Patio furniture
Not one thing. A frame, a cushion and a cover made of three different materials, weathering outdoors at different rates and wanting three different answers.
Precautions
- Check the manufacturer's instructions
- Test on an inconspicuous area first
- Rinse thoroughly afterwards
Start here
What this is, what tends to go wrong with it, and what to do about it.
Made from
Which part are you cleaning?
These parts take different answers. Cleaning one the way you clean another is a common way to damage this.
- Outdoor cushion
A cover you may be able to wash and a filling you probably cannot. The fabric maker's first instruction about the cover is to ask the furniture maker.
Solution-dyed acrylic
Things not to use here
What tends to go wrong
- Algaevia its material
The green film outdoors, and NOT the same organism as the mould indoors. Where it grows is the diagnosis: shade, overhanging trees, or paving that does not drain.
Why it is difficult: Moisture control and recurrence
- Dustvia its material
Mostly textile fibres and skin, held by static as much as by gravity — which is why a dry cloth on a plastic surface makes it worse.
Why it is difficult: Static and dust, Mechanical action and abrasion, Why different surfaces get different dirt, Surface roughness
- Moss and lichenvia its material
Three different organisms treated as one green problem. Where they grow tells you more about the fix than any product does.
Why it is difficult: Moisture control and recurrence, Surface roughness
- Mouldvia its component
A living growth, not a stain. Killing it and removing the staining are two separate jobs, and neither addresses the moisture that caused it.
Why it is difficult: Porous and non-porous surfaces, Moisture control and recurrence, Cleaning, sanitising and disinfecting, Organic load, Surface roughness
The science behind this: Solvents and polymers, Mechanical action and abrasion
In detail
Patio furniture is a clear case of an object whose name hides the thing that decides the answer. A single chair is commonly a coated metal frame, a foam or fibre cushion, and a woven cover — and guidance for one is wrong for the others. The frame is usually aluminium with an organic or anodic finish, and the finish rather than the metal is what is at risk. What is inside the cushion is the part nobody can see, which is why the fabric maker's instruction for washing a cover begins by telling you to ask the FURNITURE maker first. Outdoors changes the problem in two ways indoor furniture never faces. Growth is the main one, and the fabric maker's position is that mildew grows not on the fabric but on the dirt, pollen and debris that settled on it — which makes routine washing preventive rather than cosmetic. The second is temperature: the aluminium finish guidance is emphatic that a sun-heated surface must not be cleaned, because reactions on hot metal run fast and unevenly. The honest rule is about sequence, not product: work out what each part is made of, clean in the shade, use the mildest thing that works, rinse, and let it dry.
Related
- Patio furniture has the component Outdoor cushion
- Patio furniture is made from Coated aluminium
- Patio furniture is made from Powder-coated aluminium
Sources for this page
Sources
AAMA 609 & 610-02: Cleaning and Maintenance Guide for Architecturally Finished Aluminum
American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA), 2002 · Standards body
Relied on for: That finished aluminium should be cleaned in the shade and never when sun-heated, that mild detergent and water is the starting point, and that aggressive acid or alkaline cleaners and abrasives must not be used on the finish. (states this directly)
Sunbrella Upholstery Care and Cleaning
Glen Raven, Inc. (Sunbrella), 2023 · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That the fabric does not promote mildew growth and that mildew grows instead on dirt and other foreign substances left on it, and that the furniture manufacturer must be consulted before removing a cushion casing. (states this directly)