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When you get up in the morning and go outside to get a breath of fresh air, the last thing you want to see is your expensive patio furniture tumbling down the lawn.
Since those pieces are usually lightweight, they can shift easily if it is windy outside.
Unfortunately, these ‘flights’ can lead to a damaged lawn, crushed flower beds, broken vegetation, and the occasional injured bystander.
Plus, since patio furniture is usually left outside, they are prime targets for thieves who can steal them when you are asleep!
The good news is that there are several ways you can secure your furniture from both.
How to Secure Patio Furniture from Blowing Away
Take Stock of Your Furniture
This is the first step to making sure your patio furniture is where you leave it. If it is made of multiple pieces (such as deck chairs, umbrellas, coffee table, cushions, rocking chairs, stools, etc), chances are you will not remember each one.
Therefore, the first thing you need to do before securing your patio set is to take a quick inventory of each piece it is made of.
Plus, note the ones that are lightweight enough to go sailing away when the wind acts up. \
This includes dining chairs, sectional pieces of the sofa, and any items that are made of wicker or have aluminum frames.
Of course, you should ensure that the umbrella is closed up and packed if the furniture is not in use.
Make sure that you secure it by tying it with an umbrella bungee cord. This is a flexible tie cord that is made of shock-resistant material that doesn’t snap under pressure.
Which Direction Does the Wind Usually Blow?
If you know the direction the wind is blowing, you can prevent your patio furniture from lifting off. This is a good solution if you don’t have locks or anchors yet or don’t want to splurge on them.
Depending on the location of your patio relative to surrounding elements such as hills, trees, neighboring houses, etc, a wind tunnel may also launch that furniture across the road.
Don’t have a weather vane?
Just stand outside on the patio on a windy day, close your eyes, and turn around slowly. Focus where the wind is hitting you on your face.
You will get a sense of the exact direction it is blowing from if you can hear it in both ears and it strikes your whole face rather than just one side.
Once you determine the direction of the wind, just turn your patio furniture the other way to prevent it from blowing over.
If that doesn’t work, stack the patio pieces in a corner to protect them from the brunt of powerful wind gusts.
Use Patio Weights or Sandbags
If you need a cheap way to weigh down patio furniture, you can always use sandbags from your local home improvement store.
All you need to do is place them on pieces that are lightweight and you should be good.
While these bags look sturdy, they can break open during a hurricane which will topple them over.
Do you really want to get sand everywhere? Only use these if you live somewhere the wind does not blow that hard and the weather remains pleasant.
A good alternative to these are outdoor furniture weights that are designed specifically to hold down furniture such as ABC Canopy bags.
These work quite well on tents, gazebos, patio umbrellas, and basically any furniture that you want to place outside.
Each of these bags can hold up to 40lbs of sand (which you will need to fill yourself) and unlike traditional sandbags, they won’t fly off because they can be secured with hook and loop straps.
Just attach these to your chair legs, and those chairs will still be there after a windy day.
Furniture Covers
But what about the sofa sections and pretty cushions you placed so lovingly on the chairs?
The sandbags may keep your chairs from blowing off, but they aren’t going to be anchored to those cushions. To prevent them from tumbling down the green, invest in large furniture covers.
However, make sure that the covers you order can fit each piece of the patio set.
Most manufacturers make covers according to the furniture they sell, so check their brochure or call them to ask if they have ones that have the same dimensions your pieces have.
If they are too long, they will drag on the floor and cannot be tied down efficiently. If they are too short, they may get stuck on the pieces.
Well-fitted covers can be secured with straps that come attached, but these will be useless if the dimensions are wrong.
How to Protect Your Patio Furniture from Theft
Besides strong winds or hurricanes, you can also lose your patio furniture to thieves. What is keeping anyone from taking off with a few pieces when you are asleep at night completely oblivious?
Unfortunately, this is quite common especially for those who don’t have security measures or weights in place. The good news is that you can prevent thieves from stealing that furniture with a few precautions:
Lock Your Furniture Together
This is the simplest and easiest way to secure outdoor or patio furniture, especially for those who don’t want to haul each piece inside before turning in.
All you need to do is get a security cable or a simple chain with a lock and wind it through the legs and arms of each piece.
Lock them down with a simple padlock, and no thief would be able to take off with a single item without having to drag the rest and make a ruckus during the process.
Of course, make sure that the chain or cable is thick enough so that it can’t be cut easily. It should be sturdy enough at least to delay the thief long enough to get caught.
Stealing multiple pieces of furniture that are locked together is impossible. Not only is it difficult to carry, the combined weight can literally weigh down anyone who tries to take it altogether.
Additionally, it is also diffic