You may be looking at Teak Garden Furniture under the assumption that you never have to maintain it. You may also own some teak garden furniture and are under the same assumption. Whilst it is certainly true that you need not concern yourself with the general maintenance of teak garden furniture there are a few things to keep in mind when purchasing it.
Teak does have the ability to weather overtime and discolor. Although the color is not actually unattractive – you may have bought the furniture while its color matched that of your patio or other garden features. In this regard you will need to maintain it in order to keep the color.
The color does not have any bearing what so ever on the quality of the wood. The wood is still as strong as it was the day you bought it. So it is really only for aesthetic reasons that you will be sealing it. In fact, simply oiling teak can do more harm than good in regards to maintaining the color of the wood.
Oil will not reduce the rate of discoloration at all and will result in blotches of surface mold. Removing surface mold and mildew can take a lot of sanding to remove from teak furniture. It is a fairly stubborn wood in regards to taking damage and even though the wood is not weakened by mold, it will just look shabby.
It is important to note the difference between a teak sealer and a varnish or lacquer. A teak sealer will allow the wood to breath and allow the oils in the wood to circulate to the surface. A varnish will actually seal the wood in a literal sense and will not allow the wood to breathe at all.
While this is advisable for many other woods and allows them to last a little longer – it is not specifically the case with teak. Teak sealer is a completely different chemical to that which is used to seal other woods and contains various compounds that protect the wood from discoloration at the behest of the sun and reduce the likelihood of fungus growing on the exterior of the furniture (the fungus will not have much luck penetrating the wood either way).
Cleaning Teak Garden Furniture should not be done with an abrasive cleaning pad or cleaning liquid as it can scratch the furniture. You will have to sand out the scratches with a light grade sand paper in order to restore the finish to the wood if this happens.
It can be quite time consuming as well because teak is a fairly hard wood. The best way to clean Teak Garden Furniture is with a soft cloth or Scotch Brite Pad (using plenty of water to reduce scratching). Try and stick with water to clean the furniture – however if you require something to remove stubborn stains bleach is OK to use as long as it is watered down heavily. Try using a simple detergent (watered down) rather than bleach however.
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