Just like indoor furniture, outdoor furniture is susceptible to weather damage. The primary culprit of this common problem is sun exposure – if the wood on your furniture doesn’t get the chance to oxidize (darken), it will dry out and become prone to cracking. This means that you’ll need to protect your furniture from sunlight with an outdoor table cover.
In this article, we’ll be discussing the importance of protecting your outdoor furniture from sun exposure. We’ll also be going through some tips on using a table cover and give a review on a few products that you might find helpful.
Why is Outdoor Furniture Prone to Sun Damage?
When you look around your yard or your patio, there’s probably a good amount of light coming in during the daytime. The same can be said for most homes – there are windows near where most people place their outdoor furniture so sunlight can quickly get inside and outdoors.
Sunlight causes dryness in wood by breaking down its natural protective oils – given enough time under strong sunlight, those protective oils will disappear, leading to cracking, splitting, and warping. Some other factors affect outdoor wood furniture, including weather conditions and chemical exposure, but we’ll save those for another article.
How Can You Protect Your Outdoor Furniture?
The best way to protect your outdoor furniture from sun damage is to use an outdoor table cover. A table cover can be described as a thin sheet of fabric placed over tables to give them an extra layer of protection from sunlight or water damage – they’re also sometimes called patio covers or outdoor table covers. Still, the process of using them is simple enough, so it doesn’t matter what you call them.
First, place the cover over your patio/table with the side that has a rubber grip face-down. The rubber grip should be facing the ground, trapping any water or debris on the table underneath. Then flip the edge of the covering over your furniture – this should create an inverted bowl shape with most of the cover’s fabric pooling at feet level. Once you have it flipped, adjust it properly and secure the other end by tying it to something sturdy such as a fence post or patio railing so it won’t move when breezes pick up.
Will It Protect My Furniture?
A patio/table cover will protect your outdoor furniture from sun damage and help keep them in good condition for much longer than it would be if left out in sunlight. It’ll also keep leaves, debris, and moisture off of your furniture, which will help protect the wood from rotting or becoming damaged by chemical exposure.
This might not be enough to extend the life of your furniture fully, but it can reduce the amount of sun damage that will occur during the summer months when your outdoor furniture is likely to see a lot of sunlight. You’ll also want to rotate (turn over) any pieces facing up so they don’t become deformed by constantly sitting in one position. This point applies even if you’re utilizing an outdoor table cover because UV rays will eventually cause cracking and warping anyway.