Revive your Outdoor Wood Furniture
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You can easily revive your old outdoor wood furniture and keep it looking new by spending a few hours each summer season. Wood is one of the most durable outdoor furniture components. Whether you are dealing with solid teak or a lesser quality treated or stained wood, you can keep your outdoor furniture in great condition for many years with just a bit of care.
The planters in the backgrounds of these photos were a $15 DIY project. Check out that tutorial here: DIY Planters Made from Floor Tiles
Store your outdoor wood furniture inside or under cover for the winter
If you live in an area where there are seasonal changes, it’s best to store your furniture inside a shed or under cover for the winter months. Simply out of the main drag like under you deck or under protective furniture covers is better than allowing the patio furniture to weather the elements for the winter season. You can buy inexpensive outdoor furniture covers on Amazon.
Clean your wood furniture EVERY SUMMER, especially if you can't store it
I can’t stress this enough! For any climate, even if you don’t feel like oil-ing or staining your furniture this summer season, taking a scrub brush and soapy water to knock of dirt and mildew will go a very long way. Dirt and mildew cause erosion and hold in moisture that will cause wood rot. Plus, you will be surprised how much of a difference just a scrub brush can make in the wood’s feel and appearance.
Before Quarantine 2020, I snagged this outdoor coffee table from a neighbors trash hoping to restore it to match the teak bench I already have. This table was in bad condition. There was considerable wood rot on the table top and visible mildew practically turning into green moss on the sides. Washing this made a huge difference and so did sanding the whole table. However, for the rot and discoloration was so bad in some areas that it would likely never return to its original color.
After you clean it, sand it!
A power sander and a power source outside near the furniture, will makes this a fast improvement too. If the scrub brush and soap can’t get some of the dirt and build-up off of your furniture, the sander likely will. Make sure you were a face mask and eye protection for this step since who knows what kind of pollutants will be in the dust you’re kicking up.
I hosed down the furniture again after this to get the dust and residue clear from the surface. You can see that the table base was in such bad shape that sanding did not even out the color.
Protecting and Reviving Your Wood Furniture with Stain or Oil
Solid teak furniture will return to a golden color after the above steps PLUS a treatment of Teak Oil. Teak Oil is actually a type of stain. The properties of the teak oil allow it to soak into the wood and THEN harden. This strengthens the wood, keeps it safer from critters and mildew, all while returning it to a pretty gold color. If you stain your teak wood furniture with a heavy solid stain, it may never return to the original golden teak shade. For my teak bench, I did use a paint-thinned mixture of the solid valspar stain. Even after multiple cleanings and oil, it was still uneven in a lot of places and splitting in some sections.
The table here that I stained, was NOT solid teak. Originally, I was hopeful that I could clean, sand, and oil it to match the bench. However, the rot in some sections was so bad it was literally flaking off with the slightest pressure from the scrub brush.
Solid stains are reserved for very badly damaged wood that need fool protection from the elements. Now that this table is painted, after a rain, you can see the water drops contained on top of the surface. Before, the water was soaking in and damaging the brittle wood furniture. Reviving your old outdoor wood furniture can be completed in an afternoon (or 2 to allow time to dry between washing and coats). I purchased 1 quart of the valspar stain and had plenty left over for next season.
Tools and Parts List
- Scrub Brush and Dish Soap
- Power Sander
- Teak Oil
- Solid Stain – Valspar Pinebark Color used here