How to store patio furniture for winter

The triage

Most winter advice says "store your patio furniture," which is impractical for anyone without a large garage and unnecessary for most of what is on a patio. The useful version is triage.

The autumn sequence

Order matters here more than in most maintenance jobs, because several steps only work if the previous one was done.

1. Pick a dry spell

Everything that follows depends on the furniture being genuinely dry, not just not-currently-raining. A sunny afternoon two days after the last rain is the target.

2. Bring in the soft goods

Cushions, pillows, canopies. Make sure they are properly dry first — storing a damp cushion in a sealed box for four months produces the exact mildew you were trying to avoid. Stand them on edge for a day if in doubt.

3. Clean everything

Covering over algae film and leaf litter seals organic matter against the surface for four months. One pass with the right cleaner for the material — our cleaning guide has the material-by-material sequence — makes a real difference to what you uncover in spring.

4. Inspect and treat

Tip metal furniture over and check fastener points, welds and feet. Touch up coating chips now, because a chip going into winter is four months of continuous moisture on bare metal — see our rust guide. On sealed hardwood, autumn is the second-best time to reseal if you missed spring.

5. Get everything off standing water

Blocks, slabs, pads. Feet sitting in a frozen puddle for four months does more damage than anything a cover prevents, and it is the step most often skipped because it is not mentioned anywhere.

6. Cover, vented and strapped

Only the tiers that need it. Make sure the cover has a peak so water runs off rather than pooling and freezing, and strap it down — an unstrapped cover in a winter storm is a sail. Our cover picks cover the venting requirement.

7. Deal with the umbrella properly

Close it fully, fasten the tie, remove the canopy if it detaches, and store the canopy dry. Drain any water-filled base — water expands about 9% when it freezes and will split a sealed base. More on this on our umbrella wind guide.

If you have no storage

Apartment balconies, small yards, no garage. Real constraints with real answers:

• A deck box solves cushions. It is the single cheapest purchase that removes the biggest winter problem, and it doubles as seating.
• Cushions indoors take less room than you think stacked flat under a bed or on top of a wardrobe.
• Stack and strap. Chairs nested on a table, covered and strapped, keeps them off standing water and reduces the surface presenting to wind.
• Move things against a wall under an eave. Partial shelter plus airflow beats a cover in the open.
• Next time, buy furniture that does not need storing. The strongest argument for poly lumber is for people with nowhere to put anything.

The spring check

Twenty minutes in April, and it sets up the whole season:

1. Uncover on a dry day and let everything air for a few hours.
2. Inspect metal for any rust that started over winter and treat it now.
3. Check hardware and retighten anything that has worked loose.
4. Clean, then seal hardwood before it sees a full summer of sun.
5. Check the cover itself for tears and wash it before storing it for the season.