Saturday 10 April 2010

What does it say on the tin?



In September we bought our outdoor furniture set from Ikea. It consisted of an acacia wood table and six matching chairs. I wrote a post about how we found the perfect set, and the driving required to secure it right here.

Within a fortnight of purchasing the table and chairs, I'd covered it with three coats of Ronseal Perfect Finish Garden Furniture Oil (£15 inc delivery). Ronseal's advertising slogan is: "Does exactly what it says on the tin". Upon peering at the packaging on their website it looks like it says "The quickest and easiest way to enhance and protect garden furniture".

As you can see from the photos, it doesn't actually protect or enhance garden furniture. In fact, we probably would've been better off NOT using this product. Within four months of winter weather, the surface started to bubble and lift. The constant rain during February didn't give the wood a chance to dry, so we bought a massive cover for £20 off Amazon. Despite being protected for the last six weeks, the table looks even worse for wear now that the Ronseal has lifted off completely, taking the wood stain with it. The table looks bleached and ancient.

I was expecting to get at least a couple of years before having to treat it again, so having really no more than five or six months is unbelievable. My neighbours (who have the same table and also used Ronseal) have the same problem, though theirs isn't quite as bad as ours. Our chairs are also suffering though not as bad as the table, yet.

We'll be sanding the table down and putting a new finish on it, none of Ronseal's products will be used though. As the table is available in Ikea again for £125 it was tempting to buy another one, but a few hours of elbow grease will sort it out...

1 comment:

Manhattan Air Conditioning Service said...

Good to know about this method of doing it.the table definitely is a lovely pick for outdoor furniture and it is soon going to look awesome.