No other kind of outdoor furniture can heighten the beauty of the natural backdrop of your outdoor living space better than outdoor wood furniture. With its natural beauty, it will never be out of place with the trees, birds, sky and sun – elements that accompany you in your garden, patio, deck, front or backyard. With the turn of the seasons, however, this beauty can chip, splinter, peel and fade especially if you do not properly take care of it. It may no longer be as vivid as the green grass of spring or the blue summer sky. To keep this from happening, give your outdoor wooden furniture some tender loving care. But if the pieces are already in bad shape, don’t replace them just yet. We will show you how to maintain and restore their good looks.
All it takes is furniture covers, furniture oil, towels, garden hose, wood furniture cleanser, scrub brush, some time devoted to periodic cleaning and maintenance and some elbow grease. If you have the knack for carpentry and house painting, then you are in familiar territory. Let’s get going…
Your first line of defense is prevention. While the eye-appeal of your outdoor wood furniture is still intact, do not take it for granted. Make it a point to cover it with waterproof covers when not in use to protect it from the sun, rain, wind, birds and other elements.
Another way of protecting outdoor wood furniture is by oiling it a number of times in a year. Soak it in oil and allow it to absorb the grease. This will give moisture a hard time to seep through the furniture.
Schedule major cleaning twice or three times a year. This is to get rid of dirt that can trigger the deterioration of your outdoor wood furniture. By doing so, you prolong its life. You cannot just use anything to clean wood as certain substances can damage it, so to be sure, use products that are designed especially to clean wood furniture. Get rid of cobwebs and debris by hosing down the pieces. Then apply the wood cleanser following the instructions of the manufacturer. Wood cleansers usually are mixed in a pail of water and used to scrub down the furniture.
When the outdoor wood furniture pieces are already showing signs of fading, chipping, or losing its beauty, it is your signal to sand, re-stain or paint them. Doing so also protects them from the elements. Rain will have a hard time saturating the wood.
If you failed to cover your outdoor wood furniture and rain pours in or your kids sat on the Adirondack chairs after a dip in the pool, leave it to dry in the sun. Moisture can cause your wood furniture to rot and is also a hospitable host to mold and mildew. So make sure to allow the pieces to dry as soon as you can so that they can serve your for more years.
Wood is not your only concern when maintaining outdoor wood furniture. You also have to inspect its hardware every few months. Bolts and screws can loosen due to constant use. If left unattended, your furniture can eventually come apart or buckle down, so give some time turning over the pieces to make sure that everything is tight and in position. This is also the time to replace broken slats and hardware that is no longer optimally serving its purpose.
