Cleaning and Finishing Tips

All About Cedar

Western Red Cedar contains natural oils that act as preservatives to help the wood resist insect attack and decay. Cedar is also a dimensionally stable wood that lies flat and stays straight. Properly finished and maintained, Western Red Cedar ages gracefully and endures for many years.

Cedar is the preferred material for all outdoor applications that seek visual harmony with the landscape combined with stability and durability: from siding and patio decking to fences, planters,screens, shelters and garden furniture. Indoors, cedar's dimensional stability makes it perfectly suited to a variety of uses in high moisture areas such as kitchens, bathrooms and saunas.

Western Red Cedar should be preservative treated if intended for use in applications where it comes in contact with the ground.

Cleaning Cedar

In most instances, patio furniture care on cedar consists of cleaning surface dirt with just soap and water.It isn't necessary to generate mounds of suds; a drop or two of liquid dishwashing soap in a gallon bucket of water is sufficient. If what you are trying to do is remove the natural weathering that has taken place, a pressure washer with 1200—1350 psi is useful for cleaning many types of outdoor furniture, but you must use a low setting. If you don't have access to a pressure washer, pay a visit to your local hardware store and ask about wood cleaning and bleaching agents.Be sure to tell them you are cleaning cedar furniture. Some wood bleach may temporarily remove the natural coloring of cedar.

Finishing - natural, stain or paint?

The first thing to know about patio furniture care and cedar is that cedar does not require a finish of any kind to be usedasoutdoorfurniture.If allowed to age outdoors, the wood grain will raise slightly and the wood will weather to a light silver-grey with darker streaks.

•  Water Sealer - If you'd like to maintain the gold color of your cedar piece, you can apply a water sealer to protect the wood from water and sun. You may need to re-apply every year or so depending on the location of your furniture, and the area where you live.
•  Stain - You can change the color of the cedar with an exterior stain with a UV inhibitor. And just like the water sealer, you may need to re-apply every year or so.
•  Oil - Teak or linseed oil can be rubbed over the wood to deepen the color and slow-down the aging process by repelling water. The oil should be reapplied annually. Be sure to follow the manufacturer's directions including the drying time and when to wipe off the excess oil to avoid dust particles settling into the oil finish.
•  Paint - Paint on furniture exposed to the outdoor swill eventually blister and peel. If you want to add color to your piece, stain is a much better alternative to paint.

All About Teak

Teak is recognized for its durability and stability under severe climatic conditions. London has parks with teak benches that are over 80 years old. These qualities, plus high quality construction guarantee long life even when left permanently outdoors. No other wood can claim to possess the qualities of teak which minimizes patio furniture care.

Patio furniture care of teak furniture and the maintenance of teak is relatively simple, providing that it's done on a very regular basis. But it is also important to recognize that teak furniture simply left on its own will take any outdoor weather in stride.

Cleaning Teak

If your teak furniture requires cleaning this can be done with aVERY soft brush or pad and some warm mildly soapy water. Wash down afterwards with clean water. Steel wool or steel wire brushes should not be used at all as any residue left in the grain will rust and discolor the wood.

If there is a stain that simply cannot be removed through alight cleaning, you can try sanding with a fine grade of sandpaper,being sure to work only with the direction of the timber grain. After sanding stains away like this, if the furniture was previously teak oiled you may wish to re-oil, or if it had previously been left natural, the fresh teak color exposed by sanding will soon mellow in with the existing silver-grey patina.

Periodically, you may find black specks and blotches on the surface of teak furniture especially if the teak is being allowed to age naturally. These are usually caused by mold. The best method to try to remove this is by a combination of cleaning and bleaching but do be aware that this will affect the patina of the wood. It will eventually weather back but in the interim will be a lighter color. To clean your furniture, mix a solution of a high phosphate laundry detergent such as Wisk and household ammonia. In a five-gallon bucket, add one or two quarts of sudsy ammonia and half a cap full of the detergent per quart. The ammonia does a good job on the organics and the detergent takes care of general dirt and oils.

Finishing - staining, oiling or sealing?

First, recognize that it is  not necessary to do anything to teak furniture. If left outdoors, teak will weather to a soft,light silver color. If used indoors, the wood will change to a slightly dark shade.

•  Staining - No, Nope, Never, Nada, No How - do you ever want to stain teak furniture. It simply isn't necessary and does nothing to protect the wood.
•  Oiling - Oiling is done to maintain the warm tones of the wood - it keeps the furniture from weathering to a soft grey color. If you do wish to oil, please use the following as a guide.
  
  
  • Your furniture MUST BE completely dry, otherwise moisture trapped within the wood may cause black mildew spots to appear after oiling. Your furniture may take up to 48 hours to fully dry out after a rain.
  • You must apply teak oil before your furniture begins to weather. If it has begun to weather, scrub your furniture with a stiff poly-bristle brush and soapy water, rinsing as you go with the garden hose. Then allow the furniture to fully dry.
  • Ensure the surface is clean and free from dust.
  • Use true teak oil - do NOT use "finish". Check with your local marine store for this item. You will probably NOT find this at your local hardware superstore.
    
    The oil can be applied with a clean brush, starting from the top and working downwards. The surface should be left wet by the brush, but try to avoid leaving too much surplus oil behind as you work. After a few minutes - maybe 5 -15 depending on the ambient temperature, the oil will start to become "tacky". At this point the surface of the furniture should be wiped down with a clean cotton rag, carefully removing all surplus oil. One coat is sufficient.
    
    Teak oil will trap dirt and darken with age, therefore it will be necessary to scrub off the old oil and re-coat periodically (once a year is generally sufficient). Follow the instruction on the teak oil label.
  • Special Note When used as indoor furniture, a light coating of teak oil is recommended to keep the furniture from soiling and will last for years without need for re-coating.
•  Sealing - By sealing the wood, mold and bacteria can't penetrate and you'll get the same result as with oiling. However, you'll use less teak oil for a small annual savings and the appearance of your sealed/oiled surface will be almost identical to a "just oiled" surface. You'll still have about the same periodic schedule for freshening up the teak oil, but as the oil washes away and burns off, raw wood is not exposed. When you think you can see the sealer getting thin, (places start looking lighter in color to surrounding areas), do a good wash down, lightly sand the surface, re-apply the sealer as before, and you're back to a new start. With the furniture sitting completely exposed outside, you can expect that the sealer will last between six months up to a year.
  
  The product that we recommend is Sikkens Cetol Marine. Sickens is a high quality paint manufacturer skilled in both automotive and marine paint manufacturing. To get the best results, follow the directions on the product exactly. It isn't hard to use and will really reduce any maintenance necessary to maintain the original brown coloring of the wood.