. This lowers the chances of mold formation and stain marks, leading to a more hygienic seating setup.

Features like lighting up cushions for fast cleaning and separating the fabric from the chair for deep cleaning are available. Moreover, metal-welded chairs do not require maintenance. In comparison, non-contract furniture with mainly wooden joints can loosen with time, resulting in a wobbly and unsafe chair. Joints for non-contract furniture must always be tightened.

♦Compliance with International Standards and Certifications

Different regions require some certifications and world standards. Adherence to these standards and certifications ensures that the care home contract furniture is high quality and complies with local standards. Here are some of them that brands like Yumeya Furniture adhere to:

• EN 16139:2013 Level 2: European standard for strength, durability, and contract-use seating (heavy-duty) safety.
• ANSI/BIFMA X5.4- 2012: U.S. standard for performance and safety of lounge and public seating.
• ISO 9001: International quality management system standard for consistent product quality.
• British Fire Protection Standard: Upholstery complies with UK fire resistance regulations.
• American Fire Protection Standard: Meets U.S. fire safety standards for commercial furniture.
• EU REACH Certification: Ensures fabrics are free from harmful chemicals, meeting EU environmental health standards.
• Disney ILS Social Compliance Audit: Verifies ethical labor practices and compliance with international labor laws.

Selecting the Right Materials for Care Home Furniture

Let's move on to the main section of our post. How do we select the right material for care home furniture? It involves careful evaluation of all the aspects of care home contract furniture. Here are additional elements to consider alongside the factors mentioned earlier with much more depth:

Upholstery Options

Fabrics play a key role in ensuring hygiene and aesthetics. Ensuring the ease of cleaning and maintenance of upholstery is vital for care homes. Using anti-mold foam alongside stain-resistant textiles can provide exceptional value for care homes. Offering removal covers in contract chairs can ease maintenance and cleaning. Picking the right combination of colors in this chair can also prove helpful. Using multi-shade prints on the textile can help camouflage minor stains from food spills. Chairs with well-selected upholstery material can provide convenience to the caregivers at care homes.

Frame Materials

Using the best material is the backbone of contract furniture. The material, alongside an excellent surface finish, should last long, providing timeless stability. Brands like Yumeya especially use 6061-grade aluminum, which offers excellent corrosion resistance and dimensional stability. The material is highly suitable for premium Tiger Powder coatings and embossing wood grain finishes. Combining metal's durability with wood's warmth can be a valuable addition to any care home contract furniture. Aluminum also allows the formation of seamless joints that do not loosen or break under loads reaching 500 lbs.

Cushioning and Padding

To ensure the utmost comfort for the care home residents, cushioning and padding should be selected and considered. Even though the foam in chairs may look like a simple material, many aspects must be considered. They include density for durability, ILD for firmness, resilience for rebound, foam type (polyurethane, HR, memory, latex), durability and lifespan, flammability standards, hypoallergenic properties, off-gassing, breathability, and moisture resistance. Here are some of the suitable values for cushioning parameters:

• Density: Medium to high (≥ 1.8 PCF), ensures support & durability.
• ILD: Medium-firm (around 25-40), balances comfort & ease of movement.
• Resilience: High (HR foam), aids movement, prevents "stuck" feeling.
• Foam Type: HR polyurethane or latex, good support & hypoallergenic options.

Types of Furniture Essential for Care Homes

Care homes are a complete system. There are bedrooms, common rooms, game rooms, dining rooms, hallways, and waiting rooms. Each of them necessitates a different type of furniture. Here are three primary types of furniture in care homes:

1. Dining Chairs

Making the dining experience convenient for residents and easy to maintain for caregivers can prove beneficial. For the elderly, ergonomic arms with accurate height for easy in and out of chair motion can make dining enjoyable. Moreover, overusing well-polished surfaces like powder coats and wood grain designs on metal allows for wipe-clean surfaces. There is no need to worry about spills and splashes.

2. Lounge and Recliner Chairs

Whether it's movie night or game night, residents of the care home can have the utmost comfort with lounge and recliner chairs. These chairs have cushioning and frames designed to support prolonged sitting. They come with ergonomic backs and plush cushioning for luxury comfort.

3. Beds and Bedroom Furniture

For bedrooms, luxury can prove highly rewarding for care homes. These are more aesthetically pleasing and offer added comfort. These seats should allow the resident to sit comfortably for hours to read, write, or watch TV. These care home contract furniture will combine luxury with practicality.

Partnering with the Right Furniture Supplier

Finding the right vendor with a wide range of care home contract furniture can be challenging. Car homes can make the process easy by partnering with the right contract furniture supplier. Simply thoroughly evaluate the following three aspects of the vendor:

• Assessing Supplier Credentials

The supplier should have a strong online presence with lots of reviews. This will help you understand the brand's common pros and cons. The manufacturer should be able to produce an international-level product with precision control.

Consider Yumeya Furniture as your partner for care home contract furniture. The top reasons are their exceptional error control (3mm) and automated manufacturing. Robotic welding is used for precise and consistent welds across all Yumeya Furniture contract care home chairs. Their products adhere to ISO certifications, and their manufacturing can ensure 100,000 pieces/month of supply.

• Customization and Flexibility

If the furniture allows some customization and flexibility in their products, care homes can utilize these abilities to their advantage. Optimizing storage, manipulating setups, changing configurations, and aesthetics can be helpful.

Depending on the customer's needs, manufacturers such as Yumeya Furniture can ensure the M+ modular concept. Consider it furniture that is interlockable and converts into single, double, or triple sofas as per the caretakers' requirements. Having interchangeable parts and (5-10 pieces) stackability of their furniture allows flexibility and customization that can prove to be handy.

• Sustainability and Eco-friendliness

Recycling is just one aspect of sustainability and eco-friendliness to consider when selecting the right care home contract furniture. The product's ability to last is also a measure of sustainability.

Yumeya furniture uses a finish that replicates the feel and finish of real wood. Their faux wood aesthetics on aluminum metal avoid deforestation. Moreover, the ability to stack contributes to the lower transport costs and carbon footprint.

Conclusion

To summarize the key points in our post, as care home representatives, we should completely consider the residents' needs. Finding the right balance between aesthetics, practicality, and comfort in care home contract furniture is the primary goal. Consider comfort, support, safety, aesthetics, psychological well-being, durability, longevity, and easy maintenance.

Consider going for a well-reputed brand, Yumeya Furniture, as they meet functional and aesthetic needs for any care home contract furniture. Their products use premium materials, excellent wood grain finish, seamless welds, premium upholstery, and customization options for all users. Suppliers can also look for OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) services, catering to those seeking customized furniture solutions. Visit the Yumeya Furniture website to explore all their products.