Assembling garden furniture for the terrace in spring

What the material is and what that means for assembly

Most flat-pack garden sets sold here are powder-coated aluminium, galvanised steel, teak or acacia, or a plastic-wood composite. Aluminium is light and forgiving but the threads in its fittings strip easily if you overtighten with a power driver, so hand-tighten the last turn or two.

Steel frames are heavier and stronger but the powder coating chips if a spanner slips, and a chip left untreated will rust within a season in Estonia's damp spring air. Keep a small tube of touch-up paint or clear nail varnish handy for any mark you make during assembly.

Teak and acacia arrive slightly oily from the factory treatment, which makes screws bite less cleanly into pre-drilled holes. Wipe the contact points with a dry cloth before fitting hardware, and never force a screw that is not turning easily — a stripped hole in wood cannot be fixed with more torque.

Which tools you actually need

The screwdriver in the box is almost always too short and too weak for the job. A cordless drill with an adjustable torque clutch is worth having, set low for aluminium and higher for steel bolts, and you will also want a set of hex keys in sizes the supplied one does not cover.

For anything with bolts through metal, keep two adjustable spanners, one to hold the nut steady and one to turn the bolt head, rather than fighting it with a single tool. A rubber mallet is useful for tapping dowelled wooden joints together without marking the surface.

A spirit level matters more than people expect: a table that rocks on an uneven terrace stresses every joint over a season and loosens fittings that were tight in April. If your decking itself is uneven, that is worth sorting before the furniture goes down — we take on decking and terrace work from 90 € per job.

• Cordless drill with adjustable torque clutch
• Full hex key set, not just the one supplied
• Two adjustable spanners
• Rubber mallet for dowelled wood joints
• Spirit level
• Touch-up paint for steel or aluminium coating

How to anchor lightweight pieces against the wind

Aluminium chairs and small side tables are light enough that a gust off an open Harju county garden or a coastal Tallinn terrace can genuinely move them, and a tumbling chair can crack a leg or a glass tabletop on the way down. This is worth solving at assembly stage, not afterwards.

Where the design allows it, fill hollow aluminium legs with sand through the base cap before fitting the foot, which adds weight low down without changing the look. For tables with a parasol hole, a filled parasol base or a water-weighted ring base does more good than the furniture's own weight.

On decking, screw-down anchor plates that sit under a table leg and pin discreetly into the boards are a permanent option for pieces that always stay in the same spot; for stacking chairs and anything moved seasonally, weighted bases or simply storing them in a shed on stormy days is more practical.

What order to assemble in, so you don't redo it

Lay out every part and bag of hardware on a groundsheet first and check it against the parts list before starting, since a missing bolt found halfway through means dismantling what you have already tightened.

Build the frame loosely first, all bolts finger-tight, and only fully tighten once the whole structure is square and standing evenly — tightening joint by joint as you go tends to lock in a twist that shows up later as a wobble.

Fit any glass, cushions, or fabric slings last, after the frame is fully tightened and checked with a spirit level, so you are not lifting a heavy tabletop on and off while you adjust the legs underneath.

When it's worth having someone else assemble it

A single bistro set or two chairs is a reasonable afternoon job for most people with basic tools. A full dining set with a large table, six chairs, and a parasol base is a different matter, particularly if the pieces are heavy steel or the instructions are thin on detail.

It is also worth calling someone in if a previous attempt has gone wrong — a stripped screw hole, a bent bracket, or a table that will not sit flat are all easier to fix before more force is applied, not after.

We assemble garden furniture from 39 € per hour, with a minimum of one hour, and we come to you anywhere in Tallinn and Harju county. For a full set it is often quicker and cheaper in the end than working through the confusion yourself and having to correct mistakes afterwards.