Cleaning Your Garden Furniture for Storage

Care and Cleaning Advice

With the bright summer days and bank holiday memories already fading fast, you are probably thinking about storing away your garden furniture. As cleaners in Hazel Grove, who offer a professional upholstery cleaning service, we know that looking after all types of furniture is essential in order to prolong its life. So, we have pulled together our top tips for cleaning metal, plastic teak and wooden garden furniture to make life as easy as possible for you.

Metal

The most common cleaning issues you will face with metal garden furniture is rusting – thanks to the delightful English weather! In order to get rid of rust on metal furniture try:

  • Using a metal polishing paste or a solution of white vinegar and water. Avoid using ammonia or alkaline cleaners as these can actually cause oxidation.
  • Hose down your furniture to clean off any residue and then protect it with a coat or two of car wax.

Plastic

Plastic garden furniture is probably the easiest type to keep clean, although if it is white, it will soon look dirty again! To help restore it to its former glory:

  • Mix 50ml of white vinegar with 100ml of warm water and use this to wipe down your plastic furniture, finishing off with the hose.
  • If there are some stubborn stains on there, just sprinkle some bicarbonate of soda on a cloth and use this to remove them.
  • Dry the plastic garden furniture off and apply some WD40 to bring back the shine – remembering to use it sparingly and wipe it down well so that you don’t stain your clothing when sitting on it.

Teakcleaning garden furniture

Teak is growing in popularity as a material for garden furniture, as it is more resistant to many outdoor elements than soft and hard wood is. Also, teak tends not to need oiling or varnishing like more traditional types of wood do. However, this does not mean that you don’t need to clean it and protect it a little bit.

  • To clean teak, all you should need to do is hose it down with some hot water.
  • If there is some stubborn dirt, such as bird droppings for example, then just give it a slight scrub with some warm soapy water and a non-abrasive cloth.
  • Do not be tempted to oil your teak furniture at all, as if it is made from Grade A teak this will destroy its natural oils and mean that you will have to keep oiling it on a regular basis to maintain its resistance to the weather.

Wood

Wooden garden furniture is really popular these days, as it fits right into a natural surroundings, however, cleaning wooden garden furniture can be quite a tough job. If your furniture is wooden, not teak, you can look after it by:

  • Using a solution of sugar soap and warm water which you apply with a scrubbing brush. For more stubborn areas of dirt, leave the solution on the furniture for a few minutes before scrubbing.
  • Rinse the furniture using a hosepipe rather than a pressure washer (which many damage it).
  • To get rid of any mildew, mix 1 cup of bleach with 1 cup of washing powder and half a bucket of warm water. Lather this mixture onto your wooden garden furniture and then leave it to soak in for five minutes. Then all you have to do is hose it off and your mildew problem should be solved.

For more information on our professional upholstery cleaning services, please contact Maid2Maid cleaners in Hazel Grove on 0161 217 1332 or drop us an email at [email protected]