Aluminium Garden FurnitureGarden Furniture Design

Modern designers use a huge range of materials to create garen furniture, including plastic, wood and metal.  Different materials have different advantages; knowing them can help buyers make the right choice when deciding which is the best kind for their needs.

Plastic garden furniture is relatively cheap, quite resiliant and naturally waterproof.  It can be left outside all year round without suffering too much damage and can be hosed-down if it ever gets dirty. It is worth being aware that water does get caught in the folds and corners of the furniture, allowing dirt to collect quite easily.  Plastic furniture rarely out-lasts higher quality furniture, but is quite a lot cheaper.

Wooden furniture is much classier than plastic, but is also a lot more expensive.  Although it is highly robust, it can suffer from exposure the elements and for this reason many people put it away in bad weather and treat it periodically to increase longevity and reduce the damage of moisture and mould.  The most common wood used for garden furniture is teak, which contains anti-fungal silica and is resilient to rotting, warping and swelling.  Teak is also quite fire-resistant and resiliant to acid and alkali as well!  If treated regularly, teak furniture can last a very long time.

Metal garden furniture is the most robust and resiliant of the materials used to make garden funiture.  Although rust is a problem for iron furniture, aluminium is a stylish and popular alterntive.  Lighter and shinier than iron, aluminium furniture is strong, resiliant, easy to clean and easy to move around.  High-quality aluminium furniture can be left outside all year long with no treatment and suffer no damage.

Different people will benefit most from differnt types of furniture.  Modern techniques mean that any materials will do their job well; a lot of the choice is down to the style.

Sometimes people get tired of their garden furniture and want to replace it – it’s natural.  However, instead of buying a new set of expensive furniture, why not consider painting your old set instead?  With a little time and effort, you can have a nice, new-looking set of furniture with a much smaller financial investment!  What’s more, painting your furniture can actually help protect it from the element, increasing its longevity.

Painting wooden furniture is fairly self-explanatory so, in this post, I explain how to go about painting aluminium garden furniture – a trickier job.  Before you start, remember to take off the cushions!  It’s also advisable to put the furniture on a surface where paint splashes and spills won’t be the end of the world – if you are using spray paint, make sure the area is well ventilated as well.

To start with, wash the furniture completely using a metal sponge and mild soapy water; you will need the surface to be clean and smooth before you start painting it.  Next up, you will have to apply a primer coat specifically designed for aluminium – this is important so don’t scrimp on it!  Beforehand, many people apply a thin layer of vinegar to the surface to etch the aluminium before the primer; this works well, but you must be sure to rub the vinegar off again before you proceed!

Once the aluminium is primed, paint on a base layer of oil-based enamel using either a brush or spray-can.  Spray is advisable for small pieces, due to its ability to provide an even coat and get into small corners.  Once the first (base) coat is done, make sure you let it dry before applying the second coat – otherwise you risk the old colour showing through.

Finally, leave the furniture to try in a cool, dry place – preferably where there are no insects to fly into it!

Although aluminium makes up 8% of the Earth’s solid surface by weight, using recycled aluminium to make garden furniture only takes 5% of the energy required to produce aluminium from ore.  For this reason, using recycled aluminium is high advantageous in the fight to reduce the damage we are doing to the planet.  The process of hand-crafting garden furniture from waste aluminium starts with smelting, in which ingots of aluminium are heated in crucibles until they melt into liquid aluminium.  This liquid metal is then hand-poured at a constant, continuous rate into sand moulds of the required component and left to cool naturally. 

When cooled and hardened, the sand-cast components are assembled.  In most cases they are bolted together for speed, allowing a quick turn over of products.  However, in the highest-quality manufacturing processes, the components welded together by hand, to using an aluminium solder to create a single piece of furniture.  This lack of fixings means provides the best possible stability and strength and makes welded furniture far preferable to the more common, bolted alternative.

Most alumimum garden funitureis a good choice, but recycled aluminium garden furniture is even better.

Aluminium garden furniture is very durable, highly resistant to corrosion and can be safely left outside in all seasons and all types of weather (hurricanes notwithstanding).  However, here is some advice for those owners of aluminium garden furniture who want to keep it looking extra special for the summer months.

If you are thinking about storing your aluminium garden furniture away over the winter, the first thing you should know is that this isn’t always necessary.  Aluminium doesn’t rust, rot or warp like most materials used for garden furniture; some companies even offer a lifetime structural warranties that guarantee replacement furniture in the event of any of the above.  What’s more, high quality cast aluminium garden furniture won’t fade, crack or chip either – meaning that no maintenance is required whatsoever all year round, even if you do leave it outside!

If you absolutely have to feel like you are doing something to protect your garden furniture during the winter months, consider applying some oil to it to further protect it from oxidation. 

If you are still not convinced and want to hide your furniture away from the cold and the snow, then be sure to stack it the correct way up.  Putting your furniture upside-down allows moisture to collect inside hollow legs and tubes; when the cold comes and this moisture freezes, there is a chance it could damage the furniture you care so much about.

My advice is to buy from a high quality retailer and leave it out all year round with confidence!

As modern homes become ever-more fashionable, so too does aluminium garden furniture continue to rise in popularity.  Here is some advice to help those people with aluminium garden furniture keep it looking classy.

First and foremost – read the care instructions!  The manufacturers didn’t put them there for fun; they are genuinely useful pieces of advice that will greatly improve the longevity of your furniture.  Different types of aluminium require different maintenance so, if nothing else, find out exactly what your garden furniture is made from!

Most the time, simply hosing your garden furniture down is the best way to keep the aluminium clean.  For tougher cleaning jobs, add some mild soap to the mix; nothing to strong, because this may well damage the finish.  Other things that could damage the finish included suntan lotion and insect repellent, so be sure to clean these off as quickly as possible if they come into contact with the frame.  It’s frustrating I know, considering the abundance of both lotion and repellent that we use over the summer months – the time for which we bought the furniture in the first place!  If you don’t have a special finish to your aluminium garden furniture, it really helps to rub a little car wax over it now and then, to keep up the shine.