What Is Happening to My Teak PatioFurniture?

After insisting upon only the best, you went out and purchased that set of teak patio furniture and convinced yourself that it was more of an investment than an indulgence.  Without question, you are absolutely right because teak outdoor furniture is the longest lasting and of the highest quality.  Produced in Indonesia and with a limited annual harvest, teak wood is the most expensive and longest lasting wood that you can buy.  Although it takes upwards of 3 to 4 decades to grow to size, that good news is that, with the right care, teak folding chairs and other furniture can last up to 80 years or more.  But you may have noticed that when you first got your teak outdoor furniture it had dark and orange stripes all over it.  Then, in less than a season, you notice that the finish on your teak wood table and chairs has changed from a nice brown to a silvery gray.  You could even swear that you see cracks starting to form on some of your teak outdoor furniture and you may be asking yourself whether or not someone has sold you something that is not teak.  Don’t panic!  Everything is fine and if your outdoor teak furniture is still one of the best investments you can make in your décor. 

Teak rocking chairs and other furniture made with the exotic wood will have dark and orange stripes when you first get them.  All true teak will have these markings.  You should notice these stripes disappear after being out in the sun for awhile.  Typically, these marks form on teak outdoor furniture and other products made of teak after the kilning process when they are trying to remove moisture from the wood so that it better adjusts to climate changes. 

When you place a teak bench curved back, or any furniture made from the exotic wood, in the sun for any reasonable length of time (usually 6 months or more), it is natural for the finish to change from brown to that silver gray color described earlier.  While most people like the weathered look of their teak outdoor furniture, you may prefer to maintain the original color of the finish.  In order to do this, you must first clean the furniture.  You can use a mixture of 5 parts dish soap to 1 part bleach or purchase a cleaner especially made for cleaning outdoor teak furniture.  Once cleaned, you will need to apply a teak protector in order to maintain the original finish.  You can count on a teak furniture cleaning session every year, even if you do want to keep the rustic look! 

Part of what makes teak garden furniture, and other products made out of the wood, last so long is the high oil content in the wood.  This prevents your teak outdoor furniture from drying out but it does not mean that an occasional crack won’t show up in your pieces.  The only cracks that you can really control or should even worry about are those caused by moving your teak deck furniture and other products in and out of environments with extreme temperatures.  So, as long as you don’t try to store your teak outdoor furniture away in your warm home on a day when it is freezing outside, your pieces should be fine.  Those occasional cracks that appear in your teak outdoor furniture are nothing to worry about at all and can only add to the character of your wonderful investment!