Outdoor Wicker Patio Furniture – 5 Tips to Taking Care of it

Now that you’ve invested in patio furniture, you’ll want to ensure that it will provide lasting enjoyment. Luckily, wicker patio furniture sets can be well maintained for years with only a few simple steps.

Wicker furniture has special needs not shared with other types of outdoor furniture. Neglecting your wicker furniture and not providing the proper care will cause the furniture to dry out and crack or warp. You can prevent these problems and ensure the long-lasting beauty of your wicker year after year by following these five simple tips:

Choose High Quality Pieces: Perhaps the most important thing you can do to ensure lasting patio furniture is to select high-quality pieces in the first place. For wicker, be sure that your pieces are made with an aluminum or metal frame. In addition, the wicker weave should be tight enough that you cannot see the frame through the weavee.

Eliminate Dirt and Grime: Wipe down your patio furniture periodically with a damp cloth and mild soap. Do not get the wicker too wet as soggy wicker can warp and stretch. To clean your furniture more thoroughly, at the end of the season, you can usually use a hose safely unless the furniture is painted or antique and could be damaged by the strong water pressure.

Prevent Dryness and Warping: Wicker patio furniture sets should be placed in a shady area. Direct sunlight will dry out natural wicker fibers and cause them to become brittle. Also, keep furniture covered and out of the rain. If your patio pieces should get wet, make sure no one sits on them until they are completely dry. Wet wicker can become permanently warped and irreparable.

Replenish Moisture: At the end of the season apply a protective coat of oil to your wicker furniture. This will help your furniture to replenish its moisture. Your furniture should be thoroughly dried before the oil is applied. Carefully rub boiled linseed oil into the fibers and wipe off the excess oil with paper towels. Afterward, the wicker should look shiny. If not, keep applying oil to the wicker until it will not absorb anymore. A note of caution, linseed oil is flammable so be careful when getting rid of the used paper towels. You should allow your furniture to dry for at least 24 hours before you use it again.

Provide Protection during the Off-Season: Wicker does not hold up well under the elements so when it turns cold you will need to move your furniture inside to a dry location. If you don’t have room to store the furniture during the winter, supply a quality cover for your furniture. Wicker patio furniture sets will become damaged if left outside for extended periods during inclement weather.

With proper care, wicker furniture can create a warm and inviting atmosphere for any patio. There is a huge selection of wicker styles and colors to choose from to complement any dcor. You can also choose between traditional and more contemporary styled pieces. By choosing the best pieces for your outdoor space and caring for them properly, you will have beautiful patio furniture for years of outdoor fun and entertainment.

There are many types of wicker furnitures, with so many options to choose from, selecting the right one for your family isn’t always easy. Visit outdoor wicker patio furniture to get help comparing the many options available.

Green Solution: Used Office Furniture

Climate change and overall environment concerns have prompted many individuals and groups to come up with more ways to use our natural resources more efficiently. Companies and businesses may not know it, but they contribute to the effort simply by buying used office furniture or refurbishing their existing furniture. This is actually a practical application of the three R’s of waste minimization: reduce, reuse and recycle.

Forty workstations destined for the landfill can fill up one tractor-trailer. Imagine the amount of waste that can be eliminated if these workstations are recycled. We are not only reducing waste, but conserving natural resources as well. For every pound of natural resources we use to repair or add value to an existing product, we are saving five to nine pounds of virgin material that would have been used to create a new piece.

Recycling or reusing furniture is practical, given that many office tables, chairs, sofas, bookshelves and desks taken to landfills are still structurally sound. They are not really damaged or broken, just outdated or slightly worn perhaps. A common reason why companies discard these pieces is that they no longer fit the color scheme or layout of a new or renovated office space.

Recycling means saving unwanted office furniture from the landfill and reselling them with or without additional repairs. This is done through remanufacturing, refurbishing or simple reuse. As the saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Not all second-hand furniture or office cubicles need repairs or changes before they can be resold. These are referred to as reused furniture and are put up for sale as is. Suppliers need little effort to make these pieces saleable, so this kind of recycled furniture is the least expensive of the three types.

Refurbishing office furniture means adding value by repairing structural damage and making cosmetic improvements to them before selling. Companies also have the option of refurbishing their current furniture to make them look brand new, match a certain color scheme or fit a physical space. Some examples are repairing the broken arm of a chair, reupholstering panels of office cubicles and adding new laminate surfaces to desks or tables.

Remanufactured office furniture also has value added to it, but includes structural level changes. This involves complete disassembly of the furniture, after which parts are inspected, cleaned then repaired or replaced. The entire thing is put back together and refinished. For example, refurbishing old office cubicles includes repainting, application of new fabric on the panels, stripping and replacing of laminate, edge banding and molding.

Recycling furniture benefits not just buyers and the environment, but suppliers as well. Studies show that changing or repairing an existing product needs less than 90 percent manufacturing effort and energy than creating a new product. Thus, companies dealing with used office furniture and office cubicles are able to run an operation that is both labor and energy saving.

Company’s can save a good amount of money if they purchase used office furniture because it can be half the price of new furniture. Not only is it cost effective but the quality can be the same. Craig Mather works to help companies find money saving used cubicle furniture by consulting with companies about it.