Back in December of 2022, I bought a cover for my outdoor table and chairs to protect them from rain and, especially, the harsh sunlight. It worked well! Until it didn’t.
Eight months later, in August 2023, I noticed there were holes in the cover where the tops of the metal chair backs had worn through the cover. I bought a new cover, but this time I put pool noodles along the backs to prevent new holes by providing a cushion between the chair backs and the cover. That worked, too! Until it didn’t.
I noticed this week that a hole has developed at the top of one chair (photo up top), and—surprise!—that’s eight months after I put it over the table and chairs. Still, it’s only one hole, not several, so, yay?
I considered trying to patch the hole, but I have a feeling that the UV rays may be weakening the plastic, so new holes might appear. Also, how would I patch it to keep the rain out? I decided I need a better solution, and, fortunately, I've already thought of a few.
First, and most obviously, I can buy yet another new cover (which would mean throwing an old one away, since they're not recyclable (I still have the older one,with far more holes, and I certainly don’t need two covers with holes). But that would mean spending another $50 to protect the table for eight months. There’s another version from the same company, a nicer-looking charcoal coloured one, but it’s more than twice the price of the one I have, though the pricier one is lined and has air vents, so, maybe twice as good?
Option two is to sell the table and chairs, and although I wouldn’t get much, at least I wouldn’t be spending any more money. At the cheapest end of the spectrum is option three: I could take a large blue tarpaulin I already have and put it over the cover that’s on there now. Obviously that option is free, not just three.
My final option is to clear space in the garage and store the table and chairs in their until I can have a patio cover built, which, realistically, could be the better part of two years from now. There are two major drawbacks to opton four. First, it would require major work to clear space in my garage (of course), but it also would also mean I couldn’t use the table and chairs since I wouldn’t drag them out just for, say, a cup of coffee. Those are the same reason I didn’t do that 8 months ago, or eight months for that. However, I haven’t used the table and chairs for years, anyway, because of the harsh conditions, and because it’s been under a cover.
The raises a bigger question: Do I even need a table and chairs for six people? Since I haven’t used it at all in around four years, and not for dining in maybe six or more, maybe I don’t need one? Also, the patio is fairly small, so maybe a smaller table and chairs set (say, for four people so I could still have a couple dinner guests), would be better, or maybe even a two chair “bistro set” so I can have meals/coffee out there. Or, maybe I should have no table and chairs, just lounging furniture—chairs, maybe an outdoor sofa.
I don’t think the garage option would be quick to do, and late autumn probably isn’t the best time to try and sell outside furniture. That leaves the options of buying a new cover, or using my big blue tarpaulin for now. Using the tarpaulin makes sense if I plan on putting the table and chairs into the garage, or maybe I could buy a new cover and just put it on top of the one on there now. That would buy me time (hopefully at least eight months…) to work out my (more) permanent solution.
The thing is, I normally talk about my household projects in the past-tense, what I did and how I did it. This is the first time I’ve gone into such detail about my thought process as I try to work out how to tackle a project, how my thinking works before I do the actual work. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m looking forward to seeing what I end up doing.
Will I re-do a project yet again? Something different? Right now, I actually don’t know.
2 comments:
And yet I got Sinatra on my brain: do-be-do-be-do.
Indubitably.
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