With summer around the corner, you’ve bought some new garden furniture to impress but have no idea how to maintain it… Today we are going to be talk about how to properly maintain your garden furniture so you can keep it in good nick for next summer!
These tips and tricks are suitable for all garden furniture made from plastic, hardwood, softwood and metal materials. The maintenance of a piece of furniture completely depends on the furniture’s material. In this guide we will be talking about the four most common kinds of material.
Plastic furniture by far is the easiest to maintain. Just make sure to clean it regularly to avoid water marks on the plastic. This should be especially done with light coloured or white plastic furniture to avoid discolouration or yellowing of the plastic.
The only downside to using plastic furniture is if it is left out in the cold weather or very hot weather for extended periods of time it can become brittle, so it is best to store it immediately after using them with a protective cover for those cold winter months!
Hardwood furniture is one of the more complex materials to clean and maintain but it is also the more durable. Some of the most common of the hardwoods would be teak, courbaril, roble, cumaru, iroko and eucalyptus, what are all contain high levels in natural oils, making them weather resistant!
The only maintenance that is required on is to wash off any dirt or algae that may be accumulating from it being in a damp space. This should only need to be done a couple times a year if the wood you have bought is of good quality!
A good piece of advice would be to keep the wood away from anything damp to avoid algae from growing on the wood. A protective cover would be a good option.
Softwood furniture is the cheaper but more demanding version of hardwood furniture and requires a bit more attention in the winter months. To keep softwood furniture in good nick it requires regular checks and cleaning with a recommended wood cleaner. Do not use soap and water because this can remove a layer of protective paint or preservative.
Preservative should be added at least twice a year to make sure that the wood stays the same colour and keeps to the same shape as softwood tends to warp when exposed to moisture too often.
Metal furniture needs to be cleaned about once a month, checking for rust and repair it by removing any rust and applying rust preventing paint. Metal furniture should be repainted every 1-2 years to make sure the weather barrier is well maintained. It’s also a good idea to keep a bottle of WD-40 in the shed if it has any joints or fixings that require free movement. I would include oiling the joints in the monthly cleaning of the furniture.
If you follow these simple tips and tricks then you will be able to keep your garden furniture going for years to come!
