Patio Furniture Buyers Guide and Reviews

Wood patio furniture is made from several sized of stock wood. Stock wood is the starting thickness and width of the wood the craftsman start with. The wood is then sanded down to remove all rough edges. There are three basic starting sized of wood that wood furniture manufactures use. There are others but this is the basic set.

1” – the wood starts at 1 inch thick and is sanded down to 5/8 inch thick.
1 ½’ – this stock starts at 1 and ½ inches thick and is sanded down to 1 and 1/8 inches thick.
2” – this stock is typically your 2 x 4 size. The thickness starts at 2 inches and is sanded down to 1 and ½ inches thick

The thicker the wood, the heavier the wood patio furniture will be. The thicker pieces of furniture also will cost more than thicker pieces of wood. A 2” thick ( sanded down to 1 ½ inches ) is about twice the cost of a 1 inch thick piece of furniture.

Check here for more information on patio furniture

This post will feature to sets of reviews. Patio furniture stores, both online and brick and mortar will be reviewed based on the criteria listed below. Patio furniture manufacturers will also be reviewed. I would invite any reader of this blog to send me a message asking to review either a store or a manufacturer. I will post the ones I know in the next few days to provide a template for other reviews.

Review Criteria for Stores

• Online, Brick and Mortar, Both
  
  
• Types of products ( wood, aluminum, plastic or other )
  
  
• Customer Service - This is how well the company responds to customer service requests when there is a problem. Hopefully, most customers will not have to return products when when you do, this is very important.
  
  
• Sales Knowledge - How well does the sales staff know the product. Can they tell you the exact dimensions, how to care for the wood etc.
  
  
• Quality - This measure the quality of the patio furniture. The quality is usually related to the price but not always.
  
  
• Shipping - How fast are the products shipped, do they arrive when promissed, do they arrive damaged, broken etc.
  
  
• Price - this is compared to other stores selling the similar products
  
  
• Selection - This is a measure of how many different types of products are available. Some stores carry a limited selection while others carry a huge selection. Most of the time, the more products are sold, the less the sales knowledge. The fewer products sold, the greater the sales knowledge.
  

Store Name	Types	Customer Service	Sales Knowledge	Quality	Price	Selection
Applegate Furniture	Wood, plastic	5	5	5	4	3
CedarStore	Wood, plastic	5	5	4	4	5
Old Growth Again	Wood	4	5	6	3	4
Backyard City	wood, metal	3	3	4	4	4
Patio Furniture USA	wood, metal, recycled plastic	5	3	4	4	5

back to patio furniture

This post will serve as the main link and index to all other posts that contain information about how to buy wood patio furniture. This page will help you determine what types of patio furniture to buy, types of wood and how to care and finish for your patio furniture after you have made your purchase. Listed below are some of the criteria that you may use to choose your furniture.

So, what makes us the expert? We used to run an online patio furniture business that sold patio furniture throughout the US and Canada. We have years of experience with patio furniture and specifically the aspects of selling, shipping and all the questions an internet shopper would ask. Feel free to contact me with any questions and I will try to answer all questions. Be forwarned, I may post them to this blog

Common questions from customers

• Style - This is probaly the most important of all choices that you may need to make. There are many different styles to choose from. I will post links to other websites that show the different styles to choose from. Be aware that there are regional differences concerning style.
  
  
• Quality and Price - The next most important aspect when buying patio furniture is the price. I can't speak about price unless we also talk about the quality of the furniture. In most cases, the better the quality, the higher the price. Take a look on the left of this post and choose a type of wood. There are links in each one that talk about the construction of good patio furniture that you can use as a quide.
  
  
• Type of wood - This is assuming that you want wood in the first place. There will be a post that describes materials othere than wood soon. Other materials include aluminum, iron, pvc and other plastics.
  
  
• How to buy quality products for less - How to find deals on patio furniture.
  
  
• Painted, treated, stained or naked - The type of finish is also important. Look here for more information on finishing your patio furniture.
  
  
• Where to buy - Internet or brick and mortar? This post will explore the choices when buying patio furniture over the web and buying furniture from the store down the street.
  
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Most quality redwood patio furniture is fastened and connected using screws, carriage bolts, tonque and grove or mortise and tenon joints for strength and durability. Our furniture will outlast all commercial, mass produced patio furniture that is simply stapled and glued. The joints are not nearly as strong and will break over time.

Good redwood patio furniture uses zinc plated, stainless steel or treated hardware that will not rust and last the life of the furniture.

Most furniture has a light oil based finish that shows the beauty of our wood. Please see our product care page for more details on finishing and maintaining your furniture.

All of our wood that we use is either air dried or kiln dried to prevent warpage and other deformations of the wood due to moisture.

We only use redwood that is grown on plantations and tree farms. We do not use any old growth redwood in order to preserve our environment. This strategy will ensure that there is enough redwood for future generations. It is important that we preserve our forrest from over harvesting by only using renewable plantation grown trees.

Redwood Patio Furniture Care

Facts about Redwood Patio Furniture