If your home has some sort of outdoor space you use regularly during peak weather season (think blue skies and temperatures that call for shorts and sandals), then investing in well-made furniture is worthwhile. When it comes to quality, teak wood is a solid choice to ensure you can take advantage of every sunny day.

Whether you’re looking to update your current outdoor dining set or your new home has a beautiful patio you can’t wait to use, you may want to consider teak as you’re shopping around for furniture. Read on to learn why.

Teak wood: Characteristics, benefits, and care

Characteristics and benefits

Teak is a dense tropical hardwood with a warm brown/golden color. It’s considered one of the best materials for outdoor furniture due to natural oils embedded within the grain of the wood that act as a protectant to help maintain its quality and durability.

Teak is resistant to all sorts of weather conditions as well as rotting, warping, and mold. This means that it can last for years, so you could pass along your furniture and it would still look beautiful for its new owner.

“The nice thing about teak is it’s considered the strongest of the hardwoods,” said Kent Larick, our Visual Merchandiser. “Compared to other hard and soft woods you sometimes see in outdoor furniture (acacia, bamboo, mahogany, cypress, and cedar), you’re getting strength, weather and decay resistance, and insect resistance.

“It’s also naturally beautiful so you don't need to cover it up with lots of sealants and stains.”

*Insect resistance means wood-eating insects like termites.

One thing to keep in mind is that teak can show small cracks, also known as checks, due to changes in temperature (don’t worry though - these cracks won’t affect the structure of your furniture).

Care and maintenance

Thanks to those natural oils we mentioned, teak is very low maintenance. To keep your furniture looking its best, Kent recommended a wood or teak cleaner so you can remove dirt or mildew. And while teak can withstand tough weather conditions, it doesn’t hurt to store or cover your furniture when it’s not in use, especially in a region like New England with cold winters and coastal areas near salt water.

Over time, teak goes through a natural aging process that gives it a silvery gray patina. Although this doesn’t impact the wood’s durability, you may want to ask yourself, “Do I mind letting my furniture age or do I prefer to maintain its original brown/golden color?”

If needed, you can revive that color using wood oil. Kent explained oil as “more of a protective layer that will bring back the color and moisturize the wood and can be applied with a cloth. The wood kind of sucks it in and you don’t rinse it off.”

If you’re interested in teak furniture, our collection from HiTeak offers outdoor seating and dining options to help you create a relaxing oasis right in your backyard.