Treating outdoor wooden furniture (maintenance and repair)

Peter Rogan Sep 22, 2023 Spring 2019 0 Comments

If you buy wooden furniture for outdoor use, then the wood needs to be protected from the elements outside, we have sun damage, humidity which can cause the wood to weather so this also causes the wood to splinter and for insects and fungus to thrive inside the wood not to mention the faded appearance,

So in order to keep the wood at a quality standard we recommend the following

1/ Oil the wood twice a year, preferably every six months, in spring and autumn.

2/ Repair any cracks or holes with a wood filler, as these are the cracks that allow the elements to attack the wood from the inside and cause major problems such as large cracks and insect infestation.

3/ All wood needs to be sanded back down to the original wood to allow the oil and/or protector products to soak into the wood to give the wood a good seal of protection.

4/ Make sure you have the right tools for the job, depending on the size of the job you will need small and large sanding machines as well as palm sanders and also hand sanders along with different grades of sandpaper, ideally the wood will need 2-5 coats of oil depending on its use and protection required.

4/ Choose the best oil for the particular type of wood, as there are many different types of oil on the market now, and many types of wood now used for outdoor use, with the most popular woods now being, Teak wood, Suar wood, Angelim wood, Iroko wood, Eucalyptus wood, Acacia wood, Tali wood as well as many more, Many oils can change the colour of the wood, with a yellowish tint, In our experience the colourless water based oils work well to retain the original colour much better than the synthetic oils which often make the woods darker than their original colours, this is only a personal preference as many people prefer the darker oils and even wood stains as they feel the synthetic oils give their furniture more protection and last longer.

5/ Do the work properly to get the best protection, choose a warmer and dry day especially if you are doing the work outside, remember to sand the wood back to its original natural state and not just do some areas as this will cause patchy colours as they will not blend and colour match even using the same brand and type of oil, it must all be done at the same time same colour, remember to sand between coats of oil with good quality sand paper as when you apply oil to a new natural surface the wood and oil often react and cause a bumpy grainy surface, We recommend that you do this by hand so that you do not over sand and remove the entire coat of oil, it just needs to be sanded down to make it smooth again, you will need to continue this process of oiling and sanding until the oil has penetrated and completely sealed the wood surface, this can take 2-5 coats depending on the type of wood, but remember you will need to allow the oil to dry between coats which can take some time especially in the colder / wetter months.

6/ We also recommend using UPVC waterproof furniture covers to protect your furniture, this will reduce the risk of sun damage and provide some annual protection, but we still recommend oiling the furniture twice a year even with furniture covers.

Now at White Cactus we offer a wooden furniture protection service, depending on the time of year and the size of the items we can come and collect the furniture and work with it from our warehouse or for larger items i.e. larger tables which we would do this on site where the furniture is located, We can also do painting for metal/iron furniture for a restoration, We are also open to other materials also that might benefit from some TLC after a hard summer open to the elements, like natural rattan and softer wood that are not usually used for outdoor spaces like some of the other outdoor tropical woods available.

Who might benefit and want to use this service? After selling and delivering lots of furniture to many properties over the years we have seen a lot of people who would really benefit from this service as many people do not have the time, tools or even know how to do the wood protection, For example here in Ibiza many of our clients have their second homes or even holiday homes here or their properties are rented, So they only pass by for a short period of time so they do not have the time to be able to do this. We are happy to do the wood colour restoration for you,

We have had quite a few years of experience with wood as we have had many project where we have had to make tables cut to size colour changes and good protection for