Outdoor Furniture Restoration

Here’s an outdoor bench that desperately needs to be restored. It sits outdoors in the harsh conditions in Tuscon, AZ. (C) Copyright 2017 Tim Carter

Outdoor Furniture Restoration TIPS

• • Most free advice from store associates is worthless - tough love, sorry!

• • Get best advice from pros who's livelihoods depend on the product

• • Urethane-resin paints perform very well

• • Use Stain Solver oxygen bleach to prep outdoor furniture
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DEAR TIM: I’ve got several pieces of outdoor furniture that need to be sanded and repainted. I’m getting conflicting recommendations from the handyman I know, each supposed expert I talk to at the local national chain hardware stores and the apron-wearing giant big box warehouse sales associates.

All of the different advice creates a cacophony that’s clanging in my head! The last time I did the bench using the advice from one of the big box stores it lasted but two years. I live in the high desert of Arizona and realize that it’s a harsh environment, but shouldn’t I get more than two years out of a finish?

Help me Tim, you’re my only hope. Shirley R., Tuscon, AZ

DEAR SHIRLEY: I hear you loud and clear about the free advice you get from all those experts at your local businesses.

Poor Advice Rampant Across USA

If you had access to my email you’d quickly discover that many others all across the USA are very frustrated with the quality of the advice they receive from the sales associates.

Ask The Right Question!

Here’s the mistake most consumers make when they talk with a sales person at a local hardware store, paint store or giant big-box retailer. They forget that the power is always in the question.

At some point in the conversation with the sales associate you always must ask this very simple and valid question:

“Before you came to work at this fine business, can you tell me what you did professionally to accumulate your knowledge about this product and how’s it’s used?”

It’s a valid question because you’re about to part with your hard-earned money and very valuable time. Why waste both hoping you get the best advice?

If the sales associate says, “Oh, I retired from working my entire life as a paper salesman in Scranton, PA and thought it would be fun to work here.”, then you know what to do.

The same is true if the sales associate is a part-time college student or some other young person. How much life experience could that person possibly have with using products professionally?

Free & Fast Bids

CLICK HERE to get FREE & FAST BIDS from local painters who can use the best paint sign painters use.

Talk To The Real Pros!

Enough about all that. Let’s talk about paints and outdoor wood furniture. I’ve got some very good news for you.

I just went online and searched for Tuscon sign painters. You’ve got quite a few out there.

Here's a common search result for Tuscon AZ sign painters. Don't be afraid. Go talk to them! Copyright 2017 Bing.com & Microsoft Corp.

Pros Don't Gamble

If you want to know the best products for a situation, you go talk with the professionals who’s livelihood depends on the products they have to use in their daily jobs.

How many sign painters do you think would still be in business if their painted signs peeled in less than two years? I’ll answer for you: Not many.

Wood Is Not Easy

First and foremost wood is hygroscopic. This means it swells and shrinks in response to the moisture content in the wood. For you this is not too big of a deal as you have a very arid climate. Your annual rainfall is nowhere near what I have here in New Hampshire.

Paint Is Just Colored Glue

Now let’s discuss paint. Paint is just a film. The chemistry of paints is complex.

One of my best friends in college, John Pendery, got his PhD in chemistry and went on to be a chemist for the largest paint company in the USA. I’ll never forget the day he handed me two very similar chemical formulas. He asked me if I knew what they were.

I said, “No”. His response was, “This one is the formula for common yellow carpenter’s glue. This one is a very common wall paint many paint companies sell.”

Many Paints Have Cheap Resin - Glue

Paint is just glue. It sticks to things. But some paints stick far better than others.

Your local sign painters will attest to that. They’ll also tell you that wood is the hardest thing for paint to stick to because it wants to move.

But it’s not impossible to get lasting results with wood as I’ll wager there are hundreds, if not thousands, of painted wood signs in Tuscon that don’t peel like your wood bench has.

CLICK HERE to get FREE & FAST BIDS from local painters who can use the best paint sign painters use.

Urethane Resin Paint Is Fantastic

I’ve had remarkable success with modern house paints that are made with a urethane resin. The resin is the glue component in paint. If you have anything indoors that’s got a coat of urethane on it, you know how tenaciously urethane bonds to anything.

Here's a great urethane-fortified paint. That's why on the label it says it's for porches and floors! It's tough enough to walk on! CLICK THE IMAGE NOW TO ORDER IT.

Here’s an outdoor bench that desperately needs to be restored. It sits outdoors in the harsh conditions in Tuscon, AZ. (C) Copyright 2017 Tim Carter

Here's a great example of end grain on wood. This bench leg is made from a log or limb of a tree. The top and bottom of this leg are all end grain. That's what you see when you look at the end of a piece of lumber. You must seal end grain very well with wood that's exposed to the rain. Copyright 2017 Tim Carter

Prep Work Important

Based on the photos you sent, you’re prep work is not going to be that hard since most of the paint has peeled off. Any professional painter will tell you that the success of a new paint job is based on the preparation of the surface.

Remove Sun-Damaged Lignin With Stain Solver

Stain Solver is MADE in the USA with USA ingredients that are food-grade quality. CLICK THE IMAGE to order some NOW.

The first thing I’d do is scrape off all the old paint and get the bench to bare wood. I’d then clean off all the old sun-damaged gray wood lignin using Stain Solver.

It's a certified organic oxygen bleach. Stain Solver is a powder you mix with water. You apply the solution working in the shade if at all possible.

Allow it soak into the wood. Keep the wood very wet with the solution for 15 minutes, lightly scrub with a stiff brush and rinse. The natural wood color will return and the bench will look marvelous.

Sand Off Wood Fuzz

You’ll probably have to sand the wood to remove wood fuzz. Brush off all the dust and then apply any recommended primer that the finish coat paint manufacturer says to use on bare wood.

Be sure to work in the shade. Before priming, fill all cracks with exterior spackling compound and caulk all cracks where water could enter the wood.

IMPORTANT PAINTING TIP: Pay close attention to the recoat time on the primer label. You want to apply the finish coats of paint as soon as possible after the primer allows.

Doing this creates both a mechanical and chemical bond between the primer and finish coat of paint. If you prime the bench and then wait days or a week to finish paint it, you don’t get as good a bond between the coats of paint.

Coat End Grain For Sure

Paint all the surfaces of the bench, especially the underside and the bottom of the legs. You want to completely seal out all water. The end grain of the lumber is where water loves to get in, so those may require three  or more coats of paint.

Please let me know what brand of paint the local sign painters say to use. Be sure to talk to no less than three sign painters!

CLICK HERE to get FREE & FAST BIDS from local painters who can use the best paint sign painters use.

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