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DIY for Homeowners

Trash to Fab Adirondack Chair! Happy Earth Day!

4/20/2022

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text by Vicki     Sign up here to join our weekly email newsletter!
On a drive home one afternoon, I spotted a couple of Adirondack chairs and stools curbside in a trash pile. 

Everything was in really rough condition and truly ready to be hauled to the landfill!

But, I had a lightbulb moment and thought we could rehab them using parts from the stools and finish them with some leftover Olympic Elite stain.

They'd made a great Earth Day project--taking trash and making it usable again--one less thing to go to the dump! 

Read along as we share what we did. 

Materials:


  • Olympic 128 oz. Premium Deck Cleaner (Home Depot)

  • RYOBI ONE+ 18V Cordless Battery 1 Gal. Chemical Sprayer (Home Depot)

  • DAP Premium Wood Filler 16 oz. White (Home Depot)

  • Titebond III 16 oz. Ultimate Wood Glue (Home Depot)

  • RIDGID 18V Cordless 5 in. Random Orbit Sander (Home Depot)

  • SandNet Sandpaper (Home Depot)

  • Olympic Elite 1 gal. Midnight Blue Solid Advanced Exterior Stain and Sealant in One (Home Depot)

The old wood patio chairs were in a neighbor's trash pile!
All of this was set out for big trash pick up day. The chairs were a mess as were the stools. But, we realized there were enough good slats in the stools to replace all the broken ones in the chairs. This was looking like a good idea after all! We loaded it all up in the van and took them home.
The chairs were cleaned with Olympic Deck Cleaner. Spray on, rinse off--no scrubbing.
Before attempting any repairs, we first cleaned them with Olympic Deck Cleaner. We've used this one time before with great results. You simply spray it on, wait ten minutes, and rinse it off. Easy and fast!
Be sure to protect any plants in the area where the cleaner is used by spraying them down with water.
The first step in using the cleaner is to wet down any plants in the spray zone. You also spray down the plants afterwards as well.
The Olympic deck cleaner is used full strength right out of the container. We used a Ryobi battery power garden sprayer to apply the cleaner.
The Olympic deck cleaner is used full strength right out of the container. We used a Ryobi battery power garden sprayer to apply the cleaner.
The Olympic Deck Cleaner is sprayed on, allowed to work for ten minutes, and then rinsed off with the hose.
The Olympic Deck Cleaner is sprayed on, allowed to work for ten minutes, and then rinsed off with the hose. We let the chairs dry overnight before starting any repairs.
Removing the old broken and damaged chairs on the chairs.
You can see how much cleaner and lighter the chairs are now. Here Steph is removing the damaged slats. They were easy to remove as there was only a single screw in each side.
Slats from the Adirondack stools are used to replace the broken ones on the chairs.
We are using the footstool slats to replace the chair slats.
Making repairs to the chairs.
The chairs needed some sanding, wood fill, and we had to cut off some screws that broke off during removal.
Repairing the arm of the chair with wood glue and clamps.
This arm probably was the most damaged thing on the chair outside of the slats. A little outdoor wood glue and some clamps brought it all back together. I also used a bit of Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty near the back edge that was missing a bit of wood. I used wood fill to fill in any holes and splits that I found.
Replacing the broken slats on the chair.
The slats from the footstools were cut to length on the miter saw and then Steph used new outdoor screws to attach them. All of the wood fill areas were allowed to dry and then sanded before we stained the chairs.
Staining the chairs with Olympic Elite 1 gal. Midnight Blue Solid Advanced Exterior Stain and Sealant in One.
Time to stain! We are using some leftover stain from our double ladder plant stand project. We just love this Olympic Elite Midnight Blue Solid Advanced Exterior Stain and Sealant in One. We used the blue on the shelves of the plant stand.
The can of Olympic Elite Stain and Sealant--perfect for outdoor projects.
Looks for this label next time you need a stain for an outdoor project!
These chairs look amazing! The midnight blue color is perfection!
Have a seat!
The finished Adirondack chairs finished and in place in the garden.
Pretty good looking for trash chairs!
This was such a fun project. We had no idea if the chairs could be rehabbed into something Steph would want in her yard, but we wanted to try.

​This project basically cost us the price of a gallon of the Olympic deck cleaner as we had everything else and the chairs were free!

With a little bit of work, we were able to bring back their function and keep them out of the landfill!

We don't pick up a lot of stuff curbside but when we do, the finished piece turns out so cool.


Please note: This is not a sponsored post. 

FYI: We are not professionals, and we don't claim to be. This is what we found worked for our project. Yours may need a little different approach. Safety first!

FYI: Affiliate links are being used on this page. Purchasing via these links help support MDP

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