
Are you ready to purchase your own pool table?
If you practice at home, you’ll become a better player. So much better that you’ll be the one with his chest puffed out at the local pool hall. Buying a table and the necessary accessories won’t break the bank, and it should provide years of ‘family’ fun and enjoyment. A pool table can be a great investment for any home. With common sense care, it will last for decades. Before making a table purchase be sure to ask about size, weight and location within your home.
An 8-foot table, refers to a length twice its width of four feet, presents a medium challenge. Smaller sizes create many clustered balls and larger tables can cause frustration by forcing longer, difficult shot making. If you have adequate room space, though, you might opt for a 9-foot table.
Allow for space on all sides of the table to stroke cue sticks and for convenient cue storage. Use six feet of space per side, plus a few inches for backswings. There is nothing more annoying than playing in a room that is too small. And having to refinish the room’s walls to eliminate the cue marks is even more annoying.
Paying $500 more for a bigger or better table may not seem a good investment until you consider the possibility of owning the table for 40 years or longer. Modern tables can come in many colors, and if the color is of critical importance to a particular member of the family, then select the color of their choosing to keep the peace. Always bear in mind that blues and greens are the simplest to sight upon. Red is a frequent choice for felt, too, but other colors can be distracting and show chalk and liquid or grease stains more easily. Felts are available in any color of the rainbow to suit your décor. If you are not in a hurry your new table can be customized with special inlays or the family crest.
Leveling or re-leveling a new or used table becomes a simple matter with the correct caliper and some plastic playing cards (cards make easy shims, hundredths of an inch thick to go under a table leg as needed). What you want is to have your new or used table installed at home, followed by a second and possibly third leveling visit months later after giving the table time to settle in place. Do not purchase a table without service after the sale to keep it perfectly level.
Always get references from satisfied customers before placing an order. What guarantees and service after the sale will seller provide you by written contract? If your new table breaks or becomes not level after time, will the seller be there to make it right?
The seller may warrant a table for 10 years but be closed for business in five years. Who is a trustworthy table restorer you may rely on located near your home? What will they charge for house calls for various repairs or routine maintenance (a semi-annual change of table felt and a tightening of the rails)?
Cheap, mass-produced tables use a wooden bed beneath the cloth. The best playability and durability is with heavyweight slate underlay instead.
A less costly surface is also easier to transport than a one-piece slate–slate slates made as three-piece construction–but they ought to be laid in place by a highly competent installer, so the table is level throughout and the fine seams between sections do not affect play as bumps under the felt. Ensure that the table has slate at least 7/8 of an inch thick, undergirded by slate liners.
Pick a spot for your poolroom with the most level flooring possible. Bare floors or carpeting is no matter; a table may weigh over one ton and will settle into place on its own. Be prepared to leave the new furniture in place for years to come!
Humidity and temperature play a role also and affect the balls and cloth both. The best location for your table is inside in a cool, dry room of your home.