Synthetic wicker chairs: the frame under the weave

What holds a guest up in a woven patio chair? Not the weave. Under every strand of faux rattan sits a frame, and that frame decides how the chair handles a season on the street: how much it weighs at breakdown, whether it stacks, and how fast it dries after a shower.

Synthetic wicker chairs sell the look. Warm browns, black and cream, a texture that reads as a cafe from across the road. That look is worth having. Just buy the frame first and the weave second.

Three chairs that all read as wicker

Walk our rattan patio chairs and you will find three different builds under one look.

Faux rattan woven over a metal frame comes first. Most of our woven chairs are this kind, on aluminum, on aluminum finished to look like bamboo or wood, or on steel. The bamboo is a finish. Under it is aluminum or steel.

Rope replaces the weave on the second build. This aluminum outdoor chair with a rope seat lists 9 lbs, an 18-inch seat, a 500 lb capacity, and stacks.

A third build has no weave at all. A wicker-look resin patio chair is molded resin, frame and seat, with the pattern formed into the surface. It lists 10 lbs and 400 lb. You hose it down like any resin chair, and there are no strands to dry between. Our poly outdoor furniture holds more of that family.

All three are listed for patio use. Which one you want depends on your street, your crew and how much rinsing you are willing to do.

The frame does the work

Read four lines on the record: frame material, weight, stacking, and capacity.

Weight runs wide in this group. This woven aluminum patio chair in chocolate lists 8 lbs, stacks, and carries 400 lb. A steel bamboo-look patio armchair lists 14 lbs, also stacks, and also carries 400 lb. Same capacity, six pounds apart.

Multiply that by a courtyard of 24 chairs. Aluminum: 24 x 8 = 192 lbs. Steel: 24 x 14 = 336 lbs. The closing crew carries the difference every night the chairs come in. On an exposed corner where wind pushes light chairs across the paving, the heavier frame earns its keep. In a walled courtyard, it mostly adds work.

Stacking matters as much as weight. Many of our woven chairs stack; some do not, and the record says which. A chair that does not stack is one trip per chair at midnight.

Arms and the long side of a four-top

Width is the quiet number on a woven chair. Armchairs in this group run noticeably wider than side chairs, and that shows up at the table.

Take a four-top on a 30 by 48 inch rectangle, two guests on each long side. The steel armchair above is 22 inches wide. A pair uses 44 inches of that 48-inch side, leaving 4 inches between and beside them. The chocolate side chair is 19 inches wide. Two of those use 38 inches and leave 10.

Height is the easy part. Where these records list a seat height, it is 18 inches, and against a dining top of about 30 inches that leaves 12 inches for knees and thighs, the high end of the usual 10 to 12 inch gap.

Rule of thumb: on a 48-inch side, side chairs fit comfortably and armchairs only just. Put armchairs on the ends of longer tables, or at two-tops where each guest has a whole side.

Rinse, drain, then dry before you stack

A weave holds dust and pollen, and in a city it holds grit off the street. Rinse it with a hose and a soft brush, working along the strands. Mild soap and water is enough. A harsh cleaner can do the damage the warranty excludes, since the wrong cleaning agents are on that list.

Then let it drain. Tip the chair forward or on its side so water runs out of the seat rather than sitting in the weave. Rope seats and woven seats both dry from the outside in, so give them time in the air before you stack them or pull a cover over them.

That last step is where most woven chairs get hurt. The mistake is covering wet. A stack of damp chairs under a tight cover stays damp for days, the frame sits in it, and mildew gets a place to start. Dry first, then stack, then cover. If the forecast says rain overnight and the chairs are already wet, a dry storeroom beats a cover every time.

At season's end, give every chair a full rinse, a full dry, and indoor storage or a breathable cover. Patio chairs carry 6 months of warranty, and outdoor furniture left uncared for is excluded from it.

Covered patio, open sidewalk

Some outdoor records in our catalog carry an extra line: use in covered patio only. It means the piece wants a roof or an awning over it, not open sky. The woven chairs in our range do not carry that line, but it does appear on some of our metal chairs with faux teak slats, so read the usage lines on every chair you shortlist, woven or not.

Woven chairs listed for patio use can sit out on the sidewalk. They still stay cleaner and drier when they come in at night, and the mesh dining chairs guide covers the seat that dries fastest of all. For the hose-and-stack end of the range, read the resin chairs guide.

A season on the street, chair by chair

Before the order goes in, run one night on paper. Count the chairs that come in, multiply by the listed weight, and mark which models stack. Then measure the door they go through and the storeroom wall they lean on, because a stack of woven chairs is wide at the arms and needs a dry spot with air around it.

Then build the room in an outdoor plan: chair, count, which ones stack, and a note on where each sits, the windy corner for the steel frames, the courtyard for the light aluminum. If the rail needs matching tall seats, the wicker bar stools guide takes the same weave up to bar height.