Here is a list of questions I have had from customer and teak furniture owners over the last couple years.
"How do I take care of my teak furniture?"
Teak furniture is easy to care for. Short Term: To simply clean the wood, you can spray it down with the garden hose and wipe it down; you can simply wipe it down with warm water and a sponge or wash cloth, use a normal household bristle brush [not too hard] and some warm mildly soapy water. Wash down afterwards with clean water or you can go out and buy teak wood cleaner and follow the directions. The later is really only necessary for hard to remove stains or aged teak furniture and you are looking to refinish it. Seasonal care: You have two options for season teak wood care. One, you can leave it and let it weather to a silvery grayish patina color or two, you can oil it and it will continue to look new year in and year out. Obviously doing nothing is the easy route to go and with the strength and durability of high quality teak furniture it will still last a lifetime!! Oiling your teak furniture will take a little more work but if you love the new look of teak would like I do, it is well worth it!
What type of oil do I use on teak furniture?
There are two routes you can go; Linseed Oil or teak wood oil/teak oil. Linseed oil is by far the cheaper route to go! You can pick up a gallon or two at The Home Depot for about $10-20 and depending on the amount of furniture you have it can last a few years! I recently oiled a teak table, four teak chairs, two teak rocking chairs, a teak side table and a teak lazy susan and still have about 2/3's of the can left! I personally have never used teak oil. In my opinion, it is way over priced and doesn't really offer any more benefits over linseed oil. Teak oil can also be found at The Home Depot but you find that it is about 4 times more than linseed oil, about $10 per quart!
How do I apply the oil?
You can really apply the oil any way you want. You can pick up a few disposable pain brushes and apply with those. Using a paint brush you will most likely be applying much more liberally so be sure to put down some drop clothes or do it in the grass. I learned the hard way that linseed oil is very hard to clean up! Once is have applied the oil, you can wait 5-10 mins and wipe the furniture down with some rags. Another way to apply will be by using a soft cloth or rag and rub it in. This will require a little more work in my opinion but it will not waste as much oil. If you are using the expensive teak oil, that may be the way to go!
How often do I have to oil my teak furniture?
This depends on the climate in your area but once a year should be sufficient for most climates. If you live in harsher climates with extreme heat and cold you may want to do it twice a year.
I have found may conflicting answers about caring for teak furniture, how do I know who it right?
With the wealth of information online it is tough to determine the "right answers" I have been working with a number of different teak manufacturers and distributors over the last few years and by answers above are a combination of what they have told me and what I have found to work for me.
If you are interested in purchasing Teak Furniture, check out my site: www.OutdoorTeakAndMore.com
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