Steel vs. aluminum patio furniture: corrosion resistance?

A. Hi Meghan. You are right that it's difficult to find information about how, and how well, a product like a patio set is finished. In fact, it's more or less impossible: If they gave you 3 pages of technical info, you still wouldn't know whether they were exercising good monitoring and quality control.

Most of my responses to consumer questions on quality and durability of finishes are more or less apologies for the fact that we're not going to be able to tell you what to look for technically in their sales pap. Reputation, customer reviews, reviews by testing organizations like Consumer Reports, reputable magazine articles like "4 Best Patio Sets", BBB citations, warranty & warranty exclusions, openness about where the product was manufactured, and what the seller chooses to emphasize/de-emphasize are your only real clues to the quality of their finishes.

At the time of your writing there was only one customer review on Amazon, but there are hundreds of reviews of fairly similar sets from the same manufacturer to give you a good feel for their reputation; and you can try to find other distributors and see if they have reviews of this set.

3rd party re-coating can be an option for older patio furniture, but it's not a realistic option for new furniture. A tarp to protect the set from the sun & snow but allow it to breathe may help. And make sure the set is not exposed to de-icing salt or lawn fertilizer. Good luck.

Luck & Regards,

A. Aluminum won't "rust", but it will corrode. Both will corrode over time since they'll be outside. How long depends on numerous factors: the quality of the paint, thickness, quality of the pretreatment, the environment, alloy used, etc.

How long your equipment will last is unknown. It was most likely coated at a job shop. Some job shops conduct outstanding pretreatment and use quality paint. Others, wipe off the dirt and spray on the cheapest paint that will stick.

My personal choice would be aluminum since it will (theoretically) form an oxide layer that helps reduce corrosion. Plus, if it does corrode, it's not as apparent as red rust. I'd also imagine aluminum to be lighter than steel, assuming the same design.

A. I live on a salt-water lagoon and can certainly echo what Mr. Restifo says about coating quality being the most important parameter!

We bought some painted steel folding lounge chairs for our patio last year and, without exaggeration, rust was seriously discoloring the paint in two weeks. Unfortunately, we had thrown away all the packing materials and labels by then.

We also bought a steel 'umbrella table' and set of six chairs, and have seen no signs of rust yet even after leaving them out near the salt water all winter.

Think about your car, which is steel, and which can last years outdoors without rust despite every kind of adverse situation from overheating to gravel chips to road salt to sub zero temperatures.

Buy the patio set you like, with confidence that it should give you no trouble regardless of what metal it is made of. But if the finish proves shameful, show them your letter here and ask them to take it back; and if they won't, include all the particulars on your next letter

A. You may not like this answer, Melissa, but people who live near the ocean don't need to buy aluminum cars nor aluminum patio furniture :-)

Steel is absolutely fine no matter how close you live to the ocean if it has a quality finish! -- which is the job of the manufacturer.

I live on a salt-water lagoon in Tom's River, not far from you. Our patio/deck/dock furniture can't fit into the house or garage, so its sits out all winter as well as all summer. Our steel patio table and chairs are over 5 years old, have never been maintained in any way at all, and no rust.

On the other hand I bought some steel lounge chairs (from the same retailer) in the spring that were an unsightly rusty mess before fall.

The problem is not steel furniture, it is low quality paint jobs. It may not be easy for a retailer to market only patio furniture with a quality finish, but that is the real answer. Stop by for a margarita come spring, and I'll look up what brand of furniture I bought that your buyers should be arranging for your customers to get!

Encourage your customers to return bad furniture, then dump any manufacturer who doesn't support you. It's not hard to build corrosion-resistant steel furniture, so don't let manufacturers get away with making you look like an unreliable outlet.

A. To my knowledge GI Plates (Galvanised iron plates) never rust at any circumstances. You may try to do the furniture by GI steel plates.

"Wish you All the best"

A. Hi Doc.

In the above discussion from 2005, I had talked about my 5 year old steel patio set. Well, it is now 13 years old, and here is a photo of it (less the cushions), taken last week .

The corrosion resistance of this set is remarkable by today's standards, and that's because it received proper pretreatment and finishing. It was purchased from Target and was "powder coated". But here's the rub: it's sitting next to a 3-week old Rolston gazebo, also purchased from Target, also powder coated, that is already rusting. The Rolston gazebo is a perfect example of furniture that is worthless due to super-cheap painting (I won't call it 'finishing' since it is an embarrassment to professionals in the finishing field to call it 'finishing' -- and I distance myself and my industry from it).

So here's the problem: the material of construction is unimportant to the corrosion resistance, but you can't trust most retailers to require quality finishing these days. And if it's manufactured and finished 12,000 miles away by people of a different culture who some say even occasionally take pride in shrewdly outmaneuvering you in your attempt to buy quality -- then what can I tell you?   :-)

For now I think the only thing you can do is either buy your lawn furniture from LL Bean with its unconditional guarantee, or budget to have the finish stripped and re-applied by a local shop, or be so lucky as to find the few companies who adhere to Collis Potter Huntington's rule "We Shall Build Good Ships Here; At A Profit If We Can, At A Loss If We Must, But Always Good Ships." Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi Hollie. Unfortunately, the durability of any of this stuff depends on factors that you can rarely tell from looking at it or by reading the seller's sales pap. Plastic imitation wicker certainly can't rust, but it's only guaranteed for a year. Although people tend to write reviews while their furniture is still new, if you can find a consensus about this furniture in reviews that are a few years old (and on a site not run by the seller), I think that would be your most reliable guide.

Furniture purchases are a matter of taste, as well as durability, but if heavyweight steel furniture suits your taste, I think it's the most durable. In my case with furniture sitting on a windswept deck over a lagoon, the weight of steel furniture was an important factor; neighbors' plastic chairs and aluminum beach chairs blow into the lagoon rather frequently :-)

Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi Susan. If you can find plastic caps or plugs of the right size, I'd try that rather than electrical tape. Otherwise, carry on :-)

But most of this stuff is made from hollow steel tubing (with no paint inside), and the parts usually start rusting very quickly.

Regards,

A. Hi Kim. We generally don't print praise or slams of any particular products because on this "no registration required" site it leads to spam and sales agents posing as satisfied customers.

Garden Treasures is a Lowes trademark rather than a manufacturer name, and I'm finding nothing on Lowes.com that tells me where it's made, the manufacturer's name, or anything about the finish except "powder coated". But the finish is only guaranteed for a year, and in answer to questions on the Lowes site regarding rust resistance, Lowes responds that it should be covered and stored. That doesn't mean it won't last, but I think you'll have little to go on except your general satisfaction with Lowes' products … although if there are no hollow tubes involved, that's to the good :-)

Regards,