Enjoying being outside with your family and friends is something that can bring a relaxing tone to your weekend. With the right outside setup, you’ll be well on your way to enjoying the warm weather. However, when it comes to choosing the furniture that you use to decorate your outside seating area, there are a few key environmental factors that you’ll want to consider.
Wind
We’ve all seen outdoor furniture Raleigh, NC flying around when those nasty thunderstorms take effect. Unless you want to be walking down the street to fetch your outdoor furniture, we suggest you consider the wind when deciding on the right types of furniture to purchase. The heavier materials are better for windy environments. These include wood, cast aluminum, and wrought iron. These tend to withstand the wind gusts, so you won’t have to worry about your items blowing away. While the other materials like plastic and vinyl may look stylish, you’ll have to constantly worry about them during those stormy days.
Sun
How can the sun affect the furniture on your outdoor patio? It’s called sun fading. The sun’s rays can be harmful to some materials. If your furniture isn’t going to be hidden on a porch or under an awning, you’ll need to take the sun into consideration when you’re at the furniture store. When looking at materials, realize the wood is a great material that won’t absorb the heat from the sun. Wrought iron and cast aluminum are also great materials the can deflect the heat of the sun.
Apart from the actual material of the frames for your furniture, you’ll also want to consider the type of fabric you’ll be choosing for the seats and pillows. Cushions which are manufactured with dyed acrylic are more likely to withstand the fading rays of the sun. Realize that while the dyed acrylic material may be more expensive than others, it’s worth the money in the long run. You’ll be able to use the acrylic cushions and pillows for years while you’ll be getting rid of the cheaper material cushions every year due to sun damage.
Temperature Extremes
Your patio furniture has to deal with the temperature extremes that your outside environment brings. You’ll want your furniture constructed out of a material that gets a high-quality powder coating. The best materials are going to be aluminum, wrought iron, and dyed acrylic fabrics. When examining the actual construction of your furniture, you want to see how the joints are put together. For the harder metal materials, you’ll see welding at the joints. This will completely seal them off from getting water inside. If water gets in between the joints, it can actually cause weakening of the joints over time.
The weather can be a real challenge when it comes to picking out outdoor furniture. Depending on where you live and the elements that you face, different materials are going to work better for you than others who live in a different location. It pays to sit down for a moment and think about all the environmental factors that your patio or porch deal with each and every single year.
The wind, sun, and temperature extremes are just the three most obvious environmental factors you’ll have to consider when purchasing your outdoor furniture. Some others include animals, humidity, hail, rain, snow, and other forms of precipitation. Really spend some time thinking about what your furniture will be going through throughout the year. This will allow you to make an informed list about what you’ll need.
Next, check out some potential materials that you can purchase. We discussed three of the most popular above, which are wood, cast aluminum, and wrought iron. However, there are many different types of materials that you can choose from. Others include plastic, wicker, and steel. Each specific material has its pros and cons depending on the type of elements that it’s going to be facing on a regular basis.
Now, it’s time to compare your list of necessary weather elements your furniture must hold up to and the types of furniture you can buy for your patio. Do some comparisons and see which types of materials are going to be best suited to work with your individual environment. Once you know what type of material outdoor furniture you’ll need to purchase, you can then narrow down your options. It’s much easier to choose between four designs of wooden chairs than it is to decide between twenty different chair designs in a variety of different materials.