How to Clean a Lutyens Bench

Lutyens Benches are ideal for gardens and other outdoor spaces as they are made from premium grade sustainable plantation teak, which requires very little maintenance or protective treatments, unlike other types of wooden outdoor furniture.

However, you may still wish to freshen up your teak Lutyens benches every once in a while as they can still become grubby from the dirt or sand in your garden.

In this guide, we will be explaining how to properly clean and care for your teak Lutyens bench to keep it looking great all year round without damaging it.

Teak Ages Naturally

Before starting to clean your teak Lutyens bench, it’s important to note that over time, teak naturally loses its golden colour, fading into a beautiful silvery grey. 

So, unless you seal your lutyens bench with a golden sealer, you should expect your teak to naturally age from exposure to sunlight.

Can a Teak Lutyens Bench Get Mouldy?

Whilst the teak itself doesn’t become mouldy, mould and mildew can grow on top of the Lutyens bench. 

However, this can be removed easily with some light maintenance and shouldn’t have any long lasting effects on your furniture so long as it isn’t left untreated.

How to Clean a Teak Lutyens Bench

Cleaning your teak Lutyens bench is incredibly simple. All you need is a bucket with some warm water & non-abrasive washing up liquid, a scrubbing brush or scouring pad & some elbow grease.

Before beginning, we would advise cleaning your Lutyens bench on a warm day with a slight breeze to ensure it can dry quickly. 

You may also want to test out any cleaning products on a small section on the underside of your bench to see how it reacts with the teak.

1. To start, make sure to give the furniture a good scrub with the soapy water and brush, ensuring that you remove all the mould and mildew that may have grown on top of the surfaces and underneath.
2. Once all dirt has been removed, rinse your bench off with a hose pipe or bucket of plain water.
3. Allow the bench to dry thoroughly.

If this hasn’t quite done the trick, you can use alternative teak cleaning products to help get your Lutyens completely clean. 

These are formulated to kill the mould and mildew and restore the natural colour of the wood. 

However, it is worth mentioning that they can be more abrasive and could potentially cause damage to the teak if used incorrectly, so please make sure you follow the guidelines of the manufacturer to properly protect your furniture and always test out products on a small unnoticeable patch before applying it to the whole bench.

How Do I Protect My Lutyens Bench from the Elements?

Teak can naturally withstand the outdoor elements, however, if you wish to get your Lutyens bench back to its original golden colour, you can treat it with special oils and sealants.

However, before treating your bench, please note that teak sealants and oils shouldn’t be applied until the bench has fully weathered (turned a silvery grey), as the timber has already been treated and doing this earlier than necessary may damage the bench.

Please also note that the application of sealants or oils will invalidate your rights to return your product, please see our terms and conditions.

Storing Your Lutyens Bench

Teak wood is strong, durable and can withstand harsh weather conditions- a feature which is desirable when living in the UK, where the weather can be so unpredictable. 

This means your Lutyens bench can be left outside all year round, however, you may wish to take some extra steps to protect it when not in use.

Using covers is a great way to add an extra step of protection for your teak Lutyens bench and helps to reduce the growth of mould and mildew on top of it. 

At Mr Teak, we offer a range of Lutyens bench covers to suit all sizes.

We would always recommend using breathable covers to prevent the furniture from sweating.

It is also essential to ensure your furniture has been thoroughly dried out before putting a cover over it, otherwise you risk the furniture sweating, leading to an increase in mould and mildew growth over the products.

For more information and advice on how to maintain your outdoor teak furniture, check out our handy blog posts! 

Lutyens Benches at Mr Teak

At Mr Teak, we use premium grade sustainable plantation teak for all of our Lutyens benches which are built by our craftsman. Check out our fantastic range of Sissinghurst Lutyens benches today.