Cleaning Outdoor Furniture: Mildew, Rust, Fading and Grey Teak

Most outdoor furniture that looks finished is not. Mildew, surface rust, faded fabric and greyed wood are all recoverable — but each wants a different approach, and the fastest way to cause permanent damage is to use the aggressive option on the wrong material.

Start with the gentlest thing that works

Warm water, mild dish soap and a soft brush handle most seasonal grime on every material here. Work up from that only when it fails. Two general warnings before anything else:

Pressure washers cause more damage than they fix on most patio furniture. They drive water into frame tubes and cushion foam, strip powder coating, fur the surface of softwood, and force water behind resin weave. If you use one at all, use the widest fan at low pressure and keep your distance.

Bleach is not a universal answer. It kills mildew on some fabrics, but it degrades others, strips colour from solution-dyed material unevenly, and corrodes metal fixings and fasteners it runs onto. Check what the maker says before reaching for it.

Mildew on cushions and fabric

Mildew is a living thing feeding on organic residue, not a stain sitting on top, which is why wiping alone does not stop it returning.

1. Brush off loose growth dry, outdoors. Wetting it first spreads spores into the weave.
2. Wash with warm soapy water and a soft brush, then rinse thoroughly. Residual soap attracts dirt and feeds the next bloom.
3. For solution-dyed acrylic, a dilute bleach solution is usually tolerated and is often the manufacturer's own recommendation — the colour goes through the fibre rather than sitting on it. Check the care label first.
4. Dry completely, ideally in sun. This is the step that actually prevents recurrence; damp foam re-grows within days.

If cushions have been wet inside for a long time, the foam itself may be colonised, and replacement is more effective than any cleaner. Whether the maker sells replacement covers and inserts is worth knowing before you buy a set at all.

Rust on steel frames

Rust means the coating has been breached. Cleaning alone treats the symptom.

1. Take the loose rust back to sound metal with a wire brush or abrasive pad.
2. Wipe clean and let it dry fully.
3. Prime and touch up the coating. A rust-converting primer plus an outdoor enamel matched to the frame is the durable fix; paint over bare steel without primer and it returns.

Do this the moment you see it. Rust spreads under intact coating from a single chip, so a small touch-up now saves a frame later. This is the standard maintenance cycle on powder-coated steel — including most fire pit tables, where the frame is almost always coated steel.

Aluminium does not rust. What looks like corrosion on aluminium is usually surface oxidation, which cleans off with a mild acidic cleaner and is cosmetic rather than structural.

Faded and chalky resin

Chalkiness on plastic or resin is UV degradation of the surface layer. Washing removes the powder but not the cause.

• On HDPE lumber, colour runs through the material, so a wash usually restores it and scratches do not expose a different shade underneath.
• On cheaper surface-dyed resin and PE wicker, fading is permanent. Plastic restorer products can darken the surface temporarily, but they wear off and need reapplying.
• UV-stabilised weave fades far more slowly, which is the practical reason to look for that claim when buying.

Greyed teak: a choice, not a fault

Teak turns silver-grey as its surface oxidises. This is purely cosmetic — the wood underneath is unaffected, and greyed teak is structurally identical to new teak.

• To keep it grey, do nothing beyond an occasional wash.
• To bring the colour back, clean it with a proper teak cleaner and, if you like, apply teak oil or a sealer. Understand that this is now an annual commitment: oiled teak that is then neglected looks patchy, which is worse than uniform grey.

Do not sand aggressively as a first move. It works but removes material each time, and a wash plus cleaner usually gets you most of the way. Applies equally to teak seating and eucalyptus or acacia, which behave similarly but are less oil-rich and want sealing sooner.

Glass, mesh and slings

Glass tabletops clean with ordinary glass cleaner; the tempered edge is the vulnerable part, so avoid knocking it. Sling and mesh fabric — textilene stretched over a frame — rinses and dries almost immediately, which is its main advantage; a soft brush handles anything stubborn, and it should not be bleached.

A short routine

• Monthly in season — rinse, and brush anything visibly dirty.
• Twice a season — wash cushions with soapy water and dry them fully in sun.
• Start and end of season — inspect steel for chips and touch them up while dry.
• Annually — clean and, if you want the colour, oil the teak.

For which material you are dealing with in the first place, see how the five common materials fail; for off-season care, winterizing outdoor furniture.

Many outdoor furniture brands in this catalog sell primarily through Amazon and publish no manufacturer list price. Where that is the case, we show no price rather than presenting a retailer price as a manufacturer baseline. See our methodology.