There's a particular Saturday in early spring — you know the one. First genuinely warm morning, someone suggests lunch outside, and suddenly the whole street remembers they own a deck. If you spend one weekend in late August getting ahead of that day, you get to enjoy it instead of scrubbing through it. Here's the order we'd do things, from someone who has done it in the wrong order.
1. Uncover and take stock
Pull the covers off, stand cushions on edge to air, and walk around everything with a critical eye before cleaning anything. You're looking for: mould spots that developed under cover, joints that loosened over winter, rust freckles on fittings, wobble that wasn't there in autumn. It's much easier to spot problems on dirty furniture — clean furniture hides them until you're sitting on them.
2. Wash, in the right order
Frames first, cushions second, deck last (so you're not re-dirtying clean furniture with deck splash — the wrong order adds an hour). Warm soapy water and a soft brush handles almost everything: aluminium, resin wicker, timber, mesh. Skip the pressure washer on furniture entirely; it strips timber grain and forces water into frame joints. Cushion covers that zip off go through a cold gentle machine wash and air-dry in shade — our cushion care guide covers the details, including the mould-spot vinegar trick.
3. Tighten and re-oil
Winter's temperature swings work bolts loose, especially on timber. Ten minutes with a spanner and screwdriver around every joint on the dining setting, bench and lounge frames now prevents the wobble that stresses joints all summer. If you're a keep-the-teak-golden household, this is also the re-oiling window: clean, fully dry, oil, and it's cured well before entertaining season.
4. Give the BBQ its annual service
Degrease grills and plates, empty the fat tray (spring's first cook on a winter's worth of old fat is how flare-ups happen), and check the burners light evenly. Then the safety two minutes that most people skip: brush soapy water over the gas hose and connections with the bottle on — bubbles mean a leak, and a hose that's cracked or more than a few years old is a cheap replacement. Swap or refill the bottle now, not at 6pm on the first barbecue night, and give the tools and cover a once-over while you're there.
5. Shade and heat, both directions
Open the umbrella all the way and check ribs, crank and tilt before you need it — winter storage is where crank mechanisms quietly seize. Early spring evenings still bite, so if the firepit or heater is part of your setup, clear the ash, check ignition, and you've extended your usable evenings by a month at each end of the season.
6. The honest audit
Now the strategic part. Sit in everything. Anything that's genuinely done — mesh gone saggy, cushions past saving, the chair nobody chooses — decide now, because the maths of timing matters: order in late August and delivery comfortably beats the first big entertaining weekend; decide in mid-October and you're waiting on the same warm-weather rush as everyone else. If the budget has a gap between what's died and what you'd love, the clearance collection is where end-of-line settings go, and new arrivals is where the spring drops land first. Delivery details and timeframes are on the delivery page if you're planning around a date.
One weekend, roughly in this order, and the deck is ready before the weather is. Then when that first warm Saturday arrives, your only job is deciding who's invited.
