Winter And Patio Furniture
As the leaves begin to fall and the winter months begin to roll in we all recognize that it is time to close the pool. What is often forgotten is that your casual furniture needs some attention as well. Naturally, if you have a place to store your furniture that is your best option, but if you don’t have the luxury of storing your furniture please make sure you take the necessary steps to protect it. There are a wide variety of furniture covers to protect your investment from the harsh effects of winter. There are covers for everything from individual pieces to complete table sets. If your furniture is cast aluminum a cover should suffice. If your frames are in any way hollow there are probably “weep holes” in the frame to make sure water doesn’t stay in the frame and potentially freeze. Manufacturers will not cover freeze damage under most warranties so this is especially important. If you have a stone top of some kind be sure to seal the top with the recommended sealer. Some manufacturers may have very specific requirements for winter protection so make sure you check any hang tags on your merchandise for suggestions. While many products could weather the storm, so to speak, you will only improve the life span of your furniture by covering it and following a few preventative procedures.
Preparing Your Outdoor Furniture For Spring
The calendar says it is spring, and hopefully Mother Nature gets the message soon and doesn’t allow winter to return for a long time! For many of us, spring means getting our casual furniture sets uncovered or out of the shed, garage or basement. Depending on how it was stored, and how motivated we were last fall, it probably could use a good cleaning. In this blog, I am going to talk about cleaning sling furniture, as I have sling furniture at home, and it is far and away the most common type of furniture.
Sling furniture is so easy to clean, especially with the right cleaner. At the start of each season, I move my chairs and chaise lounges out to a sunny area and spray them down with the garden hose. While they are still wet, I use my special weapon on them, which is Feron’s 1 For All Cleaner, which is also known as Feronclean. (I used to use just soap and water until I noticed that the thin white stripes in the sling material had become thin gray stripes over the years. Soap and water wasn’t doing the job as well as I had thought.) I let the Feronclean sit for several minutes, and then I lightly scrub the sling with a soft bristled scrub brush. With a rinse and a wipe down to dry, the job is finished and my white stripes are white again.
I learned from experience how well Feronclean works, and in the years that Eastgate Pools has carried this product, we have heard many stories similar to mine about how well it works. Of all of the products in our furniture accessory department, Feronclean is the one that is most requested by name. (Legal stuff: read product label before using)
Save Your Umbrella & Save Your Table!
I have been in the swimming pool, spa and casual furniture business since 1980, and I have seen many changes. Some things never change, though. Each year, too many people have to prematurely replace their patio furniture umbrella and/or patio table, all because they left the umbrella up when they weren’t home. Just one example is the following true story.
A few years back, I was delivering some casual furniture to a customer’s home. They had taken delivery of a patio table and chairs a few weeks earlier, but had ordered a couple of additional accessory pieces. When these pieces arrived, the customer had told me to deliver them out anytime, even if they weren’t home. That afternoon, when I arrived at the house, I noticed that the umbrella was up, and I also knew that the weather forecast had mentioned potential storms. I lowered the umbrella, and sure enough, the storms came later that day. A few weeks later, that same customer was calling to find out about ordering a new umbrella and patio table. You guessed it! They had left the umbrella up again and another storm came through and damaged the umbrella and table.
Sails move sailboats, and when an umbrella is left up and unattended in windy weather, you have just installed a big sail on your outdoor table. When I work with casual furniture customers, I always recommend leaving the umbrella down except for the times when the outdoor furniture is being used and enjoyed. A minute of precaution can save you lots of money and aggravation. David
