Teak wood is a material that allows you to choose to keep it stays on golden colors or let it turn gracefully in natural ways. Either way, furniture that uses teak wood material has to be regularly cleaned, especially if it is placed outside.
This particular wood material actually has natural oil property inside it, which will come up to the surface and evaporate as time goes by, due to the exposure to sun. That’s why the material should be treated and sealed if you want to retain the beautiful warm golden yellow brownish color. Otherwise, you’d have the furniture slowly alters into gray wood color.
The procedure of maintaining and cleaning teak furniture will depend on whether it has been sealed or left on its natural state. There are two tutorials below that can guide you to clean your teak wood furnishing safely without harming the material.
Guides on How to Clean Teak Wood Furniture
First, you will read a tutorial on how to clean unsealed and sealed teak furniture. To perform the following procedure, you will need:
• Clean water
• Water container
• Detergent
• Bleach solution
• Microfiber cloth or soft bristle brush
Here are the steps:
- Fill the water container with clean water on lukewarm temperature.
- Mix the detergent and bleach into the water.
- Soak the microfiber cloth or soft bristle brush into the water.
- Start to rub into your teak wood furniture thoroughly. Furniture that placed outside may accumulate dirt on the leg, gaps, and nooks areas. Make sure that you stroke the cloth or brush carefully instead of digging into the material in order to remove dust and dirt.
- Rinse the cloth or brush then clean the furniture again.
- Let it dries.
Sometimes, sealed teak wood may have its sealant peel out or fade out with the time. In this case, you may want to put and add sealant to the furniture after having it cleaned properly. Follow the tutorial below if you want to protect the furnishing by sealing it and maintaining its color. To perform this guide, you will need:
• Soft microfiber cloth
• Teak wood sealant
• Linseed oil
• Protection and safety tools such as mask and gloves
Below are the steps to seal the teak wood furniture:
- Damp the cloth with linseed oil.
- Apply the sealant carefully to the affected area.
- Let it dry.
If your teak furniture has been exposed to the sun and turns into gray or silvery color, then you may want to sand it out first using sand paper before applying oil and sealant. The sand paper helps to bring out the original golden color of the wood, assuming you don’t want the silver color on your furniture.
The tutorial above is an easy and simple guide for a do it yourself project over the weekend. However, there are some things you have to note.
First, only apply the linseed oil on reasonable amount as it can darken the wood material on your furniture. Second, make your that you apply the sealant after the oil has dried, because otherwise it may turn the consistency into rubbery. Natural linseed oil that contains no added chemical typically takes quite a long time to reach dry surface, and it may require you to wait anywhere from 24 to 48 hours.
So, that’s how you clean and seal the teak wood furniture. While you’re on it, you may want to check as well if your furniture has parts that need to be fixed or if there’s any screw to be tightened before you place it back to the original place. Make sure to follow the step accordingly to achieve the best result.