Remove stain from wicker patio furniture

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Improper winter care due to a health problem left our wicker patio furniture in a pretty sad state. One big problem was big black mildew stains in several places on all pieces.

I'll use the wicker patio chair as an example for the procedure to remove the black mildew stains from all of the wicker patio furniture.

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120° Blum Clip Top Hinges

Patio furniture covered, but still got wet

Click on the pictures to see larger versions of them.

Stained wicker chair before

The patio chair was placed in a covered area of the patio with the cushion still in place and a tarp over it. Normally we put the fabric cushions in plastic bags and store them and the wicker patio furniture pieces in the storage shed for the winter.

The winter was pretty wet and snowy and blowy, so everything got wet, even under the tarp under the patio roof.

In the spring when we assessed the damage we discovered that the wet seat cushion had allowed moisture on the wicker patio furniture long enough to cause some very large black mildew stains.

Spray patio furniture stain with bleach solution

I took a handy dandy spray bottle and filled it with one part laundry bleach and nine parts water and sprayed the whole patio chair seat area until it was very damp, not drippy wet.

I did the job in bright sunshine, because the sun helps to bleach things.

Stained wicker chair after

I had to spray the mildew stain three or four times before it was completely gone. I let the bleach solution dry completely before I resprayed each time.

I see as I'm writing this that the picture looks like there is still some stain in the seat area of the patio chair, so I'll look it over closely before I go to the next step. If oil is added to the wicker before the stain is all gone the stain will be made to look more prominent.

Precautions

Even if you don't plan to store the bleach solution in the spray bottle you should label the bottle with what's in it, because you never know when someone might come to the door and invite you to lunch or something and someone else may come along and pick the bottle up. I know, they aren't supposed to do that, but can you say that type of thing has never happened? Label the bottle, please, bleach can be nasty stuff.

You should always use eye and skin protection when using chemicals of any sort.