The Durability of Rattan Furniture

A popular garden addition is seating and dining. Who doesn’t love a garden party or gathering?

Synthetic Polyethylene Rattan (PE Rattan) is one of the UK’s favourite garden furniture material for outdoor seating. But how durable is this material, and would it suit your requirements?

We spoke to Dan Revell from the UK based garden furniture importer LG Outdoor. He offered us an insight into LG’s rattan ranges:

LG Outdoor use a maximum of 20% recycled material in our weave to ensure that it is UV stable and can therefore offer a 3 year limited warranty on all of our weave products. While rattan weave is known to be long lasting, it is important to note that not all weave is the same. If the weave contains too high a percentage of recycled material, or ‘regrind‘ then it is much more susceptible to UV damage and will become brittle and snap.

Dan Revell

Can You Leave Rattan Furniture Outside?

Rattan is comprised of many plastic elements. These elements give it a natural resistant to the sun’s UV rays as well as never rusting or rotting. This is important as it means any sudden downpours will not mean your item is forever damaged.

In short, this allows your set to be left outside.

Is All Rattan Furniture Weatherproof?

Regardless of the weave rattan is designed to be weatherproof, so don’t need to worry about sudden rainfall, snow or hail.

It is an easy thing to overlook the framework on all garden furniture. Luckily the major furniture suppliers have taken this into consideration.

Most furniture frames will be made from aluminium which has been powder coated. Powder coating normally prevents rust, which isn’t something that doesn’t generally affects aluminium, however the powder coating does also help to prevent oxidisation. A polyester based coating, the powder coating also adds to the attractive nature of the set and won’t flake over time compared to paint.

Another important point, if applicable, is any cushions on your furniture. Some brands, such as LG Outdoor or Royalcraft, have invested in new technologies and have introduced weatherproof/seasonproof cushions. These are fine to become wet, and will dry out in a matter of a few hours.

Unless the product your looking at specifically mentions that the cushions are weatherproof it is safe to assume they are not, so we would not recommend leaving these outside on your set, as any sudden change in the weather could ruin your cushions.

In either case it is always worth storing the cushions when not in use, and in particular during the Autumn/Winter periods.

Is Rattan Furniture OK in the Rain?

Rattan is OK in the rain, however there are some considerations to be had.

Rattan is a weatherproof material, however it is not waterproof. You don’t need to worry about the set being wet, however you don’t want the set to become consistently soaked. Being constantly wet will start to affect the longevity of the product.

It’s also worth mentioning at this point that any constant sunshine being allowed to shine down on your furniture will, over time, cause the product to fade and become damaged.

These points can easily be countered by investing in a good cover for your furniture. This will help protect your items and means you can leave your sets outside constantly.

Can Rattan Furniture Stay Outside All Year?

Your furniture won’t become damaged due to an occasional rain or snow shower, however constantly being exposed to the elements without suitable protection will overtime damage your purchase.

If you want to keep your furniture outside all year long then we recommend purchasing a suitable cover to go over it. These can be easily sourced, some of which are branded for particular sets whilst others are more generic.

It is worth the extra time to measure your set and purchase the most suitable cover available. You want something that isn’t overly big, otherwise the weather will be able to penetrate underneath the cover, voiding the reason for having purchased the cover. At the same time you don’t want a cover which is difficult to put over your set due to the size.

Summary

Rattan Furniture is a popular choice for gardens due to its durability. When suitably covered you won’t need to constantly store the product when not in use.

If the weather takes a turn for the worse sudden, cushions aside, you won’t need to rush out to protect your investment.