Introduction
So you’ve acquired your own snooker or pool table. First off, great call! Going to a pool hall or leisure centre can be great fun to get a round in, but nothing quite beats the freedom of actually owning a table in your own house.
Whether it’s late at night or early in the morning, you have the ability to enjoy a game whenever you want, without ever having to leave the comfort of your home.
But there are certain things to think about if you want to be playing on a table that stays in top condition. Owning a snooker or pool table, of course, comes with the responsibility of maintenance, ensuring it’s always ready for your next game. With this in mind, we wanted to run through a few tips for taking care of it, as well as some advice regarding what to expect from a non slate table so that there are no surprises.
Caring For Your Table
The first thing to note is the table’s surface. Much like the playing felt for table games in a casino, the napped cloth on a pool or snooker table must be treated with a great deal of care. In a casino, game tables are periodically replaced every six months to a year, and while your table won’t be getting the same amount of traffic, it’s still important to replicate the maintenance process to ensure it lasts years.
This includes regular dusting using a soft brush, always in the direction of the nap, preventing debris from accumulating and causing friction. You can also use a vacuum cleaner with a soft brush attachment, again in the direction of the nap. When the table isn’t in use, you should cover it with a table cover to protect it from dust and sunlight. As well as this, it’s essential to maintain the table’s level.
Whether you’re a professional snooker player or an amateur, a flat, level playing surface is essential for optimal gameplay. Over time, however, you’ll find that the table may shift or settle, ever so slightly, so it’s important to regularly check its level. Use a spirit level to check both the length and width of the table and, if necessary, adjust the legs to correct it.
3 Signs You Need to Replace It
Even if you follow all of these pointers, it’s inevitable that you’ll have to replace the table cloth at some point. By and large, good quality slate bed pool and snooker tables are made with a specific cloth lifetime in mind – for our slate bed tables, this is between 10 years and 15 years. This is, or course, depending on the amount of use they receive. To know exactly when your table will need replacing, there are some specific signs to watch out for.
Significant Wear - The first is your own judgement! If the cloth is heavily worn, frayed, or torn, it can significantly affect gameplay, and while you might be able to patch it, most of the time, damaged cloth needs replacing.
Unlevel Surface - As we mentioned previously, one of the ways to care for your snooker table involves managing the level, but this isn’t always possible if the playing surface has become warped. Slate bed pool tables do not warp. Non slate tables are prone to warping because of the lower quality materials used in their construction. If your non slate table has warped too much, simple level adjustments won’t be enough to solve the issue, which means it might be time to replace the table entirely.
Structural Instability - Lastly, another key sign that your table needs replacing is the stability. Non-slate tables, are always lower quality built making the legs and table body more prone to developing problems If the frame or legs of the table are cracked, broken, or severely damaged, it can easily impact the functionality – and aesthetics – of the table, making it unsafe to play on. Once again, simple repairs might be enough to sort the problem, but they aren’t always the most cost-effective solution, so it might be better to pay a little extra in the first place and buy a slate table - buy slate, buy once!