How Do You Maintain Adirondack Chairs?

Adirondack chairs are an amazing choice for outdoor seating. They look great and are quite relaxing to sit on. However, since they are always placed outside, they are at risk of being exposed to the elements. This can easily cause the chairs to lose color and even get damaged.

So, how do you maintain Adirondack chairs? This primarily depends on what type of Adirondack chair you have. The article will try to help you by giving you tips on how to ensure your outdoor seating arrangements don’t get overwhelmed by the elements.

Cleaning Plastic Adirondack Chair

Adirondack Chair Material

Adirondack chairs primarily come in two different types based on what material is used to construct them. These two types are:

Plastic Adirondack Chair 

Recycled plastic is often used to make Adirondack chairs. They come in a wide variety of colors and look very appealing. Plastic Adirondack chairs are much more resistant to the elements, so they are easier to maintain.

Wooden Adirondack Chair

Wooden Adirondack chairs are extremely popular and usually the one that comes to mind when thinking of outdoor seating. Cypress and red cedar are the more commonly used wood in building these chairs. Wooden chairs require a bit more maintenance and looking after than their plastic counterparts.

If you want to do the least maintenance, plastic Adirondack chairs are a good option. We’ll detail the several different ways you can maintain Adirondack chairs.

Maintaining Plastic Adirondack Chairs

For plastic Adirondack chairs, a few key tips will help you make sure your Adirondack chairs are in perfect condition. These tips are:

Prevent Dirt Accumulation

Adirondack chairs can have a lot of dirt sprayed on them. While they don’t damage the chair, they do tarnish the look, and it’s easier to get rid of them early instead of letting dirt accumulate. For washing the dirt away, you can opt to use mild soap and water.

Gentle scrubbing with a towel will do to keep the chair clean. After scrubbing, a light rinsing will help remove any soap traces. You can lightly dry the chair using a dry towel. Since the chair is made out of plastic, lingering moisture won’t end up damaging it, so you have less to worry about.

Avoid Harsh Solvents

Surface cleaning will suffice for plastic Adirondack chairs. However, when cleaning the chair, you mustn’t use any harsh or abrasive solvents. These can end up ruining the finish of your chair and leave it vulnerable. To avoid damaging your chair by using these.

If you are using a power cleaner or washer to clean Adirondack chairs, be careful and don’t go using too much pressure. Keep it below 1500 psi. The pressure can cause a similar effect to harsh solvents and end up damaging the chair.

Store It or Cover It up during Certain Times

While plastic Adirondack chairs are water-resistant, it doesn’t hurt to cover them up or store them away before the rain. If you have garage space available, you can store the chairs in the garage until the rain has passed. Alternatively, you can cover it up using protective clothing.

Aside from the rain, you might want to store the chairs away during winter. Adirondack chairs see rare uses during winter, and having them stored safely inside will protect them and extend their lifetime.

Maintaining Wooden Adirondack Chairs

Keeping your wooden Adirondack chairs can be difficult, especially if your area faces frequent rain. Thankfully, a lot of high-quality wooden chairs have better resistance to the elements, but a lack of maintenance can easily cause them to deteriorate. So keep these tips in mind:

Painting Or Refinishing

One of the best ways to maintain wooden Adirondack chairs is by painting them. Paint offers a great deal of protection for your wooden chairs. It also has the bonus of giving your chair a great look.

Water-based paints are highly recommended for painting your Adirondack chair as they are environment-friendly and work very well. Make sure you use a good primer before the final coating.

Some wooden chairs do come painted. While that does save you some initial trouble, you need to refinish it every once in a while to ensure the paint does not peel off. You will want to refinish once every year. Refinishing helps keep the chair looking nice and ensures it isn’t too vulnerable to the elements.

Protective Finishes

Alongside painting, you can also make use of protective finishes to help. A wood finish with UV protection is very helpful. Yearly reapplication is necessary for any finish to last and work.

Cleaning the Chair

A good way to maintain your wooden Adirondack chair is to clean it. The best way to clean is to use a soft brush along with some mild soap water.

One important thing about cleaning a wooden chair is that you need to properly dry and rinse it. Lingering moisture can cause damage to your chair and degrade the quality.

You should clean the chair every 2 weeks unless it gets really dirty. Any spills on a wooden chair should be taken care of immediately.

Cover or Store the Chairs

While it might be tempting to have your chairs out all the time, this is not a good idea for wooden Adirondack chairs. When not in use, cover the chairs with a protective cloth or store them away somewhere dry. Make sure the chair is not wet when you’re covering it up or storing it away.

Storing away your wooden chairs is essential during winter. Make sure to keep checking on it to ensure that no pests end up damaging the chairs.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you’ve found this article to be helpful in answering the question of “how do you maintain Adirondack chairs?” It is not too difficult to maintain a plastic Adirondack chair, but wooden ones need more supervision. A proper paint of coat can end up helping immensely for your wooden Adirondack chairs.

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