Garden benches are obvious pieces of outdoor furniture. In terms of teak hardwood garden benches, they are greatly strong and durable, able to endure most of what the British weather can throw at them.
How Can You Renovate an Old Bench?
Over time, everything gets weathered. The blend of damp and dryness, heat and cold, implies that many materials, specifically natural materials like wood, can soon damage.
And a piece of damaged furniture can enforce you to look for garden bench sale. But obviously, if you don’t take precautionary measures, this cycle would be permanent. Nonetheless, the damage is usually not reversible.
5 Steps to revive bench
- Check for repairs needed
The first step is to assiduously check the bench to see if it is actually repairable. This implies giving it a comprehensive check over to understand the magnitude of any damage and its severity. Nonetheless, this never means that as the arm or some slats have broken that your bench is doomed for the rubbish heap. The great thing about wood is that it can be either repaired or replaced.
- Clean it
Now that you have made repairs already, you can start cleaning your wooden garden bench. Renovation generally means peeling it back to its original self, but you won’t be able to decide if you need to re-varnish or repaint until or unless you have eliminated the bench of debris.
The ideal time to wash a bench is on a windy day. Instead of drying it with the heat of the sun this can be too menacing and cause the wood to dry out. A light breeze generally carries the moisture away, a process called evaporation. You should ensure that the bench is dry so spare a few days for the moisture to be released from the wood.
- Sand it down
Once dry, you can always move on further which is to sand it down. A majority of hardwood (and some softwood) benches are varnished or painted. This usually creates a beneficial protective layer against the weather.
Sanding is the usual process of removing all the last layer of old paint and varnish. It is a process worth some time. Rather, you can also use an electric sander or sandpaper to start off the process.
Sandpaper usually comes in varied grades from very rough to a little sanding paper. It is ideal to start with very rough sandpaper to remove the top layer, moving downwards to the light sandpaper, usually called finishing papers.
- Varnish or paint
Varnish or paint form the protective layer that usually prevents the wood from the weather. There are many varied colors and finishes available easily online. But it doesn’t matter which product you opt for, ensure that it is recommended to use on hardwood benches. Varnish and paint, whatsoever you opt for should be applied lightly and enabled to dry between each coat. You must use them in a well-ventilated area too, and ensure that you are protecting your eyes and skin. You must leave it to dry naturally over some hours or even days.
- Protect it
Renovating garden benches may consume a lot of time but the end result is simply amazing. Instead of allowing the weather to ideally start beating away at the bench, you should invest in a made-to-fit cover for the bench. A protective cover makes sure that the cold breeze never penetrates the top of the wood. But, more significantly, it keeps the bench clean and tidy. All you need to do on a warm summer day is take the cover off, have your seat, and enjoy the view.
