Saturday, 17 October 2009

Enhance Your Garden With Teak Outdoor Furniture

By Michelle Reynold

If you are looking for outdoor furniture that is beautiful durable and easy to care for, you should look at purchasing teak garden furniture. There are many advantages to buying furniture made from teak. The qualities of this dense, resilient wood have been known for centuries. Although there are a few things that you need to know about caring for it properly you will find that furniture made from teak is much easier to look after than any other outdoor furniture material on the market.

There are a number of qualities that make teak different from any other wood. It is a hardwood, which makes it more durable but there are certain aspects to teak which make it more desirable than other hard woods. It has a grain which is dense and can repel water, as well as resins which make it more durable as well. It also contains silica, which makes it different than other woods. Silica can help prevent mold and fungus from growing, which can speed up the rotting process.

Most teak is grown in areas such as Burma, Indonesia, Thailand and Laos. Originally, all teak furniture was made from wild trees and this caused problems with deforestation. Now, however, teak plantations have been regulated by government agencies and much of the teak used in furniture comes from these plantations. The one main problem with teak is that it takes in the neighborhood of fifty years to grow and this is part of what makes it so expensive to purchase.

However, the cost is worth it. Teak furniture does not need to be brought inside or covered during wet or stormy weather. Because it is so resistant to moisture it does not need sealing like outdoor furniture made from other woods. As well, it will not rust or deteriorate like furniture made from metal. It is much stronger than furniture made of plastic.

You should expect that your teak garden furniture will age and turn a silver gray color. This is because this is the natural aging process of the wood. There may be natural imperfections in the wood as well, but that is also a natural part of teak wood. However, you should look for imperfections which do not affect the strength of the furniture's structure.

You may see furniture on the market which claims to have been treated with teak oil. Keep in mind that while this can help to make the furniture more durable it is still nowhere near as durable as furniture that is made from real teak. You should know that if you are buying furniture that has been treated with teak oil, it will need to be reapplied on a regular basis in order to keep up the resilience.

Another place to find teak furniture can be from fair trade organizations. This ensures that you are getting ethically harvested woods and that the pieces you are buying are benefiting the communities where they are grown. You want to make sure that you are getting furniture that has not been made using child labor or which has been taken from the wild rather than a plantation.

Teak garden furniture may not be as easy to find as furniture made from other materials. If you take the time to research what you are buying and locate an upscale and ethical source, you can enjoy the beauty of your new furniture and a clear conscience at the same time.

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