Algae Removal - Garden Furniture

[Harbo]

After our very damp and cold winter, I need to remove a fair bit of green algae which is growing on my oak garden furniture.

Any recommendations for removing it - I could use my power washer but that seems a bit drastic?

Rod

 

[Max Power]

Power washer would be my first choice Rod

 

[ondablade]

Ha! I've the same problem H, and have been wondering about it too. I seem not only to have green stuff but also a touch of black mould which i suspect has penetrated the wood a bit.

Would a touch of a mould killing bleach be advisable too i wonder?

Mine is a cheap Eastern made set that's not in a particularly suitable timber, and seems to have only been stained brown. It's split in one or two places as well - i have some Chair Doctor glue on the way to inject into the splits.

I wonder what would be a good coating to re-finish and leave them more weather resistant once the damage is sorted?

 

[Harbo]

I have been using an annual coating of Liberon Garden Furniture oil on this:

English oak now silver/black with green bits!

The tin says one or two applications/year so perhaps I should have given it two?

Rod

 

[OPJ]

Hi Rod,

Last summer, I used some of Liberon's Garden Furniture Cleaner. It took a couple of applications with a wire brush but, it worked a treat! After few fresh coats of oil, our benches were looking almost as good as new! 8)

I forget which oil I used (it was probably Teak oil?) but it does look like they'll need oiling again this year (no signs of the moss or mildew, though!).

It might be worth mentioning that Osmo do a UV Oil though, this won't 'colour' the wood like some other oils. I bought some last year but haven't yet have a chance to use it... However, there is more information on Smith & Roger's blog, here.

 

[oddsocks]

I made a garden table in iroko last year and after a lot of research on web pages and forums settled on using teak wonder products. These are designed for yachts (I bought mine mail order from Bosun's locker) and they do an excellent cleaner as well as protector. The range suits all hardwoods.

http://www.teakwonder.co.uk/

I cleaned up the table and chairs last September, put on the protector and then stored the lot under the thick green canvas until last week - not a trace of any algae etc.

Dave

 

[Ironballs]

I've just renovated our bench and replaced the old pine with western red cedar parts, I was going to leave it au naturel to go silver, but now wonder if I should give it an oil finish instead - given that I have a load of teak oil in the garage

 

[Max Power]

Beautiful rocker Rod, did you make it ?

 

[SVB]

I pressure wash my garden stuff - I have a cheap B&Q washer so not too worried about timber damage, may be a different story if you have a really high powered jobbie though.

Having said that, I am sure to some extent, pressue washing just forces some of the alge deep into the grain to grow again so it becomes an annual event, no dig deal though.

Re the teak wonder product, it is a three part, I use it for the boat decks. I can recommend the first two parts, the third part, the finish, looks horrible on teak decks so having cleaned the surface I would go back to your normal finish.

BRgds
S

 

[Harbo]

Alan - yes I downloaded the design from Popular Mechanics (I think?).
It's rather large being an American "Porch Glider", the SS straps I got from Rockler.

It rocks gently and glasses of wine can be left on the arm rests without spilling

I bought some of the Liberon cleaner today and the algae is now gone. Will have to think what I protect it with as I think it is too far gone colour-wise to use the Osmo UV? In theory the Liberon oil should have worked?

Rod

 

[Brown00]

Use HG powerful garden furniture cleaner which easily removes stubborn dirt from garden furniture.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I've pressure-washed in the past. It looks great after you've done it, but raises the grain terribly, and, as mentioned earlier, I think it also drives mould spores deep into the wood (so it starts again soon after).

I've had great success with path cleaning using diluted Jeyes fluid: it smells a bit like creosote, but it does kill mould/algae, and unlike just jetwashing, it doesn't need re-doing quickly afterwards. My guess is that it would work pretty well on garden furniture.

HTH,

E.

 

[Daven]

Agree with Eric - washing it with some Jeyes Fluid - helps to kill the algae and takes longer to come back!
http://www.jeyes.co.uk/jeyesfluid.htm

Dave

 

[mbartlett99]

I made a garden table in iroko last year and after a lot of research on web pages and forums settled on using teak wonder products. These are designed for yachts (I bought mine mail order from Bosun's locker) and they do an excellent cleaner as well as protector. The range suits all hardwoods.

http://www.teakwonder.co.uk/

I cleaned up the table and chairs last September, put on the protector and then stored the lot under the thick green canvas until last week - not a trace of any algae etc.

Dave

You're absolutely right - Teak Wonder A + B (watch your hands, stings like crazy) - use gallons of the stuff on yacht decks, suntan oil, food, wine, the list goes on. Don't tend to use much oil as it doesn't stand up to harsh sunlight for long but the Sikkens range is fairly good. Cheaper alternative is to use Tri Sodium Phosphate to wash it down with or failing that Persil does a really good job of cleaning outdoor wood.

 

[custard]

If you have garden furniture where it gets direct sun and can dry off then it's pretty easy to keep it algae free. If it's damp and permanently shaded then it'll get algae almost no matter what you do. So if the latter then be prepared to clean every second year or two, IMO it's a choice between a weinn multi-tool (ideal for sanding between slats) or a power washer.

 

[Harbo]

This is a bit out of date to be resurrected - looks like an advertising scam to me?

Where's the post to moderator button gone?

Rod

 

[AndyT]

This is a bit out of date to be resurrected - looks like an advertising scam to me?

Where's the post to moderator button gone?

Rod

It's now the red exclamation mark at the bottom rhs of every posting.

 

[llangatwgnedd]

Undiluted bleach i use, about 70p a gallon from lidls