Patio Furniture Buyers Guide and Reviews

There are two ways to buy patio furniture. Go to your local patio furniture store or from an internet company. Below are tips on how to find the best one.

Local Patio Furniture Stores ( no internet ) -

There are a few types of these brick and mortar stores. These are stores that have an actual location ( as opposed to internet stores ) and you can go down to the store and see the actual pieces

Big Box Stores - Lowes, Home Depot, these stores stock patio furniture from about february to june. They usually always buy products made in china and are of medium quality. They also cost less than comparable items at other stores.

Local Stores - these are retail stores that specifically sell patio furniture of all types ( wood, aluminum, plastics - others ). These stores will purchase items from national manufactureres, and sometimes local companies. These stores typically have a good selection but tend to charge higher prices.

Internet Only

These are stores that resell patio furniture through the internet only. This means that the internet store does not have an actual location but just sells through the website. There are some really good stores but there are some bad ones as well. These types of stores typically just drop ship to the customer from the manufacturer. These stores typically do not have too much information. There are some really good ones and not so good ones. Check this posting to determine if the internet store is worthwhile.

Local and Internet

These are local brick and mortar stores that also sell on the internet. These are typically very good and reliable stores to work with. The best possible type of store to work with is a store the manufactures their own furniture or works closely with the manufacturer.

back to patio furniture buyers guide

Naked wood? yes, your wood can be naked.

When selecting wood patio furniture, the customer will usually have the choice to get the items without any finish, lightly oil, stained or painted. This depends entirely on the customer as to how they want the piece to look. Here are a few guidelines to follow.

Do you want the furniture painted - If you want to paint the furniture, stay with poplar, ash or treated pine. I recommend poplar but the others will work well. Stay away from un-treated pine in that it won't last for long. The treated pine material will last many years and usually will last as long as cedar or redwood. The treated pine is softer however.

Another option to painted is the use recycled plastic. These come in a pre-defined colors. I would not recommend painting over plastic as it will peel away in a matter of months.

Painted - if the patio furniture is painted, make sure the paint used is a high grade wood paint ( I like oil based ) that is meant for outdoor use. Some cheaper manufacturers will use cheaper paints that are not UV stabalized and will fade very fast. They cover well and look good in the showroom but will fade in a year or two. I recommend when looking at painted furniture, try to chip a small piece of paint off on the underside of the furniture or at least find a seem where the paint to wood can be seen. See if the paint peels off easily. A good paint should not peel off at all if it was applied to the piece well.

Oil - A light oil coating is the most common for of finish for wood. After all, the reason for selecting wood patio furniture is for the wood itself. There are many types of oil to apply.

Stain - Be very carefully when having a piece of furniture stained. It is common to have a stain applied only to find out that the stain did not quite look the same as it did on the sample. There is no way to remove the stain once it is applied. I always discouraged customers from staining the patio furniture

back to patio furniture buyers guide.

Many people are intersted in buying high quality products for a lower price. The key to this is to first understand what quality means. Check this post for more info on how to determine quality. The next concept to understand is the distribution of the products from the manufacturer to the consumer.

The products are made at a manufacturer in some part of the world. The manufacturer then sells the items to a distributor. The distributor ( or middlemen ) then sell the items to the general public. Rarely do the manufactureres sell directly to the public. This is the most common way for manufactures to distribute their products. The manufacturers can control prices and availablility for all their products by using this model.

How to find high quality items at lower prices

The first way is to find a manufacturer that will sell directly to the public. There are a few but they are smaller manufacturers. You can find a great deal if you can find one of these. I will post list of these soon.

The second way to find a great deal is to shop at the end of the season. The patio furniture business is from april to about june. Most people are looking to buy in this time period so the manufacturers will try to make enough product to meet the demand during this period. If a manufacturer makes too much, they will try to move the products at the end of the season buy offering rebates and other incentives.

Another way to find a deal is to try and bargain with a distributor. I have heard stories of people haggling with shop owners and getting 10-30% off. During my time with the store, I have had several people make offers for products at a discount. I usually provided a 10% discount for those people that asked. The customer must simply ask and sometimes.... they will get it.

back to patio furniture buyers guide.

This should be the second most important criteria when selecting any furniture for that matter. Listed below are some rules of thumb when selecting quality patio furniture

Joints -

Mortise and Tenon - look for mortise and tenon joints. They are the best by far. This is where one end of the wood has what is called a tonque or tenon and this piece fits neatly into a grove or mortise. ( more information and pictures on left of page, choose type of wood and look for construction links ). this is the strongest as all four sides of the wood form a contact with the other piece of wood. This is expensive...

Rabbit - this is where your one piece of wood joins to another piece of wood on two sides. Not as strong as mortise and tenon but cheaper to make.

Hardware - Most medium and large ( overseas ) manufactures use some sort of hardware ( bolts, screws, plates ) to secure the pieces of wood together. There are many different types of connections. Find something that will join each surface by at least 2 bolts if not 3 or more. This option is may be more expensive than Rabbit joints but usually not as much as mortise and tenon. The hardware can get pricey if it is exposed. The problem with hardware is that it may not look good if the hardware is exposed ( to view ).

Quality of wood -

The quality of wood is usually rated on the number of knots or blemishes in the wood. the higher the grade of wood, the less knots and blemishes. The less knots, the higher the price. Also, the thickness of the wood makes a big difference both in quality and price.

Fabircs -

This gets a little more tricky to determine. There are very pretty fabrics originating form overseas that look good for a while but then will faid and rip after just a single season. Try to find fabrics that will not fade, get heavier fabrics and specialty fabrics designed for outside use. Nylons and other plastic derived fabrics are usually the best choice. Cotton will fade very fast and will not stand up to the rigors of outdoor use.

As with most manufactured items, the better the quality of product, the more the item will cost. Now the question is, how to get high quality products at lower prices? See this post regarding How to buy quality items for less.

back to wood patio furniture
back to patio furniture buyers guide

Yes, any wood left out in the open will eventually fade to a silver grey. You can however slow down the process by finishing the wood. The finishing process should be done once a year in harsh climates ( north east, Midwest ) and less frequently in mild climates ( Arizona ).

Woods can be finished with oil, varnish, polyurethane and others. I like the polyurethane for pieces that will be outdoors. I like oil for teak furniture. Painted furniture will eventually peel and start to crack within 3-7 years depending on the climate.

If you really don’t want to maintain your wood patio furniture, buy a set of recycled plastic furniture. This material maintenance free and the products now will not fade. If you are ok with the color and texture, this is the way to go.

Back to patio furniture buyers guide.