How to Choose the Best Bollard For Your Business

Over the years, bollards have developed into an almost-essential security asset to protect businesses or save lives.

Keep reading to learn what a bollard is, the different types of bollards available on the market, their purposes, and the factors to keep in mind when deciding what kind of bollard to invest in for your business.

Related: Why Invest In Vehicle Barriers?

What is a bollard?

Bollards are posts made of various materials that serve as a fantastic security addition to any establishment, whether used inside or outdoors. While bollards serve as guides to limit vehicular access to certain areas, certain bollards can even withstand the force of car crashes. This benefit is great for thwarting potential robberies and saving you money in the long run.

Some bollards only serve as pedestrian guides, and others can keep areas well-lit while serving a decorative purpose. If you need a bollard that’s removable to allow vehicles to reach certain areas, those exist as well.

The following businesses would likely benefit the most from investing in and installing bollards:

• Gas stations
• Department stores
• Schools
• Inside and outside of warehouses and grocery stores
• Any drive-through lanes—coffee stands, banks, fast-food businesses, and more.

On top of those locations, embassies and other sensitive facilities would greatly benefit from high-speed bollards that can withstand drivers that want to storm these locations.

Types of bollards

There are various bollards out there that serve different functions, whether they’re security-related, to protect assets, or purely aesthetic. Each type of bollard also has its costs and benefits that you might want to consider when choosing the best one for your establishment.

We provide various aesthetic yet functional bollards to protect various sites from vehicle-based attacks that could affect your facility.

Steel pipe bollards

The most commonly used and permanently installed bollards out there are the steel pipe bollards. Since the steel pipe bollards are the strongest out of the available types, they are often used to restrict unwanted vehicle access to particular areas in addition to protecting valuable components such as walls, doors, electrical areas, and more.

While steel pipe bollards are not the most appealing, if you want to use them as a chance to market your brand while increasing the bollards’ visibility, you can opt for bollard covers. These durable plastic covers could have your brand’s colors, important signage, or even advertisements.

Removable bollards

Removable bollards are great additions to any sites that often need to maneuver their settings to accommodate the current situation. One example could be that a car lot is closing for the evening and does not allow any vehicles to enter. From there, you would place the bollard. The morning after, you would remove and store it.

Furthermore, removing bollards would make maintenance, repainting, or replacing them a lot easier than their permanently installed counterparts. On top of those benefits, if you want to protect your bollard from potential water damage, you can remove and store them for later use.

Deep Mount bollards

Unlike other bollard counterparts, Deep Mount bollards are buried further underground, resulting in increased security for whatever site they are installed in. While this is an amazing benefit, it does have its downsides. For example, there is a lot more planning that needs to go into the installation to make sure that you do not accidentally damage any utilities during installation. However, with that said, due to the Deep Mount bollard’s deeper roots, they come with higher resistance to more vehicles and higher speeds.

Shallow Mount bollards

The Shallow Mount bollards are a fantastic security tool that you can use to prevent crashes ranging from specific vehicle weights and speeds, depending on which bollard you choose. Another reason you might want to consider Shallow Mount bollards is if you cannot dig far underground.

Since Shallow Mount bollards require less of an excavation depth, there is no need to adjust underground utilities around your bollards. This results in an easier installation that you can do a lot quicker. This added benefit also minimizes the downtime usually required to install a bollard, thus enabling a business to resume normally quicker.

Operable bollards (hydraulic, electric, manual)

You can use operable bollards, otherwise known as pop-up bollards, in various sites to only allow certain vehicles in at a time. While they function similarly to a removable bollard, they do not require manual removal. Instead, you can make it, so these bollards sink into an in-ground receiver. Operable bollards are also a great and attractive solution if you need to remove an obstruction for any reason or prevent a potential tripping hazard. While this option is generally more expensive, it offers more flexibility than the other options.

What to consider in making your choice

When choosing the best bollard for your business, there are many factors that you need to take into consideration. These include its purpose, the materials used, ease of installation, and costs.

Purpose of the bollard

Bollards serve a myriad of purposes that protect not only you and your business but also your investment. One of these purposes is that bollards protect against potential thieves or terrorists from crashing a vehicle through the front of your building and, afterward, looting your goods or data.

The following are other important uses that bollards have:

• If your bollards have the right shape, it can give bicyclists an additional security layer since they have a steel post that they can hook their bikes to.
• Bollards can serve as visual guides for customers to keep vehicular traffic out of specific areas or let them know where they need to be.
• Steel pipe bollards will protect vital building components such as vulnerable water or gas meters. This purpose prevents any accidents that would result in unneeded expenses and paperwork.
• You can install bollards inside your establishments and use them to protect assets such as shelving, ATMs, refrigeration, cash registers, and more from carts, cleaning equipment, forklifts, or other unintentional errors that could devastate your business.
• If you are a business that regularly receives deliveries, bollards can protect buildings from unaware drivers from accidentally reversing their trucks into your walls or doors.
• You can use removable bollards to secure a parking lot at night when a business is closed, preventing unwanted visitors. In the morning, once you open, remove the bollard, and you are good to go.

Above all, bollards’ benefits greatly outweigh any costs associated with them since they will thwart most thieves’ abilities to use vehicles for theft and likely prevent damage to your assets.

Related: Why Use Bollards?

Materials used

When choosing the best bollard for your business, one of the most important factors to consider is the material used to make it. Furthermore, you can invest in bollard post covers to give additional protection.

Some of the common bollard materials include:

• The low-cost and sturdy concrete bollards are ideal for public settings.
• Suppose you need a bollard for a coastal location or other saline areas. In that case, polymer bollards are great since they are resistant to corrosive acids and benefit from having a non-rusting exterior.
• Not only are stainless steel bollards resistant to water, but they are also an excellent choice for places with a lot of pedestrians due to their aesthetically-pleasing design.
• While wooden bollards—otherwise known as timber bollards—are susceptible to swelling and splits, you can make cuts to reduce the stress on them.

Installation

To install a bollard, first, you must make sure that you contact your local Building Code Department regarding bollard code requirements to make sure you get the correct permits before you proceed. Afterward, you might want to consider hiring an architect to create a site plan to figure out the installation method and spacing that would best utilize your bollards. Finally, you need to clean your site, create a concrete base if your surface is not already concrete, and install your bollard based on what type you chose to install.

Cost

The bollards’ cost depends on many factors. They include the size, material, and how many of them you need for your business. It is generally best to go with concrete bollards since they are cost-effective and are reliable. However, if you need a removable bollard, get ready to invest more.

Maintenance

Most would think that since bollards are durable enough to withstand car crashes, they will not require maintenance. That is far from the truth. If your bollards are decorative, you might want to consider maintaining a consistent cleaning and repainting schedule. Otherwise, for security bollards, service them at least once a year to reinforce their durability. Doing regular maintenance makes it so bollards can continually protect your assets and your people.

Final thoughts

Bollards can do a lot for a business, whether it is protecting them from vehicular assaults or preventing unwanted visitors from entering a parking lot in the middle of the night. Now you might have a better idea of how they’re made, what they do, and how to choose the best bollard for your needs.

We also offer other means such as crash gates and Drop Arm Barriers to protect your sites from unintentional intruders or thieves.