You may think that all Garden Furniture is built pretty much the same and built to last. This un-fortunately is just not the case and really couldn’t be farther from the truth. When it comes to buying Garden Furniture, or Patio Furniture, it is important to remember how it will be treated. It will probably be left outside in all kinds of weather, so it must be able to stand up to extreme changes of temperature and weather conditions, snow, rain, sun heat etc. Buying cheap Garden Furniture just won’t stand up and is very often the most expensive choice! It will need to be replaced often, way too often! The old adage is also true, “you only get what you pay for”.

Now that you have heard that buying the cheapest you can find is not the best option, where should you look next?

The first step is to decide what types of Garden Furniture you like. You can separate these probably into two categories:

Metal Garden Furniture & Wood Garden Furniture. Lets look at the advantages and disadvantages of both.

Metal Garden Furniture

If you like Metal Garden Furniture, and you want it to last, then you should select the furniture that is made only of Aluminum. There is good reason for this as Aluminum does not rust so will last in all weather conditions. Different manufacturers may make them out of cast or hollow Aluminum. Cast Aluminum is often solid and is made from Aluminum that has been cast into a mold. Hollow Aluminum is usually made out of hollow Aluminum tubing, which although lighter, is normally equally as durable. So if your preference is to have Metal Garden Furniture, selecting really any type of quality Aluminum Garden Furniture will give you many years of use from your purchase.

Wood Garden Furniture

This is the type I prefer, because of the natural look and feel of the furniture. Each piece looks unique because of the differences in the grain. It would take a whole book to completely cover “Wooden Garden Furniture”, because there are literally thousands of different options. Garden furniture can be made from wood that seems to rot at the sight of water all the way to woods that because of their internal oils makes them stand up for years and years to the harshest of weather.

However there are only a couple of woods that are worthy of use for garden furniture and they are Cedar or Teak Garden Furniture.

The reason for this is very simple; they are the best there is to withstand all types of weather, including the harshest winters of Canada. The very best wood though is Teak. It will last twice as long as any other in our climate here when left outside all year round.

Although it is certainly more expensive that most other types of wood, it is VERY hard wearing and will last for many years, with (or without) any treatment, so it is really worth the higher price. Teak is a natural wood product that is from a slow growing hard wood tree in Indonesia. Be careful though when you’re looking to buy to make sure that you select from a supplier who has Teak Garden Furniture that has been made from “Plantation Grown” Teak (they should say this openly). This is because it is a renewable resource. Be careful not to buy furniture from a store where the wood is from a forest that is being destroyed by de-forestation.

Quality Teak Garden Furniture should last for 30 -55 years or even more, so when you compare the life of it to the cost, it is an extremely good value for the money.

Continually developing “ideas for outdoor living”

1. resveratrol supplements Says:
   February 8th, 2010 at 4:30 pm

   I don’t mean to be too in your face with this, but let’s just say I definitely have a different view on this. Great post though…

2. Edelstahlbuchstaben Says:
   February 12th, 2010 at 10:49 am

   asmgermany stellt Metallbuchstaben wie Edelstahlbuchstaben, Messingbuchstaben, Aluminiumbuchstaben, Bronzebuchstaben

3. Dysment Says:
   February 19th, 2010 at 8:59 pm

   I liked it. So much useful material. I read with great interest.

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