Garden furniture revival

Give garden furniture a new lease of life with TeknosPro.

Summer is just around the corner and your customers will be wanting to get their gardens in to tip-top shape ready for those long summer days. Many of them will have left their garden furniture out all winter and it will be looking worse for wear - giving you the challenge of turning their weathered tables and chairs into a fresh garden look. 

Weather conditions

It’s not just rain that will impact your ability to get the job done. If its hot enough to get sunburnt then it may be too hot to paint as this will cause the coating to dry too fast. Humidity can also affect the drying time and the longer it takes your paint to dry-through, the more time your wet paint is open to surface imperfections, which will affect the quality of your finish. In general, 21ºC and about 50% humidity are ideal conditions for painting but up to 30ºC should be acceptable.

Paint choice

Whether you're re-painting wood, plastic or metal, there will be a paint specifically formulated to provide optimum coverage and lasting performance and protection from the elements. Our FUTURA AQUA range is an ideal choice for opaque paints for wood or metal furniture and provides UV protection for the paint and underlying surface, when exposed to high levels of sunlight. If your customer wants the natural beauty of wood to shine through try our tintable wood oil WOODEX AQUA for an oil that penetrates deep into the timber. Use WOODEX AQUA BASE to prime untreated wood before applying the wood oil.

If you are painting plastic patio furniture you'll find that many general purpose paints can adhere to most surfaces except plastic so you need to have a paint designed to adhere to hard-to-bond surfaces.

Equipment

It’s worth spending a few extra pounds for the higher end brushes as short haired or worn brushes will leave lines in the dry coating film. The last thing you will need is something to abrade the surface with before painting. Depending on the type of material you could use sand paper, wire wool, wire brush, a scraper or a paint stripper to get rid of any old flaking paint and surface imperfections. 

Priming

Not all furniture will require a primer but since wood is porous it’s best to use a primer to seal the wood prior to painting. By using a primer you'll be protecting the wood and get a nice smooth surface to apply your topcoat to. If your customer has asked for a new colour on their furniture, it's best to apply a primer first. For metal and wood projects then FUTURA AQUA 3 is the ideal choice. It’s dust free after just an hour and can usually have topcoat applied after two hours.

Application

Use a high quality synthetic bristle brush and ensure new brushes have been washed in clean water and thoroughly dried with a clean, lint free, cloth. When applying your paint try to avoid immersing your brush too far into the paint to prevent paint from entering the ferrule (base of the paintbrush). The best way to avoid drips is to not overload the paint brush so don’t be in a rush to slap the paint on because often this leads to paint imperfections and a poor quality finish. Instead, apply the paint in even strokes.

Another mistake to avoid is over coating paint that has already begun to dry. When the weather temperature is high, the working time can be extended by diluting the paint with 10% to 15% of clean tap water. This will allow you slightly longer to apply your coats.

Drying time

Don’t let all your hard work be for nothing and ensure you leave enough drying time. Whilst many paints can have a second coat applied after just a couple of hours, it can often take a couple of days until your project is properly through dry and robust enough to withstand normal use.

Explore FUTURA AQUA opaque water-based paints for wood and metal. Available in semi-matt (20), semi-gloss (40) and high gloss (80), colour matched to any British standard shade.

Find out more about WOODEX AQUA WOOD OIL which is non-film forming and can be brushed or sprayed on.