Patio and outdoor furniture
Aluminum or rattan frames, bolts that will see rain, and cushions with hidden straps.
Not what you bought? Try Dining chairs and stools · Sofa, loveseat or sectional
What you need
In the box already: Allen key · Bolts, washers, nuts · Feet or glides · Cushions with straps · Glass or slat table top
Before you open anything
- Build it on the patio or deck, not in the garage. These sets are wide and often do not fit through a side gate assembled.
- Lay a tarp or the cardboard down. Concrete scuffs powder-coated aluminum immediately.
- Check the weather. Half-built outdoor furniture left in rain overnight will have rust bloom on the bare bolt ends.
- Open every box and group parts by piece — sofa, chairs, table — before building anything. Outdoor sets mix parts across boxes.
Please don't skip these
- Glass table tops are tempered and fail suddenly if an edge is knocked. Two people, handled by the faces.
- Never leave a glass-topped patio table without its umbrella hole plug or its umbrella. Wind lifts unsecured tops.
The whole thing, step by step
10 steps-
Open every box and group by piece
Outdoor sets arrive in several boxes and the parts are mixed between them. Open them all and make a pile per piece of furniture before you start.
- Open all boxes
- One pile per chair, one for the sofa, one for the table
- Keep each hardware bag with its pile
Watch out. Building the first chair with the sofa's bolts is extremely easy to do when everything is in one heap. -
Grease the bolt threads
Wipe a little marine grease or petroleum jelly on each bolt thread before it goes in. Two minutes now means these bolts still undo in five years.
- A dab on the thread of each bolt
- Especially any bolt that will sit facing upward and collect water
- Wipe excess off the finish
Tip. This is the single best piece of outdoor furniture advice. Rusted-solid bolts are why patio sets get thrown away instead of repaired. -
Build the frames, everything finger-tight
Assemble each frame with its bolts, washers and nuts started but loose. Outdoor frames have more flex than indoor ones and need room to find their shape.
- Washer between bolt head and frame, every time
- Nut on the back, finger-tight
- All bolts in before any are tightened
Watch out. Many outdoor bolts need a wrench on the nut while you turn the bolt. Having a second person hold it makes this easy. -
Check the frames sit flat before tightening
Put each frame on a flat surface and press each corner. Adjust while loose until it sits with no rock, then tighten.
- Each frame on flat ground
- Press each corner
- Adjust and then tighten, diagonally, two laps
Tip. Patios are not level. Get the furniture itself sitting flat on a known-flat surface first, then deal with the patio separately with glides. -
Fit the feet and glides
Push or screw the plastic glides into every leg end. They keep water out of the tube and stop the legs grinding into the patio.
- One glide per leg, pushed fully in
- Adjustable feet: leave room to adjust
- Check none are missing
Watch out. An open aluminum leg end fills with water, and in winter that water freezes and splits the tube. Every leg needs its cap. -
Fit the table top
Slat tops screw down from underneath. Glass tops sit on rubber pads and clamp gently. Two people either way.
- Slat top: screws from underneath, started loose then tightened in a cross pattern
- Glass top: clean rubber pads first, then lower it straight down
- Clamps on glass: finger-tight plus a nudge, no more
Watch out. Over-tightening a clamp on a tempered glass top is a classic way to shatter it, sometimes days later rather than immediately. -
Umbrella hole and plug
If there is an umbrella hole, fit the plug now or put the umbrella in. An open hole in a glass top is a stress point and a wind catcher.
- Plug in if no umbrella
- Umbrella through the hole and into the base, if using
- Never use an umbrella without a weighted base
Tip. A patio umbrella in a table with no weighted base will lift in a gust and take the glass with it. -
Strap the cushions on
Most outdoor cushions have velcro strips or ties underneath. Use them. Unsecured cushions end up in the neighbor's garden.
- Find the velcro or ties on the cushion underside
- Fasten them around the frame rails
- Seat cushions first, then backs
Tip. If there are no straps, a few outdoor velcro strips from a hardware store solve it for a couple of dollars. -
Final tighten and a wobble check
Second tightening lap on every piece, then sit in each seat and rock. Any movement is a loose bolt.
- Full second lap on every piece
- Sit and rock in each seat
- Check the table does not rack when leaned on
Tip. Keep the Allen key and a small wrench in a drawer. Outdoor furniture expands and contracts with temperature and needs a tighten each spring. -
Plan for weather from day one
Bring cushions in or get a cover. Sun fades fabric faster than anything, and water in the frame is what eventually kills these sets.
- Cushion storage bag or bring them inside
- A fitted cover for the frames if they stay out all winter
- Tip tables up or cover them so water drains
Tip. Set a spring reminder: tighten every bolt, check every glide, re-grease anything that looks rusty. That is a twenty-year patio set instead of a three-year one.
If something has gone wrong
A bolt is already rusting
Replace it with a stainless steel bolt of the same size from a hardware store, and grease the thread. Unlike bunk beds, outdoor furniture bolts are usually generic and safe to substitute like for like.
The chair rocks on my patio
Check the frame itself on flat ground first. If the frame is fine, the patio is uneven — use adjustable glides or a thin shim under the short leg.
The glass top will not sit flat
A rubber pad is missing or out of position, or there is grit on one. Lift the glass with two people, clean everything, reposition the pads, lower straight down.
A bolt is seized and will not undo
Penetrating oil, left overnight, then try again. If the head is rounded off, a bolt extractor or a hacksaw cut is the next step. Grease on assembly prevents all of this.
The cushions keep blowing away
Use the straps underneath. If the cushions have none, outdoor velcro strips or a few cushion clips solve it permanently.
A leg filled with water and split
The glide cap was missing. Replace the glide, and check every other leg. Aluminum splits when water inside freezes, and that damage is not repairable.
Words you will see in the manual
- glide
- The plastic cap on a furniture leg. On outdoor furniture it also keeps water out of the hollow leg, which stops it splitting in winter.
- tempered glass
- Heat-treated glass used in table tops. Strong on its faces, fragile at the edges, and it shatters all at once rather than cracking. Handle by the faces.
- marine grease
- Water-resistant grease. A dab on each outdoor bolt thread at assembly means the bolts still undo years later.
- washer
- A flat metal ring that goes under a bolt head. It spreads the load so the bolt does not pull through the material. Never leave one out.