Outdoor furniture can beautify your backyard or deck and help you relax and indulge in comfort, whether under the hot sun during the day or a starlit sky at night. Simply taking a seat in your outdoor setting allows you to relish all that nature has to offer, but taking care of it becomes a responsibility too. While this furniture is designed to withstand harsh weather conditions, it may or may not be resistant to dirt, dust, and other impurities. Thus it becomes critical to tend to the furniture to make sure it stays in good condition and lasts longer. So, this article covers the necessary steps and instructions to maintain outdoor furniture made of different materials.
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Wicker
Furniture made of wicker must be kept clean by regularly wiping it with cloths made of microfibres to avoid the accumulation of dust and detritus. The vacuum cleaner and crevice tools greatly help keep wicker tidy. And if the coating on the wicker starts wearing off, it must be sealed off with paste wax to maintain water resistance. Also, before storing wicker during winters, it must be cleaned well as grime or moisture could aid in the growth of mould and mildew spores.
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Metals
You can clean metals such as cast iron by applying soapy water and rinsing. Meanwhile, most metal outdoor furniture comes rust-resistant. If not, you can use naval jelly or paste wax to infuse another layer of protection. It would also help if you addressed cracked paint immediately to avoid exposure to outdoor elements. As such, most metal furniture can be left outdoors throughout the year.
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Wood
It would help if you ensured that wooden furniture supports an exterior-grade varnish. Usually, the furniture brought to stores would already be coated, but when purchasing a handmade set, this is a crucial step in extending the durability and keeping the maintenance simple.
Coated outdoor furniture can be cleaned with soapy water and should work perfectly. So, use a sponge to wash the furniture and rinse with clean water through a hose without a nozzle or with a nozzle at gentle settings. It would help if you also stored wooden furniture in climate-controlled environments during winters.
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Resin or Plastic
These furniture materials require less intense maintenance as compared to the others. So if they get dirty, use a hose to spray them with clean water. Stubborn muck could be removed with a soapy water mix by scrubbing the furniture. And during winters, the plastic and resin furniture may become brittle, leading to cracking. Therefore, it must be stored.
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Cushions
Make sure to use only cushions that are meant to be used outdoors. These pillows come with mildew and are waterproof. But they are still at risk of being stained by dirt, pollen, and other foreign objects in an outdoor setting, which is fully capable of growing mildew. Hence, they must be brushed, and vacuum cleaned regularly to remove the dirt along the seams where it mostly accumulates.
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Umbrellas
If the umbrellas come with a wire frame, you must lubricate the joints at least once a year. And if the frames are made of wood, their maintenance would be similar to that of wooden furniture. Likewise, if in good condition, the covers only require basic cleaning with soft-bristle brushes and soapy water.
Maintaining the furniture in an outdoor setting isn’t a job that requires much skill and can be pulled off without any hassle. Just keep in mind the instructions and cautions provided above to avoid making elementary mistakes and keep the process simple, just as it should be.
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