With the onset of warm days, you want to spend more and more time outdoors, so it is important to furnish the site with comfortable and functional garden furniture that will delight you for more than one year. Manufacturers offer a wide variety of materials from plastic to rattan. Some of them require special operating conditions and careful maintenance, others are easy to use, but short-lived. We invite you to consider the main types of garden furniture and make the right choice.
Metal
Metal furniture is fundamental and durable. It can be made of aluminum, cast iron or steel. Forged furniture looks especially elegant and stylish; it can be made according to your own design and sketch. But the cost of such a product will be quite high.
With proper care, metal furniture will serve its owners for a very long time, its service life is 20 years or more. To preserve its beauty, it should be coated with special compounds against corrosion, and when cleaning, use slightly alkaline agents.
For the winter period, such furniture is rubbed with wax and covered with snow. Before this, you should inspect the item for damage to the paint and scratches, which, if found, must be processed. In the season of outdoor use, it is important to remove bird droppings from the surface in time, since the aggressive elements contained in it will leave a corrosive mark.
It should be remembered that metal furniture requires preliminary preparation of the site for its placement, otherwise its legs will go into the ground under the weight of the weight.
Wood
Wooden furniture will perfectly fit into almost any garden and will decorate the site. It looks best among paved paths, artificial ponds and symmetrical flower beds. Furniture can be collapsible, collapsible for easy storage, or monolithic. As a rule, teak, acacia, larch and beech wood are used in its manufacture. The quality of wooden furniture depends on its value. Inexpensive tables, chairs and benches require additional processing to help extend their lifespan. Manufacturers of expensive furniture use moisture-resistant wood species and high-quality compounds for its processing. But even such furniture requires periodic maintenance.
Once every six months, it is recommended to treat it with special impregnations to prevent the appearance of rot and mold, and lubricate the metal elements with an anti-corrosion agent. For the winter, it is better to clean wooden furniture in a dry room, after packing it in a dense fabric. Subject to all operating conditions, it can last up to 15 years or more. In the open air, the tree will begin to deteriorate after 3-5 years.
Plastic
Plastic furniture is perhaps the most popular among summer residents. It is lightweight, compact and, most importantly, inexpensive. The stores offer a wide selection of its colors, shapes and configurations. If the house is finished with plastic siding and has bright colors, then plastic furniture will be a great addition to the backyard interior.
When choosing it, you should take into account the maximum load weight, since plastic has different strengths. As a rule, the cost of the product depends on this indicator.
It should be remembered that the bright colors of inexpensive furniture can burn out strongly even during the season of operation, therefore, if it is absent for a long time, it is better to remove it under a shady canopy. For the winter, plastic garden furniture is also removed to a place protected from snow so that it does not crack under its weight.
In care, it is completely unpretentious - periodically you should wipe the plastic with a damp cloth from leaves, insects and sand that have fallen on it.And to get rid of stubborn stains will help tartar gruel (seasoning) and 20 ml of lemon juice (or vinegar 9%), applied to the place of pollution for 30 minutes.
Rattan
Rattan is a climbing plant with a vine diameter of up to 7 cm. It is used in the manufacture of wicker furniture, is expensive, but looks sophisticated and very respectable.
Rattan garden furniture is the most whimsical in terms of care. Even insignificant natural whims, habitual for the middle lane, have a detrimental effect on it. Rain, sun, high or, conversely, low temperatures - all this can lead to its rapid wear and tear and deformation of the weaving. The rattan should be regularly varnished to renew the protective layer; during the rain, furniture must be removed under a canopy, and on a hot day, transferred to the shade. In the presence of fabric elements, it is important that the product is marked "UV resistant", otherwise the pattern will quickly fade, and the piece of furniture will lose its attractiveness.
You cannot stand on a rattan chair with your feet or sit on its surface, which is wet after the rain - this will lead to breakage of the rods. Rattan tables and chairs will feel comfortable in a covered garden gazebo, protected from the sun, rain and wind. In winter, pieces of furniture should be processed, carefully sheathed exclusively in a dense fabric and put away in a dry, ventilated place.
The maximum weight for a frameless rattan product is 90 kg, but the presence of a metal frame increases it to 150 kg.
Combined furniture
The combination of different materials in the manufacture of garden furniture allows you to extend its service life and facilitate the maintenance procedure. Combinations of wood and metal are most common, when furniture has a solid metal frame, and backs, seats or tabletops are made using wooden elements. This combination allows you to preserve the base of tables and chairs for a long time, and over time only replace parts damaged by weather and years.
DIY furniture
Many gardeners prefer not to buy furniture, but to make it themselves. Most often, wood becomes the material at hand. It is easier to work with it, you can either buy it in a store or chop it up in the nearest forest, and the work does not require special skills and abilities, only working tools are needed.
The main thing is to sand the surface and edges of the future bench or table in order to avoid getting a splinter. To preserve the wood, the furniture is covered with special compounds. Garden plots include pallet or barrel tables, log benches, and hemp chairs. Such furniture adds individuality and special comfort to the site, and most importantly, it practically does not require material costs for manufacturing.
