Cleaning Patio Furniture
I think most people would agree that wooden patio furniture looks much classier than plastic furniture on the whole. The material is much nicer to sit on that cheap plastic chairs and if it’s good quality, then much more durable as well. The problem in my eyes is the fact that wooden furniture can become dirtier much quicker than plastic furniture. If fact, wooden garden furniture needs to be cleaned annually which can become a daunting prospect.
Wooden furniture is created in all different types of wood, from cheaper wicker wood, to the more robust teaks and oaks. These hard wearing woods weather pretty well, but a lot of low budget woods can take a battering from the weather. This does not mean that the cheaper soft woods have to be avoided, you can still get them back to their former glory, you just have to be careful with them.
I would recommend keeping a lot of garden furniture locked away in the winter months, somewhere like a shed or greenhouse away from the rain and snow. Sometimes however, this is not an option due to a lack of space.
So the correct tools needed to clean your furniture are pretty straight forward.
1) A scrubbing brush
2) Rubber gloves
3) Hot soapy water (or washing up liquid)
The first thing to do is to use your stiff brush to scrub off and loose dirt from your chairs and tables. Once this surface dirt has been removed, its time to use the soapy water. Soak your scrubbing brush into the soapy water and then making sure it is nice and wet, start to scrub your furniture.
After the furniture has been scrubbed clean, you will then need to wash away the soapy water before you stand it out to dry. If you have a hose pipe handy, then use this, otherwise you are going to need to make several trips to the kitchen sink to pour buckets of water over your soapy furniture.
The final step if you want to minimise the workload for next time would be to use a teak oil to preserve your wood. Wood will fade if left untreated, so it is best to try and coat your wooden furniture in teak oil if you have some handy.