The pieces of your outdoor furniture are exposed to harsh weather conditions which makes it important to clean them up regularly. Luckily, you can do the job all by yourself by using easily-available supplies.
Check out the simple tutorial on how to clean outdoor furniture below.
How to Clean Outdoor Furniture
Grab these supplies:
- Warm water
- Dishwashing detergent
- Spray bottle
- Clean cloth
- Toothbrush
- Soft brush
- Gallon bucket
- Baking soda for resin furniture
- WD-40 for resin furniture
- Oil-based soap for wood and wicker furniture
- White vinegar for metal furniture
Follow the steps below:
Always start with the cushion
For the pieces of furniture which come with cushions, you should start washing them first.
If you have the removable cushions cover, you can just toss them into your washing machine. This method is enough to clean up any dirt, debris, and grimes that stick on your cushions.
If you got the non-removable ones, you need to create your own cleaning solution. Here’s what you can do:
- Mix a quart of warm water with one teaspoon of dishwashing detergent in a spray bottle.
- Spray the cleaning mixture over the cushion thoroughly, and leave it for around 10 minutes,
- Hose them off and let them air-dry under sun exposure.
Wash the furniture
This step is applicable for all types of materials since it’s just meant to simply remove loose debris and grime. Grab the hose and set the nozzle to the strong flow to ensure that the loose debris, soil, sand, and pollen are removed completely.
If you don’t have good access to a water source, you can skip this step, but you need to put extra energy and time into the next process.
(You may also like: This is How to Clean Wood Furniture Properly All by Yourself)
Cleaning the furniture
When it comes to cleaning outdoor furniture, different materials require different treatments. The easiest to maintain above all is plastic furniture, for wood you need to be extra careful since it’s a natural material, iron and metal are also fairly easy to maintain tho you may need to check for oxidation.
Wood furniture cleaning steps
- Mix an oil-based soap (like Murphy Oil Soap) with warm water.
- Rub the furniture with a rag or sponge which is dipped into the cleaning mixture to remove stuck-on grime.
- For the pieces which are heavily dirty, you might need to use a toothbrush.
Plastic or resin furniture cleaning steps
- Sprinkle some baking soda on the surface of your wood furniture. This will create a mild abrasive that will work to remove the stains.
- Dip a washcloth into warm water and wipe down the furniture.
- To remove difficult stains, you can use white vinegar which can work really well to handle them.
Iron or metal furniture cleaning steps
- Mix equal parts of water and white vinegar to remove the stains from oxidizing.
- Once you are sure that you have cleaned the visible stains, mix some water with dish soap then clean the surface of the furniture thoroughly.