Advice needed: Teak Garden Furniture.
Benji
I'm thinking about buying some benches for the garden but, being new to
this, (me and my partner having just moved in), I was looking for some
advice.
Also, my friend uses Twitter when he came across this company
@rootandstone, (again, all this is new to me). Passing the site onto me,
(http://rootandstone.co.uk), I had a look around and the prices seemed
reasonable, (I think?).
I'm still unsure as how best to proceed though as I'm not fully versed
on what the upkeep of this sort of thing is especially in regards to
weather and such. So if anybody out there can offer any form of advice
in regards to this I'd be most grateful.
--
Benji
Brooklyn1
You really should be asking the furniture manufacturer for maintenence
advice for their product... how do you expect anyone here to know with
what that furniture is treated if anything. Why don't you check their
web site for care information.
Benji
Thanks for the reply. I was planning on getting in touch with the
manufacturers but I was just looking for some impartial advice first. I
thought maybe someone on here might have brought something similar
before, (with it being garden based), and therefore able to offer me
some first-hand tips.
As I stated before I'm still fairly new to this so I apologise if I came
to the wrong area for help.
--
Benji
Una
year round will become rough. You may find yourself sanding it every
year, at least the parts that you touch. If you use the furniture a
*lot*, use will keep it smooth.
Teak is not the only wood that can stand up to staying out. Cedar and
redwood hold up too, and cedar costs less.
Garden furniture made of durable wood like teak and cedar does not need
to be protected with paint or urethane deck stains. Once a protectant
is used, though, it generally needs to be touched up every year because
it flakes and that looks and feels really bad and can make quite a mess.
Garden furniture that has to stay out all year needs stainless steel
or brass fasteners, preferably nut and bolt fasteners not wood screws.
I have some plastic garden chairs that I found at a charity shop years
ago, bought as a temporary measure while I looked out for "good" garden
furniture. I still have the plastic chairs, and like them. I like to
move them around, something that can be a big hassle with heavy wooden
furniture.
Do you need all-weather garden furniture? Are you going to be out in
the garden in winter? Or is it that you have nowhere to store the
furniture over winter? Do you even need garden furniture? Wait and
see...
Una
lannerman
Brooklyn1;903366 Wrote:
> On Wed, 20 Oct 2010 17:11:17 +0000, Benji
> Benji....@gardenbanter.co.uk wrote:
>
> I'm thinking about buying some benches for the garden but, being new to
> this, (me and my partner having just moved in), I was looking for some
> advice.
>
> Also, my friend uses Twitter when he came across this company
> @rootandstone, (again, all this is new to me). Passing the site onto
> me,
> (http://rootandstone.co.uk), I had a look around and the prices seemed
> reasonable, (I think?).
>
> I'm still unsure as how best to proceed though as I'm not fully versed
> on what the upkeep of this sort of thing is especially in regards to
> weather and such. So if anybody out there can offer any form of advice
>
> You really should be asking the furniture manufacturer for maintenence
> advice for their product... how do you expect anyone here to know with
> what that furniture is treated if anything. Why don't you check their
> web site for care information.
Hi Benji, Yes, i agree with Brooklyn, seek the manufacturers advice
concerning the care of their product but I'd like to add a few things
that may be of help !!
If these are indeed teak benches (I couldnt access the website
you posted ??) the very nature of such timber means that with very
little maintenance these benches will last years as being hardwood it
will rot but will take many years to do so. In fact alot of people
prefer the weathered, more rustic look of untreated hardwood, it goes a
lovely silver colour!!
The main reason for treating teak is that it does dry out and may
split as it does so. the teak oil 'feeds' the timber and of course in
doing so keeps the wet out !! Personally I occasionally wire brush my
benches (to remove any algae) and then sand them down (to remove any
rough edges) and treat them liberally with linseed oil, this I do in the
autumn ( to protect from prolonged winter wet) and mine are fine ( ive
had them for about 20 yrs !!
The worst thing is to make sure that they are not sat in water in
winter, or sat in full sun (totally untreated ) in summer. Obviously if
you can store them inside in winter thats the best senario, somewhere
dry, cool and 'airy'
Hope this helps, best wishes Lannerman.
--
lannerman
Notat Home
weather and become gray and unsmooth. Treated it will retain its color
and smoothness. I don't know your climate, but in mine I have to treat
it twice yearly to keep it looking new, so it is not maintenance free.
Any chandlery will have the supplies needed to maintain it, including a
cleaning liquid, a conditioning liquid, and the teak oil for the final
coats. I have a couple of areas on my boat where the shape of the teak
makes it hard to treat, so I have just left them untreated. They are
grey and unsmooth, but still structurally sound, and the boat is 40
years old.
The teak forests have nearly been destroyed, so if I were buying teak
today, I would make certain it is plantation grown.
cshenk
> Thanks for the reply. I was planning on getting in touch with the
> manufacturers but I was just looking for some impartial advice first. I
> thought maybe someone on here might have brought something similar
> before, (with it being garden based), and therefore able to offer me
> some first-hand tips.
No problem Benji.
Teak does well for exterior furniture. Like all wood furniture, you'll need
to provide a little treatment to keep it in good shape over the years but it
really isnt much or hard to do. It will weather naturally with little
trouble.
Oh, if you 'lost the link' it's because youa re accessing the news group
'rec.gardens' via the gardenbanter website. It will feel to you like you
are talking to people on the gardenbanter website but actually it's a usenet
newsgroup carried by all sorts of providers. Gardenbanter imports it and
provides the interface that I presume you prefer to read from. Harmless but
if you lose it again, search for rec.gardens.
hollierose
Benches-direct.co.uk is a good website for garden benches. That's the
website that I got my garden benches from and they have kept well over
the years. You can shop by brand and they are also from trusted brands
so I hope that helps. My benches from the site are made by the brands
Alexander Rose and Bridgman. I hope that was helpful. :) Good luck with
your garden benches, I hope you don't just choose one because it's cheap
though. On the website I gave you they are reasonably priced and good
quality too, which is most important. :)
--
hollierose