Garden furniture - what now it's clean?

[Tim UK 14]

Hi all,

I cleaned a few items of garden furntiure this morning, and am a bit unsure what to do next to finish it off.

The first photo shwos the before, and you can see it's all grey and green with lichens growing on it.

Then I applied a chemical known here as 'Netrol' which contains oxalic acid. I let this dwell for 20 minutes then run a yard brush loosely over it.

Then I used 15 degree tip held about 5-6 inches off the surface.

Second photo shows result. I am unsure what wood this is, so how should I proceed? I can only think of using teak oil, but not sure if this would be ok IF the wood is not actually teak.

Other two pics are closeups.

Please help if you can.

Thanks,

Tim

[RPetry 564]

Tim,

The wood does look like teak, but there are now so many different mahoganies and other strange hardwoods used for garden furniture, it is tough to say for sure. One clue is the weight of the wood. If the furniture is unusually heavy, and the wood is very hard, it is probably teak. Sometimes a metal plate is attached somewhere, with the manufacturer's name and stating that the furniture is teak.

You are at a great disadvantage in the UK as aside from chemicals, the Brits do not appear to offer the numerous types of exterior stains that we have available in the US. There are teak oils in our market made for exterior use. They contain UV inhibitors and mildewcide. Something similar should be fine.

I would not worry about putting exterior teak oil on a hardwood that is not teak.

[Tim UK 14]

Rick,

I have now ascertained that the two smaller armchairs are of a different wood to the table and bench - for one thing they are heavier. They also showed very different weathering to the other two pieces - weird: as if they had a skin and blotches of it had come off - imagine if someone was burnt in a fire; not a nice thought, but the descrption is accurate.

This appearance came off in the clean, but has left an indelible mark. The owner isn't worried about it.

He has just said put something on to protect the wood, but not to darken it by much. So I think I shall be putting a teal oil (non-coloured) on it all.

On this question of teak, I have read conflicting advice on a manufacturer's web site that says there is no advantage is applying teak oil - unless you want to achieve that 'out of the showroom' appearance. Something it seems the British aren't too keen on!

If I remember, I will put some pictures up of the finished articles.

Thanks,

Tim

[RPetry 564]

Tim,

Teak and ipe are near indestructable. Aside from appearance and possibly discouraging mildew (or as you say, lichen) growth for awhile, oil stains are not necessary. Both woods weather to a silver gray patina. Their grain structure and density is so tight, moisture, insects, and weathering just don't make much headway in deteriorating the wood.

[Tim UK 14]

So are you saying that applying teak oil (or any oil for that matter) serves only to enhance the appearance?

If that's the case, I can save myself a lot of trouble by leaving alone...

[RPetry 564]

Tim,

So are you saying that applying teak oil (or any oil for that matter) serves only to enhance the appearance?

Well, yes, kind of! There may be a slight benefit of replacing some lost oils and resins in the surface of the wood but these woods are just so hard, they weather like concrete.

[Tim UK 14]

Rick, that's settled it - I'm not going to apply anything to the furniture.

Customer is delighted anyway.

Cheers! Just saved me some extra work (which was going to be FOC!!!)

Have a beer on me. It is Friday after all!

Tim

[James 624]

Those are teak very easy to clean and maintain with out teak oil. Teak oil makes it more difficult to maintain.

[PressurePros 248]

Tim, take this for what it is worth, just my observations based on your commentary and what I see in the pictures.The wood does not look completely clean to me. There are still patches of gray where you missed. The detergent you used also would worry me. You may have removed the surface mold spores but you used no mildewcide/fungicide to kill the spores. At what pressure did you clean the wood?I am not sure I understand your happiness at leaving money on the table, so to speak. Furniture is an easy spray and using a product like Cabot's Australian Timber Oil (if it's available to you) would take you a long way towards furthering the customer's satisfaction with the job. The problem you are facing is this.. the customer is happy today but will they be happy in eight weeks when the wood is gray again?

[RPetry 564]

Tim,

Have a beer on me. It is Friday after all!

Just did, actually two! Cannot stain today.

Just saved me some extra work (which was going to be FOC!!!)

Must be some Brit idiom. What is FOC? "Full of canaries"? (while staring at that bird on Diamond Jim's head).

[mikew 14]

Tim,

Just did, actually two! Cannot stain today.

Must be some Brit idiom. What is FOC? "Full of canaries"? (while staring at that bird on Diamond Jim's head).

I think he is saying "Free of Charge".

Mike

[mas3372 14]

Teak oil is for hard wood that is pourous. Mahogany, rosewood, teak, ipe, etc. I built some mahogany chairs 2 years ago from Baku Mahogany and oil them every spring. They weather a bit but do not grey. left untreated they would surely weather far more.

I would highly consider what Ken has to say. Whild teak, mahogany and other woods can withstand rot due to weather better than most woods, they still should be treated to help preserver there beauty. Also remind your customer that if they are teak, teak is a very expensive wood and a few extra bucks to help protect is well worth it. Fot teak I would use 3 parts Teak oil thinned with about 1 part mineral spirits to help is soak in on the first coat and straight teak oil on a second coat. If you can find a teak oil with UV inhibititors, all the better.

I may be new to pressure washing but my true passion is building furniture which I do every chance I get.

[RPetry 564]

Mike,

FOC = "Free of Charge". Ok, got it, thanks. I try to keep that out of my business vocabulary.

[Tim UK 14]

The wood does not look completely clean to me. There are still patches of gray where you missed.

Hi Ken, no probs with comments - that's what I come here for, however I believe the grey you are referrign to is the shaded part of the garden where I took the photos. The wood is completely clean.

The detergent you used also would worry me. You may have removed the surface mold spores but you used no mildewcide/fungicide to kill the spores.

I didn't mix up my own oxalic acid mainly because I had that product to hand, I and I knew that it contained oxalic, and was recommended for use in cleaning wood. I don't honestly know of a mildewcide/fungicide I could use (here in the UK, anyway).

At what pressure did you clean the wood?

I ran the machine at full bore and held the lance off the wood by 6" or so.

I am not sure I understand your happiness at leaving money on the table, so to speak. Furniture is an easy spray and using a product like Cabot's Australian Timber Oil (if it's available to you) would take you a long way towards furthering the customer's satisfaction with the job.

I took some advice partly from this site and partly from the maufacturer's website about how to deal with teak, and the pointers were to leave alone.

The customer was happy with the finish, and I do think that the English prefer not to have things looking so spick and span. Clean yes, not showroom finish.

The problem you are facing is this.. the customer is happy today but will they be happy in eight weeks when the wood is gray again?

I can't see into the future, Ken, although I am working on it... :lgsideway

My original agreement with the client was that he was to apply a finish to the furniture. I then changed my mind about that and realsied I could benefit more by doing it myslef, and getting some great photos for my portfolio.

As it's turned out, it appears that the wood is best left bare, but that's not everybody's opinion.

I thank all for their comments, really.

Tim

ps foc = free of charge - sometimes in my vocab, Rick, if it's part of the sell.

[PressurePros 248]

My mistake, Tim. If your happy and the customer is happy, then all is positively well.</p>

[RPetry 564]

Tim,

and I do think that the English prefer not to have things looking so spick and span. Clean yes, not showroom finish.

That wasn't true when the English use to make Jaguar autos. The coachwork and paint on those old Jags was a work of beauty.

Now the friggin' things look like Ford Tauruses.

[Tim UK 14]

Touche!

Seriously though, I meet all kinds of people in this job (including window cleaning), as we all, do, and there's nowt so queer as folk, as they say (in UK, anyway).

Ken, I'll keep an eye out on this furniture and keep you all posted on what happens.

I would say this, there is very little on the shop shelves that helps the homeowner, let alone the pro, deal with mildewcide etc. Maybe it's because we live in a basically damp old place, that the conditions are rarely good enough to enjoy the great outdoors.

Cheers everyone, have a great weekend, whatever you are doing.

Tim :)

[PressurePros 248]

Can you get a hold of bleach or OxyClean? Those are both mold killers

[Tim UK 14]

I don't know what Oxyclean is, but I do have sodium hypochlorite, but am reluctant to use it on this wood. I feel that if I did, I would HAVE to apply some sort of finish.

Tim

[Tim UK 14]

Here are a couple of before and afters.

[RPetry 564]

Tim,

The wood garden furniture looks great.

What a nice intimate English garden. I can just picture sipping tea and relaxing, reading the London Sunday Times at leisure.

[PressurePros 248]

Like a magazine showpiece. Nice job.

[Tim UK 14]

Thanks Ken, Rick.

All I would add to this is that these photographs were taken with a flash on the camera, and it made quite a difference to the resulting photos.

Can I just say that this si the first time that I have used props in the after picture? I have just tried to copy advertiser's practice, and that is the kind of thing they would do!

That's real orange juice, and crossants, by the way, and it was tough resiting eating them before I took the photos...

I think that dressing furniture like this is a good idea, and I am building my portfolio. I have a deck to do tomorrow (that iroko one) and hopefully it will be good enough to use. However, the owners only want the horizontal surface cleaned, not the rails etc, so it's not going to be as full on as you guys do.

Thanks again,

Tim

[Roger Oakley 14]

Nice Job Tim, Looks really Good.

Roger

[power2clean 14]

It's a nice little job Tim, seen it on cleaning pro's also.

I have seen that Roger is also doing some great work on wood. I have not had chance to do much hardwood furniture yet but I will be giving you guys a shout for advice when I do.

[Tim UK 14]

Done that deck I mentioned - I'll do another thread on that.