Outdoor Furniture Maintenance

It’s probably happened to a majority of us. We buy fancy new outdoor furniture for our patio for the summer, we love it… we show it off… we use it every other day. Then it starts getting cold and we don’t use it as often, but it still continues to sit outside. Then winter comes and it snows… and the furniture still sits outside. Then it gets stained. It stinks. It gets ruined. Lesson learned.

So how do you go about maintaining your outdoor furniture so that it can be enjoyed season after season? Well, that depends on what kind of furniture you have, but if you stick to these tips for common types of outdoor furniture you’ll be good to go:

Metal Frame Patio Furniture – This includes aluminum, iron, steel and more. Obviously, the biggest threat to metal and especially metal that is in the outdoors for any extended period of time, is rust. One thing you can do to help prevent rust is to treat your furniture with paste wax after you thoroughly clean it.

Fabric – The biggest threat to furniture like hammocks, your cushion covers etc. is fading. To help prevent fading from the sun, simply bring your cushions inside when you aren’t using them. Another thing that will help prevent fading when washing them is to wash them on delicate cycle.

Wicker – With wicker, you want to focus on keeping it clean and dirt free. Do the same thing you would do with metal frame furniture in cleaning it thoroughly and then treat it with a paste wax.