Thursday, June 2, 2011

How to Clean Your Patio Umbrella

We have owned our outdoor patio umbrella for almost ten years.  It wasn't looking so good anymore.  It was covered with green mold and mildew from years of being outside.
First thing I did was remove the fabric from the umbrella.  Yep...you can remove the fabric.  The posts of the umbrella slip into pockets of fabric underneath the umbrella.  I simply unscrewed the top of the umbrella and then slipped off the fabric.
Then I filled an old garbage can with a solution of one cup of bleach to each gallon of water.
Then we submerged the umbrella fabric in the solution.  After it soaked for fifteen minutes, my husband took a scrub brush and scrubbed off the dirtiest parts.
Then, while it was wet, we put the umbrella back together.  It's important that you put it back together while it's wet...otherwise it will shrink when it dries and it will no longer fit on the spokes of the umbrella.  Once it was back together, we hosed off the umbrella to get any traces of bleach off.
While we had the bleach and water solution available, we also scrubbed all of the outdoor furniture to remove all of the green on it as well.
The furniture and the umbrella look like new.  My kids actually thought we bought a new umbrella.   So if you have an umbrella that's looking dingy and dirty, try cleaning it using this method.  I couldn't believe how well it worked.
Don't forget there's still time to join my Swing into Spring party.  The link stays open through Friday.

-Judy

15 comments:

  1. I noticed how dingy my umbrella was earlier this week and was hoping I could get another year out of it (only bought it last summer!). I wonder if this works on brightly colored umbrellas? Mine is lime green.....

    Thanks for the info!
    Judy

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  2. Our outdoor furniture could use a good scrubbing. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Judy, great tips... I have a gazebo top I take it down and throw it in the wash with a little soap and bleach comes out beautiful every time...

    Pattie

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  4. Good to know.

    Now all I need is a patio umbrella!

    ;)

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  5. You are just full of great tips Judy! We are getting ready to get out all of our deck cushions and umbrella so I will have to see how it fared in storage this year. Thanks for this!
    Vanessa

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  6. This is great! I don't have a patio furniture set so I'd never thought about cleaning one. I'm going to tweet this.

    Anna
    www.askannamoseley.com

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  7. what an awesome trick! I might need to try this on my loungers!

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  8. Great tips, i do the same thing. i clean our Patio Umbrellas, put some bleach, scrub it also....

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  9. We have a red umbrella which is faded on the top side and still beautiful underneath. Is there a way to bring the Color back? Can we use fabric paint? Thank you

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  11. Abba Patio Market Umbrella from Bizarkdeal

    I am thrilled to have a new patio umbrella in my backyard. The Abba Patio Market Umbrella in Red matches my outdoor area perfectly! I am glad to replace an old faded umbrella.

    Setting up the umbrella is quick and simple. It comes in two parts in the box. The bottom pole screws into the top umbrella portion. Once connected, it was placed in our umbrella holder near our swimming pool. It is a standard pole size to fit in a stand. To open, it takes a few turns, of the easy to move hand crank, located on the pole. The direction is clearly marked for opening or closing. The crank turns smoothly with little effort. As the umbrella opens the lovely supports blossom the umbrella in to its full open position.

    Even in a steady wind, the umbrella stayed put with the help of the vented canopy. It provides a nice amount of shade. I have it set near my pool to provide shade while swimming. It can also be moved over my patio set when needed. The umbrella is medium weight but can be transported from one place to another.

    The canopy also tilts! Press the button on the pole and the angle can be adjusted for the sun direction. Closing is simple - again using the hand crank in the closing direction, the umbrella gracefully closes. The construction is quality built and the canvas is thick quality polyester. Time will tell how much the fade will affect the color. The description does state fade resistant so hopefully it will not be too bad.

    This is a beautiful, well functioning umbrella. I am thrilled with the look and the shade it provides in my backyard!

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