Olga

Of course, prevention is better than cure, so waterproof furniture covers for your wooden furniture keep tables and chairs safe from their biggest dangers sun and rain.

The first thing to do when restoring your outdoor furniture is to clean it with soap and water. Be sure that the surface is dry before doing any more work. A toothbrush and toothpaste work well at removing many stains or marks on the furniture!

If your furniture has a finish to it, clean it with mineral spirits on a rag. Wipe off the excess spirits and then brush on an outdoor varnish or a coat of brightener. Let this dry before treating the wood with teak oil (made for all types of wood) to prevent weathering. This treatment will not only restore your furniture, it will also feed the wood and give it a rich finish.

You should avoid standing wood legs directly on grass as the moisture from the ground may rot untreated wood over time. If you can''t avoid this, at least give wood legs some extra protection by standing table and chair legs in saucers of wood preservative for several hours, so that as much solution as possible gets soaked into the wood.

When cleaning up wet spills, be sure to dry the furniture completely, never assume that the sun will do it. The wood may take all day to dry out, and in that time, airborne dirt such as pollen may have formed an invisible yet sticky film on your table.

Protect wooden furniture at the start of each season with a sealant that's appropriate to the wood's composition and style. For example, use teak-oil for hardwood chairs and preservative for a budget softwood bench.

• Redwood naturally resists weathering and rot but should still be coated with a sealer to keep out moisture and prolong it's luster.

• Finished white wood (often used for camp stools and directors chairs) should be completely sealed with penetrating sealer for exterior use. They may also be given a coat of exterior varnish but they should not be left in the rain.

• Unfinished white wood (used for rustic furniture) needs to be treated with an exterior penetrating stain containing wood preservative and mildew inhibitor.

• Every two weeks, wipe down tables and chairs with a cloth, wrung out from a solution of soapy wood cleaner. Use the cleaner neat on any particularly stubborn stains. Dry thoroughly, with a fresh cloth.