How To Fix Plastic Lawn Chairs

You may need:

Plast-aid
Rubber gloves
Vaseline
Tape
Acrylic paint
Wooden spatula
Craft knife
Fine sandpaper

There are other products for fixing plastic as well. Plast-aid is a two-part methyl methacrylate-based product which you mix together to give you 15 minutes working time before it sets hard, making a durable repair. You can add acrylic paint to create a matching or bold, contrasting colour. Don't forget to work outdoors and wear protective gloves.

1. If the plastic has split beyond 5mm, you will need to create a support behind the crack. Cut to size an old rubber glove and smear this with Vaseline, so the Plast-aid won't stick to it. Tape this into position on the underside of the seat.

2. Mix a couple of teaspoons of the white Plast-aid powder and the same amount of liquid to a paste in a small container. Add about half a teaspoon of acrylic paint to give it some colour.

Live better plastic chair 2 — If the split is more than 5mm long, you will need support. Illustration: Emma McGowan Photograph: Emma McGowan

3. Apply the mixture into the crack/patched hole, pushing well in with a wooden spatula and filling all the gaps. Scrape off any excess.

4. Leave for 15 minutes. Once dry, cut away the remaining excess with a craft knife and gently sand with fine sandpaper until the repair is smooth and flush with the surrounding plastic.

5. Finally, remove the rubber patch from underneath.

Amanda Girling-Budd is founder of The School of Stuff in East London: it runs year long, one day a week craft courses for career changers, five day intensive courses, twelve week evening classes and one-off days and weekends. "We like furniture to look good, but we are also committed to keeping traditional furniture crafts alive, and to reusing and recycling where we can. We are serious about restoration and treat old things with the respect they deserve as envoys from the past with stories to tell, but we are not above hack fixing and repurposing if it means giving a bit of tat a new lease of life."

Interested in finding out more about how you can live better ? Take a look at this month's Live Better Challenge here .

The Live Better Challenge is funded by Unilever; its focus is sustainable living. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled advertisement feature. Find out more here .