Care and Maintenance of your Commercial Strap Furniture.
Vinyl has a finish on it New vinyl and paint both have a finish on them, comparable to the clear coat on a new car. Pool chlorine, bleach, solvents, and many commercial cleaning solutions will damage the finish. This damage accelerates staining, fading and ultimate failure of the vinyl and paint. Cleaning with such chemicals will cut the life expectancy of vinyl and paint by about one half. The average life of vinyl in commercial use is about two years, and paint lasts four to five years. Proper cleaning and maintenance may more than double those numbers.
Vinyl is a porous material Vinyl is a porous material similar to leather. The pores must breathe and should not be clogged with suntan and body oils. Damage to the finish due to improper cleaning, along with commercial use and exposure, results in mildew and other fungi becoming firmly rooted in the pores. The vinyl soon becomes badly stained and virtually impossible to clean. At this point, the damage is done and it is time for new vinyl. I do not recommend the use of vinyl "protectants" because I believe they combine with other chemicals in the commercial environment, get baked in by the sun and clog the pores like oils. The furniture will look great for a while and then the straps will suddenly start to break. Suntan oil badly stains vinyl due to iodine and other caustic chemicals it contains. Without proper removal, these chemicals will become baked on by the sun and will eat away the finish of the vinyl. Ultimately, the stains will degrade the vinyl, causing it to crack and break. The combination of sunshine, pool chlorine and suntan oil is fatal to vinyl.
Other sources of stains avoid using unfiltered well or ground water when cleaning the furniture, and pay attention to where the wind blows the ground water from sprinkler systems. Unfiltered water often causes staining of outdoor furniture due to sulfur, iron oxide and other minerals common in ground water. Only fresh city water or filtered well water should be used.
Other sources of stains are the pods and bark of many tropical trees and shrubs. Small pods from flowers fall to the deck and leave brown stains. The primary staining agent is tannic acid, which is used in the tanning of leather, dyeing of cloth, in the production of paper and silk and as a coagulant in the manufacturing of rubber. Tannic acid is found in many trees & shrubs, such as: Kola trees, Eucalyptus Horehound and other plants in the mint family Hickory and other nut husks Galls (swelling of plant tissue due to parasites) of tamarisk trees and shrubs Bark, galls and foliage of most species of oak trees Golden-yellow color pigment in autumn leaves Bark of Eastern hemlock, cinnamon, witch hazel, cinchona and cascara sgrada Red mangroves Bark & foliage of sumac and other trees and shrubs in the cashew family
If you see yellow or brown stains on decks, pump houses and outside walls, stains may also occur on nearby outdoor furniture if care is not taken.
Using towels Many condominiums have signs that clearly require all people using the pool furniture to lay on towels. These signs are an excellent idea and should be expressed in the strongest terms: "Do not lay on the furniture without a towels." If firmly enforced, this practice may double the life of new vinyl.
Pressure cleaning Perhaps the most efficient method of cleaning commercial patio furniture is with a pressure-washer using plain water under low pressure. Mild disinfectant or detergent may be used, but do not use chlorine or harsh cleaning solutions. A mild disinfectant called "quaternary ammonium chloride" is used in pressure-wash solutions and is effective in cleaning and disinfecting patio furniture without harm, if properly used in moderate amounts.
Clean with mild soap and warm water.
Absent a suitable pressure washer, outdoor furniture should be cleaned with a soft brush, using mild soap and very warm water. Dawn is the best soap because it has emulsifiers that break down the stains common to outdoor furniture and is relatively scum free. After a few years, when the finish is worn and plain soap and water will not clean the vinyl any more, begin to add small amounts of household bleach. Start with a capful or two of bleach per gallon of filtered water, working up to half and half during the following year or so. When a half and half solution no longer cleans the vinyl, it's time for new vinyl.
The top surfaces of outdoor furniture, especially chaises, are most critical, and should be cleaned weekly or biweekly. Simply wipe down the top surfaces and rinse with filtered water. Once every four to six weeks, wipe down the bottom and back surfaces to control mildew.
Wax the frames Just as your car benefits from annual applications of wax, so will the frames of outdoor furniture. Lightly wax the arms, legs and other non-strapped areas of the frame with high grade, non-abrasive car wax. Do not use compound wax and be sure to wipe off any wax that gets on the vinyl straps. Commercial cleaning solutions and chlorine It is a common misconception that pool chlorine, household bleach, chlorine based cleaners, and other strong solutions and solvents are good for cleaning stained vinyl. These chemicals are fatal to the vinyl's finish. They will clean well for a time, but they clean by removing layers of the finish along with the staining material on top of the finish. After a while, it becomes impossible to clean the vinyl. It becomes stiff and hard, loses its memory, and begins to crack and break. This is an inescapable process that is accelerated two to three times or more by the use of harsh chemicals. Pool chlorine is about 4 times stronger and much more caustic than household bleach. Outdoor furniture should never be cleaned with pool chlorine for any reason.
