Deck Furniture For Your Weather

The type of deck furniture you choose for your home depends in large part what sort of climate you live in. If your deck area experiences extremes of cold or heat then you need to have furniture that will hold up to that over many seasons.

If you have an enclosed patio then your furniture may be protected from the worst Mother Nature can throw at it. In that case, your main concern will be to choose furniture that has cushions you can remove and bring indoors when the humidity shoots up, like during storms.

Teak, cedar and oak patio furniture have similar qualities, but teak is the real stand-out. This dense hardwood has been used on fine boats and ships for generations, mainly because it has both an attractive wood grain and is very durable. The "tightness" of the grain is what helps the wood resist the elements.

With that being said, teak can also require a fair amount of maintenance if it's left in the weather and you want to keep the fresh orange glow it is known for. To keep that glow, you will want to reapply "teak oil" to the finish every season - perhaps more frequently. The frequency depends on the amount of weather the wood has experienced. If the wood has weathered significantly, the furniture may need to be sanded before applying the finish.

On the upside, outdoor furniture made from teak can last several generations, whether or not the finish is maintained. If the wood is allowed to weather, then it will take on a smooth grey sheen which has a beauty all its own.

Cedar and oak lumber prepared for outdoor use can also have a long lifetime, and usually does not carry the price premium of teak. Picnic tables in U.S. national parks are often made from cedar and their iconic status in the park system stands testament to their durability.

Other furniture, such as folding tables and Adirondack chairs made from cedar and oak have a bit more flexibility than teak, because people generally feel more comfortable painting over the surface. You can really get creative with this kind of furniture and create a color scheme to match your home and your personality.

Painting or staining will also help with the durability. Left out in the elements, cedar and oak will soon take on the weathered appearance. Left for too many seasons without care will cause even the most well made pieces to show cracks. If you like the look and feel of real wood and intend to keep this furniture outdoors year 'round, then it's important to get furniture covers for the off season and even keep up with the finish, whether is paint or stain.

The bottom line with these woods is that teak will keep up longer than other woods under most conditions. Cedar and oak can also provide many seasons of service, but requires a bit more TLC when exposed to the elements.

People take a look at metal furniture with the thought that it will be the most durable that they can find. That can be true when metal furniture is well taken care of. But as with anything it kept outdoors, if it's completely neglected than it will not last as long.

We'll start with the easiest to care for and most adaptable for most climates. That would be aluminum. Aluminum furniture will never rust, and aluminum furniture can either be all aluminum which would almost require getting patio chair cushions. A lot of aluminum furniture may also just be aluminum frames with a fabric, which would not necessarily require questions.

The only major downside with regards to durability with aluminum is that it is very light. Which is actually an advantage if you expect to be moving furniture around. But if you live in area of the country that is windy, you could be chasing your patio furniture around the yard when that wind kicks up.

Iron is one of the more classic materials, such as teak, that you'll find furniture made from. The classic appearance is black wrought iron. With iron, the most obvious maintenance concern is making sure it does not rust. The coating on a new set of wrought iron furniture should last for at least a season or two before showing wear.

You can extend the new appearance by a waxing the furniture, at least once a season and drying it before storage, if it's stored. Properly cared for, wrought iron furniture can last for hundreds of years in all kinds of climates. However, it is best if you plan to never move his furniture again once it's in place, as it is very heavy.

Steel is another material that is very long-lasting, and has similar climate considerations as wrought iron. When it comes near it should have some sort of finish or paint that will protect it from the elements for a least a couple of seasons. Steel furniture with a quality finish can almost be treated as you would your car's finish. Keeping it clean, and waxing perhaps once a year, will keep it in like new condition. This furniture can also be very heavy and is good for windy areas.

Stainless steel will not require a finish to keep the rust free for the most part, but regular steel will need to be painted, or at least kept dry, in order to keep its appearance.

With all these metals, one of the quality features to look for is welded parts rather than bolted together furniture. Welded furniture will have a longer lifespan, and you don't have to worry about the bolt hardware having a different lifespan than the furniture is holding together in harsh climates.

Up until recently, I steered well clear plastic patio furniture. I never recommended it, and I never talked about it mainly because what I had seen was cheap, temporary, and did not add to the value of a home.

However, there is something new on the block that is just fantastic and I wholeheartedly recommend. There are companies that take recycled plastic and create lumber out of that material. Patio furniture companies then take that lumber and create great looking pieces of furniture from it.

This is a great solution to all the plastic that is going into landfills. By making lumber out of this material. You can build all sorts of things, not just patio furniture. The upside is that you can have furniture that is durable, holds up to the most extreme weather conditions year-to-year, and still looks great.

I do want to stress the point that I'm not talking about flimsy plastic furniture that you would find at your local discount store. You want to look for well made, well-crafted, furniture that would be hard to distinguish from other materials until you walked up to touch it or move it around.

From a weathering perspective, there really are no downsides to this kind of furniture. There is an aesthetic limitation, in that you will have to select a color for the furniture that will work with your outdoor decor. You don't get the natural or classic looks of metal or wood, they do have furniture that will last practically forever and can give you additional creativity if you like a colorful outdoors.

The first thought about wicker may be that it's not going to be very durable at all for outdoor weather conditions. After all, wicker furniture of a generation ago was made from fiber materials which would tend to retain moisture and, as vegetable matter can do, begin to rot. I still remember grandma's wicker furniture that she left outside that had black spots around and in between the crevices, because mold and mildew had begun to grow on it.

These days, however, wicker furniture is often made from resins, which look just like the natural fiber material. Again, I wouldn't normally recommend plastics, but the resins are spun and wound just as you would the natural material, and so give the appearance of fine furniture. The colors and designs available with this furniture are very creative and will actually work in any climate that we can throw at it.

Resin wicker chairs are sturdy enough that they won't be easily blown by the wind, but yet not too heavy that they can't be moved for convenience.

When buying furniture made of combinations of the above materials, unique take into consideration. The weather characteristics of each. Because you'll have to plan for the wicker characteristics of the least resilient material in the list.

One material not mentioned in this list is class. That's mainly because you don't typically find entire sets made of class only. You will typically find glass in a metal or wood frame. The special consideration with class is that depending on trees in your area and what sort of Paul and I have, it may ask the glass. And depending on how fastidious you are about keeping furniture clean, constantly needing to clean off the glass tabletops could become a time-consuming chore.

Otherwise, selections of different furniture materials can make for some stunning and classic looks. One of my favorites is the iron and teak benches found in many city parks. These benches use iron frames with teak wood slats. I think these look great when the teak and iron have weathered a bit, and they help give a park area real character.