How to Clean Poly Furniture

Seth Carter 30/01/2025

We explain how to clean poly furniture in a simple post. It can be as simple as soap and water for basic maintenance or it could require a few extra steps, depending on your climate and exposure.

With summer right around the corner, we’re all ready to shake off the cold of winter and get the grill fired up for some homemade barbecue. If you’re like most people, your poly furniture has sat outside all winter, accumulating some dirt and grime along the way. Now is the time to get everything ready for another beautiful outdoor season and here are a few tips to get you started.

General Poly Furniture Cleaning and Maintenance

One of the great benefits of our outdoor poly furniture is the ease of cleaning and maintenance. When it comes to basic cleaning and maintenance, it’s pretty simple!

How do I clean outdoor poly furniture?

If you’ve had your poly furniture covered for the winter or have experienced little inclement weather, getting your space into shape should be a simple task. For this, we prefer a bucket of soap and water, along with a soft bristle brush to give each piece a once-over. This will eliminate any dirt and grime that tends to accumulate after a long rain or snowy season.

Scrub from top to bottom, get in the nooks and crannies and rinse clean with a hose. This general cleaning can also be performed at any time throughout the season if you need a quick freshen-up when you’re expecting company.


Folding Poly Adirondack Sling Chair

The Folding Poly Adirondack Sling Chair is one of our newest poly offerings. It provides the comfort of an Adirondack-style chair with the flexibility to fold up and store away when needed.


How to Clean Poly Furniture in a Salty Coastal Climate

Here at the DutchCrafters headquarters in Sarasota, FL, we enjoy (or sometimes don’t) an extended summer that never really turns into a full winter. If you’re in a similar climate, you’ll know that with this gorgeous weather comes a robust amount of tree pollen and other floating particulates (salty sea air, plenty of rain, etc.) that will build up over time on your poly furniture and cause heavier dirt to accumulate.

How do you keep poly furniture clean in a coastal climate?

Use a mixture of 1/3 bleach to 2/3 water in a bucket. With the same soft bristle brush, coat the whole piece of furniture with the mixture and give it a quick scrub down. Rinse with water completely once you’re done. You can also follow this up with the soap and water mixture to remove any odor of the bleach if you’re sensitive to the smell, and rinse again – bringing back that brand new look.


Amish Outdoor Recycled Polywood Fan-Back Garden Chair

One of our most popular chairs, the Amish Poly Fan-back Adirondack Chair is perfect on your fishing deck, circling a fire pit, or in the freshly mowed grass of your backyard.


How to Clean Poly Furniture with a Pressure Washer

Suppose your stains are hefty or you’ve experienced a backyard get-together that resulted in higher-than-typical use for your outdoor poly furniture. In that case, you can easily get everything back to par with a pressure washer, the soap and water mixture, and a scrub brush.

Start by lightly scrubbing with soap and water to loosen up with dirt that is set in. From there, take a pressure washer (less than 1,500 PSI is ideal) and spray each piece down. Keep the nozzle a foot from the surface of the poly at all times.

This method should get even the deepest dirt out of your furniture and restore those beautiful, vibrant colors to their former glory.


Amish Poly Wood Patio Pub Table Set

Dine alfresco in comfort with our Amish Poly Patio Pub Table Set.


Enjoy your poly furniture, ready for another summer of backyard get-togethers or quiet evenings under the stars.

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by Seth Carter (25 Posts)

Seth Carter has been with DutchCrafters since 2020. Seth has won multiple awards for his work in Amish furniture while with DutchCrafters. He has advised and partnered with more than 150 Amish wood shops on furniture presentation, design, industry trends, product options, and the development of exclusive products. He is originally from Indiana and even lived in Amish country (LaGrange, Indiana) for an extended period of time while working with DutchCrafters. He contributes to the Timber to Table Blog and has written content throughout the DutchCrafters website. Seth has a B.S. in Business Administration from IU-East and has owned Carter Family Insurance, LLC. since 2014.


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