Outdoor furniture is great, particularly when it comes to sipping a cool drink while sunbathing or just watching the kids swim in the pool. But whether your outdoor furniture is teak, aluminium or wicker, if you want your outdoor furniture to last, you need to know how to take care of it. Regular cleaning is important to keep them looking good.
Here are some of the basic outdoor furniture care guides to help keep your furniture looking good all year long.
Aluminium furniture
First up on our list is Aluminium furniture; it is a generally non-rusting Metal. Aluminium does not rust, like steel. However, it does corrode into a hardened material called aluminium oxide, which can simply dull the paint.
Therefore you don’t have to pre-treat your aluminium furniture, which often has a powder coat to keep the paint looking as nice as possible, wash it regularly to protect its natural lustre. You should wipe your aluminium furniture with a soft cloth with a non-abrasive product to remove scuff marks.
You should also immediately wipe away any spills from children such as chocolate or ice cream, and store your aluminium furniture out of the sun whenever it is not being used.
However, short of a tree branch or a hail storm crashing and denting it, aluminium furniture is pretty much bulletproof.
Teak Outdoor Furniture
Teak-woods are just the opposite of aluminium. The wood itself contains natural oils, which, indoors, give it, if desired, a beautiful aged patina.
However, outdoors, unless you want the beautiful brown hues of the wood to turn greyer than an 80-year-old man’s beard, you should plan on sealing your teak-inspired furniture with a quality sealant designed for the job.
This will waterproof the wood a little more, prevent mildew, but above all, protect your furniture from the sun’s UV rays.
Before sealing, clean your furniture off, and don’t just use Windex. Use a cleaner designed for teak-furniture.
Once you’ve sealed it, using a cloth, not a brush, you are pretty much done with the maintenance work, except you should not only regularly clean your furniture, but cover them whenever they have been sitting in the sun and they are not in use.
And by the way, the wood expands and contracts, so never leave your teak furniture exposed in the winter and also avoid the rain.
Wicker
Treating Wicker Furniture is much trickier. Wicker-inspired furniture is made out of inter-woven wet reeds, and the problems here are the weakened structure from getting your furniture wet, mildew, and odour.
It’s okay to use this furniture outdoors where there’s a chance the reeds will get wet, but to be cautious, treat your furniture with a quality water sealant.
Also, be very careful about what soap or material you use to clean your chairs and loungers with. Generally, mild dish soap, together with a sponge works best.
If you use any other cleaner, test it underneath a chair to see how the detergent acts with the furniture.
Always have covers available for your furniture, and store cushions indoors.
