hey guys i want to talk to you today about how to clean teak furniture teak is a tropical hardwood it's uh it's widely used in outdoor furniture and things like that and it's extremely durable and has a natural weather and rot resistant quality high quality material it's valued for its weather resistance and oftentimes is used on boat decks exterior construction veneer and of course patio furniture it's known for its rich golden honey color when it's new and it requires very little maintenance and if it's left alone in the weather it will develop kind of a natural weather like silver gray patina if you clean and treat it and keep it clean it will maintain that golden honey flavor longer and regular cleaning is needed to do that in order to prevent mild mold buildup and discoloration so when cleaning teak always start with the least aggressive solution first and if that doesn't work then graduate into something a little bit more aggressive or concentrated sometimes just a quick wash with mild soap and water is all that's needed other times maybe a deeper more aggressive cleaning is called for in that case try one of the diy solutions that we we are going to tell you about or you can buy a store-bought cleaner or even oxygen bleach there are two diy solutions that you can do at home with with household cleaners one the first one is you can mix one cup of vinegar with a gallon of warm water and and use that as a cleaning solution and the second one is you can mix one cup of bleach and one cup of laundry detergent with warm water as a solution and if your teak is especially stained you can mix in two teaspoons of tri-sodium phosphite mixture is kind of an abrasive scrubber in my situation my teeth had some dark real black stains so i went right to a commercial commercial grade cleaner i bought at the store when applying a cleaning solution you either use a spray bottle or a garden sprayer i recommend a garden sprayer because one it works well and requires less effort on your hands but it also evenly distributes the solution well do this in a in a well ventilated area and spray the teak furniture completely to get it wet and soak and keep it wet allowing that solution the cleaning solution to soak in for 15 minutes and obviously follow the manufacturer's directions as well we use a nylon kind of plastic scrubbing brush works great and then a garden hose to rinse it off one important tip you might want to think about is do this in the shade because if otherwise the sun's going to dry things out very quickly when it all is said and done allow 24 hours for the teak to dry and if it's still stained bad enough you can use a half a cup of oxilic acid and mix it in a gallon of hot water and try the exact same steps that we just talked about um if you're deciding to do some sort of protective coating or protective oil let the teak dry out for 24 to 48 hours before applying and guys you know by cleaning and maintaining teak furniture like this not only will your furniture last longer but it will maintain its beauty for years and years to come i'm rob robillard we'll see you at the next how-to video at concordcarpenter.com take care you