MR. MOVE UP’S HOME TIPS!!!
August 22nd, 2008 Categories: Dripping Springs Real Estate News
Home Maintenance Tip -
Cleaning Outdoor Furniture Keep your outdoor furniture sparkling and ready for barbecues, parties and leisurely weekends with these handy cleaning solutions:
Conventional Plastic Web Lawn Chairs
Clean plastic webbing with an all-purpose cleaner, using a scrub brush to remove stains. If the webbing is looking dingy, try mixing some detergent and a half-cup of bleach in one gallon of water to use as a cleaning solution. As a last resort, local hardware stores sell kits for re-webbing a chair when the original webbing resists your best cleaning efforts or has deteriorated beyond use. To keep the aluminum frames opening and closing easily, fill an eyedropper with vegetable oil and squirt into all the joints. If the aluminum has corroded, polish very lightly with a fine-grade steel wool..
Stacking Resin Chairs
White resin - Use a cleaning solution of three tablespoons of automatic dishwashing detergent dissolved in one gallon of warm water. The dishwashing detergent contains a bleaching agent that will whiten the plastic. Note: Do not use this cleaning solution on colored resin.
Colored resin - Most commercial cleaners are too abrasive to be used on resin lawn furniture. To keep from scratching or dulling the surface, clean with a wet sponge dipped in baking soda, using circular motions, then rinse well. Soapy water will work well on lightly soiled chairs.
To bring back color and shine to faded resin furniture, simply spray with WD-40 and wipe with a clean, dry cloth - you’ll be surprised at the results!
Rattan and Wicker
First, dust the furniture or use a soft brush to remove debris from crevices. Clean with a mixture of one tablespoon of dishwashing soap to one gallon of water, and rinse well. Let them dry thoroughly before using again because the fibers can stretch while wet. If one of the stems on the back of the chair is broken, simply glue the pieces together and tape above and below the glued joint to stabilize while drying overnight.
Teak
Teak is one of the most durable and low maintenance woods used in outdoor furniture. If it is oiled, it will retain its warm, reddish-brown color. If left untreated, it will weather to a silver-gray patina.
If your teak furniture requires cleaning, this can be done with a VERY soft brush or pad and some warm, soapy water. Wash down afterwards with clean water. Do not use high-pressure hoses, and steel wool or steel wire brushes should not be used at all, as any residue left in the grain will rust and discolor the wood.
If the furniture has some stubborn and heavily ingrained stains, these can be removed by sanding with a fine grade of sandpaper, working only with the direction of the timber grain. After sanding the stains away, you may wish to re-oil the area, or if the furniture had previously been left natural, the fresh teak color exposed by sanding will soon mellow in with the existing patina.
These helpful hints were brought to you by Mr. Move Up
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Comment by Madonna Castillo — November 12, 2008 #