When you outdoor furniture has had it

Sunset, July, 1984

"People expect more from their patio chairs than they do from their cars," says one furniture repair expert. "They leave them out in sun or pounding rain, let the wind blow them over and the kids toss them in the swimming pool, and they rarely even wipe off the dirt. A Rolls Royce would look haggard after a few years of that treatment."

With many new tubular metal and vinyllaced chairs costing in the $75 to $225 range, most of us need to protect our investments, so here we offer simple maintenance tips to help you keep your patio chairs in good repair for 10 to 15 years. Since such advice may be too little too late, we also show how to refurbish a metal frame and how to replace lacing, following one of the most popular diagonal weaving patterns. Pampering your lawn chairs Furniture made of aluminum and vinyl has some natural enemies: dirt, air pollution, strong detergents, intense sunlight, hydrochloric acid (pool water), and teething puppies. Foiling these is the object of a maintenance program.

Dirt and pollution roughen chair surfaces and make furniture look old. But cleaning with detergents can hurt the vinyl and leave a dull residue.

Manufacturers recommend washing outdoor furniture with a mild soap, using a plastic or natural-fiber scrubber and rinsing thoroughly; wash every two weeks in coastal salt air or heavy smog, every few months other places. Finish the treatment by waxing the metal frame with liquid or paste car wax and rejuvenating the straps with vinyl upholstery cleaner. These won't prevent the furniture from getting dirty, but dirt will adhere to the coating, not the furniture, so it's more easily cleaned off.

Most stains on vinyl seating will come off with a gentle cleaner, although some foods and tanning lotions can penetrate the vinyl and leave permanent stains. Mildew can sometimes be removed with full-strength ammoniated cleaner. To avoid dirt and pollution, you might want to cover your furniture with plastic or store it indoors out of season. Store it right side up: water that runs into drainage holes can freeze, expand, and cause structural damage.

Over a long period of time, strong sunlight may fade and weaken vinyl lacing,so leave chairs in the shade when you can. Chlorinated pool water sprayed on furniture by a pool sweep or puddled around a chair's feet can lead to corrosion of the metal and bubbling of paint, especially if plastic foot glides are missing. Keep furniture away from pool water or rinse it off right away.

Chewy puppies aren't quite so easy to control. Says one manufacturer, "We replace a lot of lacing that has tooth marks in it--usually little ones." If a puppy is attracted to your vinyl lacing, the only solution may be separation. Once the damage has been done

If you've neglected maintenance and your chairs need more restoration than cleaning can accomplish, inspect one carefully to see what is needed. Check the metal joints to see if any need rewelding. Then examine the paint job; if the frame is only slightly chipped, you may be able to sand it, then spray or dab on touch-up paint from a patio-furniture store. If the finish is dull but not marred, an automobile-polishing compound might bring back the color.

But if you can run your fingernail or a knife out from the chip and pull off more of the finish, you'd better forget stop-gap methods and repaint the whole chair. Otherwise, it's just a matter of time until you'll be working on it again.

Look at the chair's strapping. If a few straps are broken or the bottom is sagging, you may be able to splice in new straps or restretch what's there. (Look at the lacing pattern to see if it uses one continuous piece of strapping or several.) If a more radical approach is in order, you'll need to remove all the vinyl, buy new, and start over. Manufacturers and some furniture-repair shops sell lacing by the foot in a variety of colors and widths. (Send or take in a sample if you want to match what you have.)

Make no mistake; repairing a patio chair takes care, muscle, patience, and concentration. Most people choose to have the job done professionally, which costs about $65 to $90 (check the yellow pages under Furniture Repair). But if you're willing to invest a good deal of time and energy, and if you scrupulously follow these directions, you can do the job yourself for about half that cost, perhaps even less. Take it all off

Assuming your chair's problem is with the frame, your first step is to remove all the lacing. Pay close attention as you do, to get a feel for the pattern and knots. (If you're doing a set, keep one chair laced until you've finished the first, so you can refer back to the pattern.) relace one kind of diagonal-weave chair. If your chair is another style, you'll need to study it and adapt our instructions or write to the manufacturer for help.

After the straps are removed, take off the paint. You can have it professionally sandblasted for about $15. Otherwise, strip it chemically, removing any residue with a quick wipe of lacquer thinner. Be careful not to get stripper into the frame's small drainage holes; it can leak out later, spoiling the new paint job. Oil from your hands can inhibit paint adhesion, so avoid handling bare aluminum.