Best protection for outdoor wooden furniture: Top preservatives

Give your garden furniture the shield it deserves

hey say prevention is always better than cure.

While we’re used to hearing that phrase in relation to health and beauty, it applies elsewhere too - like garden furniture.

Depending on the size of your garden and the outdoor furniture you’ve chosen to furnish it with, you may have spent thousands of pounds on conversation sets, outdoor dining tables, benches, gazebos and the like. But if you’ve forgotten to protect them properly against the elements, you may find yourself searching for a replacement sooner than you think.

Wood furniture, in particular, needs shielding from the weather, especially here in the UK where we get a mix of weather, often seeing three or four seasons in a single day.

Without adequate protection, wood furniture can succumb to rot or become a place where mould and algae set up shop - terrible news for allergy sufferers and those with severe respiratory issues. Wood rot is particularly dangerous for furniture as it can render the piece unsafe to use. In addition, sunny days can zap your furniture of colour, leaving it looking tired and tatty.

Adding furniture covers and storing furniture under cover when it’s too cold outside to be enjoyed are also further steps to protecting your leisure purchases.

All this means that spending a little time adding a sealant, varnish or treatment will see you not only enjoying your outdoor furniture for much longer, but delays replacing it too, which in the current financial climate can only be a good thing.

Oil-based solutions are a sound choice for treating wood, as it will repel water, dirt and UV rays. What’s more, it won’t just protect the surface but will seep into the grain to offer protection throughout the piece.

The good news is that there are plenty of options for safeguarding your wooden garden furniture. We’ve rounded up the best ones out there to help you pick the best option to suit your needs.

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The market leader, most people have heard of Ronseal, if not for its hardworking products than for its famous slogan. The brand has plenty of options for protecting wood furniture from the infamous British weather, including this finish that’s designed for hardwood surfaces.

Apply three coats of the oil-based solution with the included Perfect Finish Pad with an hour’s drying time in between each one and enjoy all-over protection on your valuable wood furniture. The sponge isn’t perfect but incurs far fewer drips than using a brush would.

For furniture already in the grip of wet rot, Ronseal’s hardener saves your precious furniture from the skip. The clever formula works quickly, drying in as little as two hours and penetrating the wood to rebuild its strength from the inside out.

It dries clear so you can preserve the look of your piece or give it another stain to bring it up to like new. Though this is more of a cure product than the prevention we’re focusing on, a 250ml tin of this will prove a wise investment in any garden shed shelf.

Wait for a clear forecast before you crack on restoring wood pieces with Cuprinol’s solution - it needs 16 hours to dry. That said, if you’ve got lots of grey and weathered wood that needs restoring, this water-based gel formula offers the perfect antidote, reviving hardwood furniture’s original hue so that it looks practically as good as new.

Applying it is easy: brush on, scrub off the excess and leave for 15 minutes before giving it a quick rinse. Then let 16 hours tick by to ensure it is completely dry before using it as normal.

While most new outdoor wood furniture comes with some level of protection, bare or previously stained garden furniture could always use a new coat. Cuprinol’s stain leaves behind a rich hue on softwood and a lighter tint on hardwood, making it look great and adding to its longevity so you can continue to enjoy it long into the future. Each tin contains 750ml and offers long-lasting weather protection.

Available in a selection of common colours that you’d expect to find in the garden as well as clear, this is a highly rated wood preserver for exterior woods. The solvent-based solution protects against rot, fungi, decay, blue stain and wood-boring insects.

Formulated with wax and water-repellent resins, the treatment will preserve wooden furniture and things like decking and fences, going one step further by penetrating the material for heightened protection after a 12-hour drying time. Needs 2-3 coats for the best results, and available in one and five-litre tins.

Want to give old furniture a new lease of life? Try Frenchic’s range of Alfresco Inside/ Outside colours, a line of water-based, eco-friendly paints that are weatherproof too, making them perfect for sprucing up everything from picnic benches to planters.

There are 32 exciting shades to choose from, and all of them are self-levelling - no annoying brushstrokes - and self-priming and seal-sealing. As well as wood, you can use them on metal and laminate surfaces too.

Offering exceptional coverage for garden furniture, Rust-Oleum has a selection of 110 elegant colours to give tired pieces the once over. There’s no need to sand, prime, topcoat, wax or varnish: simply pry open a tin and apply the colour to your chosen furniture for mould and algae resistance as well as protection from the weather.

The brand claims one treatment will guard your pieces for up to six years. What’s more, the matte finish is washable and scrubable, so easy to keep clean on an ad-hoc basis.

Available in a wide range of colours, Osmo offers a double solution in protecting wood against weather and wear. The natural oil-based solution is a foundation and top coat in one and promises to protect wood furniture from algae, mould and fungi.

It also offers UV protection on vertical wood and helps timber to keep its shape, warding off swelling, shrinkage, splitting and warping. Apply two coats and stand back to enjoy the satin finish.

Choose from a 5ml sample size, 125ml, 750ml, 2.5L and 10L tins.

Save your teak furniture from bad weather with a little help from Cuprinol’s teal oil solution, offered in a rather handy trigger spray bottle. You’ll get excellent coverage from two coats, and the solution is fine to use on other types of hardwood in addition to teak. It replenishes the wood’s natural oils, protecting and nourishing it for many more seasons of use.

Linseed oil is a well-known way to protect outdoor wood from the ravages of nature. The treatment is good for all types of wood - except exterior oak - and dries quickly, leaving behind a reinforced surface with a slightly glossy finish.

It can even be used on terracotta, concrete and stone surfaces, making it a hardworking garden multitasker. If applying with a rag, be sure to soak it thoroughly afterwards before disposing properly as boiled linseed oil like this can combust.