How to Store Patio Furniture for the Winter in Southern California

Clean it, dry it completely, and get it off the ground. Those three steps do about 90% of the work. The other 10% depends on what your furniture is made of, because teak, aluminum, wrought iron and resin wicker each fail in a different way.

Southern California is easy on outdoor furniture for nine months and then hard on it for three. The rain shows up, the Santa Anas throw the light stuff around, and the marine layer works on anything metal. A weekend in October saves you a replacement set in April.

Do it before the first rain, not after

The single most common mistake is storing furniture that's already wet. A cushion that went into a bin damp in November is mildewed by January, and it's the same story for teak that got put away with moisture in the grain.

So pick a dry, breezy weekend in October. Wash, then let everything sit out a full day before anything goes in a box or a container. If you're near the coast, give it two.

By material

Teak and hardwood

Teak is the easiest to store and the easiest to over-manage.

• Scrub with mild soap and water, going with the grain. A soft brush, not a wire one.
• Let it dry completely — at least a full day, longer if it's thick.
• Don't seal it in plastic. Wood needs to breathe. Trapped moisture in a plastic-wrapped teak chair is exactly how you get black mildew spots.
• Oil it only if you're trying to hold the honey color. Untreated teak going silver-gray is normal and harmless.
• Store it flat or upright, off the ground, with air space between pieces.

Aluminum

Aluminum won't rust, but it does pit, especially within a few miles of the water.

• Wash and dry. Pay attention to the joints and the underside of the arms where salt collects.
• A coat of automotive wax on the frames is genuinely worth the twenty minutes near the coast.
• Stack the chairs, but put a towel or a piece of cardboard between each one. Aluminum stacked bare will scuff and score.

Wrought iron and steel

These are the ones that actually get destroyed by a wet winter.

• Inspect every joint and foot for rust. Wire-brush anything you find, then touch it up with a rust-inhibiting primer and paint.
• Check the feet especially. Furniture that sits on a patio wicks water up through the feet, and that's where the rot starts.
• Wax or a light oil on the frames.
• Store completely dry and off the ground. Iron on a damp concrete floor for four months will rust at every contact point.

Resin wicker and all-weather synthetic

• Hose it down, get into the weave with a soft brush, and rinse.
• The weave holds water. This is the material that needs the longest drying time. Turn pieces upside down for a few hours to let the frames drain.
• Store out of UV. Sun is what makes synthetic wicker go brittle, and a dark container is genuinely better for it than a covered patio.

Plastic and resin

Easiest of all. Wash, dry, stack, done. The only real risk is UV embrittlement, so getting it out of the sun for the winter extends its life.

Cushions are the part people get wrong

Cushions are where mildew starts, and mildew in a cushion means new cushions.

1. Wash the covers if they zip off. Check the tag — most outdoor fabric is machine washable cold, air dry.
2. Dry the foam separately and completely. Foam holds water in the middle long after the surface feels dry. Stand cushions on edge in the sun for a full day, flipping once.
3. Never store cushions in sealed plastic bags. This is the number one cushion-killer. Any residual moisture has nowhere to go.
4. Use breathable storage. A cotton or canvas storage bag, or a plastic bin with the lid cracked and desiccant packs inside.
5. Store them flat, not compressed. Foam under weight for four months takes a set.

Umbrellas: open them, hose the canopy, and let them dry fully open. Never store an umbrella rolled up damp. Then store it horizontal, not standing on end, so the ribs aren't taking weight.

Where it goes

The three real options, honestly compared.

The garage. Free, if you have room. Most people don't, which is why the furniture is still on the patio in December.

Covers, left in place. Cheapest, and it works okay for heavy pieces that aren't going anywhere. The problems: covers trap moisture underneath if they're not breathable, they don't stop a Santa Ana from throwing a chair into the pool, and they don't stop UV on the parts that stick out.

A storage container. Steel, locked, sits flat in the driveway or the side yard. This is what a lot of people do when the patio set is nice and the garage is full. It also handles the wind problem, which is a separate issue — more on that in Santa Ana wind season prep.

If you want the mass off your property entirely, load it and have us haul the container to our Gardena warehouse until spring.

Loading patio furniture into a container

• Heavy frames on the floor, along the walls, spread out rather than piled at one end.
• Get everything off the deck. Pallets or 2x4s. Condensation collects at the floor and metal feet sitting in it will rust.
• Blankets between pieces. Metal against metal scratches every time the container is moved.
• Tables on edge against a wall, glass tops removed, wrapped and stored flat and vertical. Glass tabletops break when they're laid flat and something gets set on them.
• Cushions on top, loose or in breathable bags, never crushed under anything.
• Umbrellas horizontal along a side wall, on top of the frames.
• Hanging desiccant absorbers, two or three, swapped every couple of months. Worth it anywhere near the coast.

The general loading method is in how to load a storage container.

Hardware, cushions and the spring-you problem

Two habits that make reassembly painless:

Bag the hardware. Anything you disassemble — table legs, umbrella bases, sectional connectors — gets its bolts in a labeled ziplock, taped to the piece it belongs to. Not in a coffee can with everything else.

Take photos before you disassemble. Especially sectionals. In April you will not remember which cushion goes where, and the photo takes four seconds now.

What size container for a patio

• 5x8 — a dining set, a couple of loungers, cushions, umbrella.
• 8x12 — a full patio: sectional, dining set, loungers, grill, planters, umbrella.
• 8x16 — patio plus the garage. This is the common combination in October, since people usually do both at once.

The grill: clean it, and take the propane tank off and store it separately, outdoors. Propane cannot go in a container, ever. Full list in what not to store in a portable container. Sizes are in what fits in each container size, and everything we run is on the mobile storage rentals page.

Short version

Wash it, dry it for a full day, wax the metal, never bag cushions wet or seal wood in plastic, keep everything off the ground, and put the glass tabletop somewhere nothing can land on it. Do it in October while the weather is still cooperating.