How to treat teak furniture?

ANTIQUE OR NEW?

Some people love the antique silvery patina while other favor a golden-honey finish.

Before you embark on a course to treat your teak furniture, you need to choose the look you want.
Do you want a new golden honey tone, or a silvery patina?
Some people don’t enjoy the antique look and want to restore the original honey color.
Other are looking to speed-up the graying process. It’s up to your taste and needs.
The treatment is different depending on the look. Some processes can delay or even prevent the weathering process. Others will allow the weathering process to occur faster.
Please note that the patina look does not affect the lifetime or the structural integrity of the wood.

A beautiful patina.

Teak furniture is easy to clean, in particular if you want a silvery patina.
For a beautiful patina, all you need to do is a light cleaning once a year to remove the dirt and dust.

1. To remove dust and dirt, clean your teak furniture with soapy water and a clean soft cloth. You can also use a standard mild detergent such as Woolite™.
2. After cleaning your teak furniture, make sure you rinse it well and place it in the sun to decrease drying time.
3. Clean the dry furniture with a dry cloth to remove any dust.

Repeat this simple process once a year, and that’s it. Your garden furniture is clean and will weather into a stunning silvery patina over time. How easy is this cleaning process?

Tips and warnings before you clean your antique furniture:

• In most cases, a soap and water mixture is enough to clean your teak furniture. It will not interfere with the aging process.
• You should not use harsh and abrasive cleaners to clean your teak furniture.
• Some people try to weather the furniture by staining the wood. I don;t recommend it. The high oil content in the wood prevents stains from adhering, and the result will look messy. Stain is permanent and you cannot remove it without many sanding.

The original golden color.

Let’s see how we can prevent the natural graying process of teak furniture.
If you want your garden furniture go back to its original look, you can buy teak conditioners and cleaners at your local hardware store.
This process is simple and requires no scrubbing. A standard conditioner mixture will restore the golden honey look and remove all dirt, oil, graying and stains.

CARE ABOUT YOUR TEAK FURNITURE

Buy your furniture from a teak specialist.

Buy your furniture from specialists, so you get the best quality.
Every year before summer, big supermarkets sell cheap so-called teak furniture.
The price may be attractive but trust me, you don’t want to buy a cheap lounge chair that is going to be broken in 6 months. Like everything, you get what you pay for. If you buy a cheap sound system from a discount bazar shop, you know that you won’t listen to the best music quality.
Same goes for teak. Do you want to buy quality teak furniture? Talk to someone who understand what he is talking about, and is able to give you advises.

Once you bought you teak furniture, let’s follow some simple tips to help maintain it.

• To avoid rot, do not leave teak furniture in shady areas.
• At the end of the summer, cover your furniture or move it indoor.
• Be careful when moving teak furniture indoor. Bringing the garden furniture into a heated space may cause the wood to split. Favor a gradual change in temperature and moisture levels. For example, move the furniture during Fall and not in the middle of Winter.