Caring For Your Garden Bench.

If you have purchased garden furniture over the summer whether it be a Lutyens bench, teak coffee table or couples seat, you will no doubt have managed to get quite a bit of use out of it in the last few months especially with the mild autumn that we have been having. However now that the cold and wet weather is setting in (just look out your window) you might have started thinking about the best ways to care for your furniture in order to make sure that it is in pristine condition when summer rolls around again.
At GardenBenches.Com we only sell furniture made from ‘Grade A’ teak, teak is a very hardwearing and strong wood that over time will mature and age naturally with the British climate. As teak is exposed to our British weather, it will gradually change from that new teak honey colour, to a sliver-grey as distinguished feature of finely aged outdoor teak (dependent on the environment this process can be noticed quicker). Because the teak tree naturally contains a natural resin, it means that teak benches are water resistant allowing you to leave them out in the rain without damage being caused.
That being said, when the weather gets to extremes such as it has in recent years this is where we would suggest covering your garden bench with a purpose made water proof cover. If you bench is made from teak, or another hardwood although it is water resistant as it is a natural product there may be small cracks and grooves that water can get into. During the cold weather, the water in this cracks and groves freezes and expands possibly causing damage to your bench. Although in the short run this will have minimal effect on the bench, over a long period of time it will begin to expand and open up the cracks. What a good quality waterproof cover does is keep the rain and moisture off the bench, so when the frost does hit it isn’t going to damage the bench.
Some people are tempted to bring their teak furniture in over the winter, however we would always recommend that outdoor teak is left outdoors as it is not conductive to storage in domestic residences. Teak is mainly found in the East-Asian rainforests, so they are used to a very damp and humid environment, bringing your furniture inside especially into a room with central heating can cause the bench to dry out as there is no moisture in the air for the wood to draw from.
Regardless of if you have or haven’t covered you bench over the Winter, when Spring does finally comes around it is always worth considering treating your bench. Sanding your bench down will remove any dirt that might be on the surface of the bench (don’t use a power sander, as this can damage the wood), you can then use a high quality teak oil and a rag to treat the bench, and just give it a little bit of a boost. At GardenBenches.com we would always recommend using a good quality oil such as Golden Care however any quality teak or Danish oil will do, try and avoided cheaper brands as they may cause damage or discoloration.