When your patio furniture or grill starts to rust, you need to solve the problem immediately.
As soon as that rust starts leaking onto your deck or patio, you will have an even more significant issue to deal with. We put together a quick guide to help you know what to do to prevent rust and how to treat rust stains when they do occur.
Why does patio furniture rust?
Not all patio furniture will rust.
If you have wood or wicker furniture, you will have other maintenance issues to deal with but not rust. Aluminum outdoor furniture will not rust as aluminum has no iron in it and therefore, can’t create rust.
However, wrought iron or steel furniture can rust.
Most of the time, this happens because the finish and painting process that was initially done on the product. Rust is a sign that the finish was not of high quality. Most high-quality patio furniture should hold up for many years without any rust issues!
Prevent patio furniture from rusting
To stop rust from leaking on your deck or patio, you must get to the root problem, the development of the rust. Here are a few steps that you can take to prevent your patio furniture from rusting.
- Keep them dry
- Use paste wax
- Apply WD-40
- Keep up preventative maintenance
Let’s go through each one and explore what is necessary.
Keep them dry
It sounds simple, but this is not always done by homeowners.
If you keep your patio furniture dry, then you will naturally have very few rust issues. Many quality patio sets are sold with chair covers, so use them! If you don’t have any patio furniture covers, get some!
At the end of the night, cover your patio furniture and then uncover the next time you need to use it. In fact, we wrote a pretty handy guide on when you should cover your patio furniture.
If you find the covers annoying to deal with, at least try to make sure a canopy or screen somewhat protects your furniture.
Use paste wax
Paste Wax is a product used to seal and protect patio furniture, and luckily applying it is easy.
Make sure that your patio furniture is completely clean and try prior to applying the paste wax.
When applying paste wax, take your time and make sure you get the wax into all of the crevices of the chair. If you miss spots, you are likely going to see rust develop.
Apply WD-40
A trick that some homeowners will use is to apply WD-40 to their metal patio furniture.
When it comes to applying WD-40, you will want to make sure that you do this process in an area where the spray will not damage your deck or patio. The oily nature of the product is terrible for porous surfaces.
Simply set up a drop cloth on the grass and spray your furniture on the drop cloth.
Afterwards, make sure the furniture is completely dry prior to bringing it back into action.
Keep up preventative maintenance
Even though we mentioned keeping your patio furniture dry, you should periodically wash everything to make sure that it is clean.
When you wash your furniture, look for any rust spots developing and treat them immediately. Use a small wire brush to get the rust off and then treat it with a bit of touch up paint and, at the very least, make sure to use paste wax.
When rust stains your wooden deck
There are several different ways to remove rust stains from your deck. One of the most common and potentially simplest ways is to use white vinegar. All you have to do is put vinegar on a cloth and then wipe the stain.
Afterward, you should take another cloth and wipe the area until it is dry. If you have a very severe rust stain on your deck (maybe an old rusty grill sat in a spot for too long), you will likely have to power wash, sand and stain or paint that area of the deck.
What about stains on my concrete patio?
Rust on concrete or pavers can be a bit more complicated than rust on wood because the rust tends to seep down a bit further.
Luckily the same natural methods of lemon juice or vinegar should work to remove most of the stain. Simply pour the vinegar on the spot, let it sit for about a half-hour, and then scrub it was a brush.
After you have scrubbed to loosen up the rust, you can wash the area down with water.
If a natural solution is not working to remove your rust stain, then some chemicals can help, but they are usually a bit harsh. Professional cleaning companies also can be hired for severe stains.