Caring for Garden Furniture and Garden Benches Properly
Caring
For Your Garden Benches and Chairs
Fine outdoor patio furniture like
garden benches are great for enjoying
the fruits of your labors and showing them
off to friends or family. The
garden, a
culmination of hours of hard work and care, is difficult to truly
appreciate
when standing which is precisely why a garden bench and other furniture
were
created for this tranquil space. Of
course, just as you do not want the weather to spoil your garden, you
also
don’t want it to make waste of your wooden outdoor
benches either.
Here are some ideas
for keeping your garden benches in pristine shape for years to come.
Exclusive garden
furniture like a teak or cedar bench
needs to be properly cared for or its life span will be dramatically
reduced and
it will need to be replaced sooner than necessary.
Wooden garden benches, like all wood outdoor
furniture, spends
its entire life facing the damaging effects of UV rays.
Direct sunlight (even indirect sunlight to a
lesser extent) will cause the wood finish in garden benches to fade
with
time. Unless you
are looking for that
rustic furniture look (in which case you need to do nothing),
you will need to apply some
kind of finish or paint to the wood to keep your fine outdoor furniture looking new.
When staining or applying a
protective varnish to your
wooden garden benches and chairs, you first must thoroughly wash the
furniture. While
some people recommend a
power washer, simple soap and water will work too but require a little
more
elbow grease. All
garden or outdoor benches need to
be cleaned at
the end of the season, but if you have the time, once a week
isn’t a bad idea
either if for no other reason than to keep your clothing clean when
sitting. Once the
garden benches are
free of mold, mildew, and dirt, it is time to apply the protective
stain or
varnish. A clear
polyurethane will
suffice for protecting your garden benches from damage caused by
rotting and
insects. But,
especially on benches and garden chairs that do not
have the benefit of shading, you will still probably need to stain the
pieces
at the end of each season to make up for the fading caused by the
sunlight. Whatever
you do, just make
sure that none of your garden benches have any exposed wood when you
are
done. Otherwise,
these will be the first
areas to succumb to rot and insect damage.
For luxury patio furniture like a teak bench curved
back, it is not
recommended that you paint the piece.
The high resin content in teak wood that
helps protect it so well against rotting and insects, tends to excrete
from the
wood over time and may not mix well with paint.
The effect may be some unsightly stains.
Besides, teak patio furniture is beautiful
in and of itself, so why paint over
it? Most woods are
ok to paint over, but
it is a good idea to check with the manufacturer to make sure that
painting
your garden benches and furniture will not lead to further problems on
down the
road.
Caring for your wooden garden benches
and chairs will ensure
that your furniture will remain pristine and lasting for years into the
future. Simply by
washing the garden
benches at the end of the season and protecting them with a finish or
stain are
some fairly simple steps to take in preserving your wooden outdoor
benches.
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