Så förbereder du utemöblerna inför vintern

The most common mistake people make with garden furniture is putting it away dirty. A season's worth of pollen, bird droppings, and the fine mineral residue left behind by Swedish summer rain sits quietly on the surface through October and November, and by the time March comes around, what looked like a light film has worked its way into the grain of the teak or left a chalky bloom across the powder coat. The damage is not dramatic — it rarely is — but it is cumulative, and after two or three winters it shows in dull finishes, grey wood, and paint that starts to lift at the joints. Taking two afternoons in September or early October, before the temperature drops below five degrees Celsius, is genuinely enough to prevent most of it. This is how to do it properly, material by material.

Starting with powder-coated aluminium ¶

Powder-coated aluminium is the most forgiving of outdoor materials, but it has one specific vulnerability: the coating can be scratched by abrasive cleaners, and once the underlying metal is exposed, the galvanic protection the coating provides is compromised. That means the cleaning approach matters before anything else. Fill a bucket with warm water and add a small amount of pH-neutral dish soap — the kind without added solvents. Use a soft microfibre cloth or a natural sponge, never a scouring pad or anything with a rough texture. Work from the top of each piece downward, section by section, rinsing with clean water as you go. Pay particular attention to the joints and the underside of armrests, where moisture and organic matter collect and sit longest.

Once the furniture is clean and fully dry — ideally left in mild autumn sun for a few hours — inspect every surface for chips or small scratches that reach through to the aluminium beneath. Hardware stores across Sweden stock touch-up paint in standard RAL colour codes, and most powder-coat manufacturers can supply small tins matched to the original finish. A careful dab with a fine brush is enough to seal the exposed area before winter moisture gets in. This step takes fifteen minutes and is easily skipped, which is exactly why so many people regret it in spring.

After repairs, apply a thin coat of carnauba-based car wax to all aluminium surfaces. This is not a requirement the manufacturer will advertise, but it is something professional furniture restorers in Malmö and Göteborg use routinely. The wax creates a water-repelling barrier that reduces the freeze-thaw stress on the paint film during the coldest months. Buff it out with a clean cloth, and the surface will have a very slight sheen — visible in angled light but not shiny in a way that looks out of place.

Treating teak before the temperature drops ¶

Teak occupies a different category entirely. Its natural oil content makes it remarkably durable, but that same oil content means it responds badly to being sealed with the wrong products at the wrong time. The classic error is applying teak oil to furniture that has already started to silver — the grey patina that develops over a season of UV exposure. Oiling grey teak locks in the discolouration rather than reversing it. The correct sequence is to clean first, restore colour if desired, and then protect.

For cleaning, a dedicated teak cleaner — available from most outdoor furniture suppliers and from Växthemmet's own shelving in the care products section — works in a straightforward way. Apply it with a soft brush, scrubbing along the grain, not across it. Leave it for five to ten minutes, then rinse thoroughly with a garden hose set to a gentle flow. A pressure washer is too aggressive for teak; it raises the grain and can split older, drier pieces. After rinsing, let the wood dry completely. In Swedish September conditions, with overnight temperatures already falling toward seven or eight degrees, that usually means leaving it for two full days.

Once the wood is dry and back to its natural honey-brown, apply a quality teak oil with a lint-free cloth, again moving with the grain. One coat is usually sufficient for furniture that has been maintained annually. A second coat can be applied after four hours if the wood is visibly thirsty and absorbing the oil quickly. Leave the finished pieces in a sheltered spot for twenty-four hours before covering or storing, so the oil has time to penetrate fully rather than sitting on the surface where it can transfer to covers or to the floor of a storage space.

Teak that is cleaned and oiled in October will look noticeably younger come April than teak that was simply covered and left.

Covering and storing — what actually works ¶

Storage choices depend on what is available. A garage or a purpose-built förråd is ideal, because it keeps furniture dry and protects it from the physical stress of heavy snowfall and the expansion-contraction cycle of repeated freezing. If indoor storage is not possible, a good outdoor cover becomes the primary defence. The covers that perform best in Swedish winters are made from breathable polypropylene fabric rather than PVC or solid polyester. PVC traps moisture against the surface — the exact opposite of what is needed — while breathable fabrics allow condensation to escape while still blocking rain and snow.

• Stack chairs seat-to-seat before covering to reduce the footprint and limit stress on individual legs
• Remove and store cushions indoors — foam cores absorb water even through water-resistant fabric after prolonged exposure
• Secure covers with integrated straps or bungee cords; an unsecured cover in a Swedish November gale becomes a problem within hours
• Place a few silica gel sachets inside the covers of aluminium furniture if storing in an enclosed space with limited ventilation
• For teak stored outdoors, slip a piece of breathable landscape fabric between stacked surfaces to prevent any transfer of teak oil onto the cover lining
• Label any loose hardware — bolts, rubber feet, extension leaves — and store them together in a small labelled bag so assembly in spring takes minutes rather than an afternoon

In most parts of Sweden, the window between the end of the outdoor season and the first hard frost sits somewhere in the first two weeks of October. That is a comfortable amount of time to work through both materials across a weekend, without rushing any of the drying stages that make the difference between a treatment that holds and one that merely sits on the surface. The furniture will still be there in April, ready for the first Saturday warm enough to sit outside.