How to clean patio furniture

The general sequence

Same five steps whatever the material. Only the product in step two changes.

1. Dry-brush first. Leaf litter, cobwebs, grit in weave. More comes off dry than people expect, and skipping it turns dust into mud.
2. Apply the right cleaner for the material. Work in shade — cleaner drying on a hot surface streaks.
3. Agitate gently with a soft brush. Soft. Abrasion is the enemy on almost every outdoor surface.
4. Rinse thoroughly with a hose. Not a pressure washer. Residue attracts dirt and leaves a film.
5. Dry completely, then treat. Oil for wood, protectant for plastics and painted metal. Treating before drying is the most common mistake.

Teak and hardwood

Teak needs a dedicated product. A general cleaner will lift surface dirt but not the gray oxidized lignin or the black mildew staining that gets into the grain.

• Use a two-step teak cleaner and brightener, working in shade.
• Rinse thoroughly and keep runoff away from planting — these are strong products.
• Let it dry a full day before oiling or sealing.
• Sand only if the grain has raised. Aggressive sanding thins the board every time, and teak's durability lives in the heartwood, so removing wood is not free.

On acacia and other sealed hardwoods, clean gently, let dry, and reseal — the full argument for why sealing is non-negotiable on those woods is on our teak vs acacia page.

Poly lumber and resin

The easiest material on the patio to clean, and the one people most often over-treat.

• Soap and water handles most of it. An oxygenated concentrate handles the rest.
• Soft brush for textured surfaces; the grain pattern holds a little grime.
• Do not use solvents or abrasives. Solvents craze polyethylene surfaces permanently and abrasives scratch them.
• Do not sand poly lumber. It scars the surface and voids the warranty.
• On molded resin, a UV protectant after cleaning genuinely slows chalking, and needs redoing every few months in full sun.

Wicker and woven resin

The specific problem with wicker is grit, which lodges in the weave and abrades strands against each other every time someone sits down.

• Dry-brush along the weave direction first to shift loose grit.
• Oxygenated concentrate, soft brush, worked gently into the weave.
• Rinse from several angles — a hose gets into weave better than you would think.
• Dry fully; water trapped in a hollow frame is what rusts steel from the inside.
• Never pressure wash. It snaps strands and forces water into frame tubes. See our wicker page for the failure mechanisms.

Metal frames

• Mild soap and water. That is genuinely it for routine cleaning.
• No abrasive pads. Every scratch in a powder coat is a place rust starts on steel, and a place the finish fails on aluminum.
• Inspect while you clean — tipped over, looking at fastener points, welds and feet. That is where rust begins, and clean metal is the only way to see a chip.
• Touch up chips immediately, and treat any rust properly with the wire-brush, convert, top-coat sequence.
• On aluminum, white chalky bloom is oxidation rather than rust. It cleans off and a protectant slows it returning.

Cushions and fabric

• Brush off dry debris first. This is the step that actually prevents mildew.
• Mild soap and water on all fabrics. Avoid harsh detergents, which strip water-repellent finishes.
• Diluted bleach is safe on solution-dyed acrylic because the color is in the fiber. It is not safe on printed polyester, where it removes mildew and color together.
• Wash removable covers rather than soaking whole cushions — a soaked foam core takes days to dry and may never fully recover.
• Dry on edge so air reaches both faces. Drying time is what decides whether mildew establishes.

The mildew problem

The most useful fact about outdoor mildew: it does not grow on the fabric. It grows on the pollen, leaf dust, sunscreen residue and body oils sitting on the fabric. Modern synthetic outdoor fabrics are not themselves a food source.

Which changes the strategy entirely:

• Regular light cleaning beats occasional deep cleaning. Removing the food source is more effective than killing what has grown on it.
• Airflow matters as much as dryness. Cushions stood on edge dry in half the time of cushions lying flat.
• Do not close a wet umbrella and leave it tied. A dark humid tube is exactly the environment mildew wants.
• Do not cover damp furniture. Same mechanism, larger scale — covered in our covers explainer.