Products

Teak Deck Care

Quality teak decking can serve decades when properly maintained or it can be ruined in one year.

Proper caring has been discussed on the Net many times, but as in other subjects there are opinions that may guide you into the wrong direction.

First thing to remember is the fact that teak is actually very sensitive natural material. It is used on decks because of its excellent properties. But, natural growing generates softer and harder sections in trees (year rings, also called grain in lumber). Softer section on teak deck planking of course wears away easier and faster than harder section. This is why you should never scrub decks with hard bristle brush, and absolutely never brush with grain, as this will eat out the softer wood very quickly.

Best way to clean your teak deck is with a regular rinse of clean water. Do not spray the deck with high pressure. If washing is needed, use soap like Joy with a cotton mop, and rinse well with salt water. If you have to scrub, do it across the grain with 3M Doodlebug, or similar, but don't scrub too much as the top layer of the wood cells are removed with dirt. Remember that what goes away is gone and the wood on your deck will not come back.

Avoid all chemical teak restoring stuff. Some of these attack caulking materials, and every time teak is restored, wood is taken as these will remove top layers of wood cells.

Don't oil teak decking. Again, some caulking materials may turn to goo. Oil will also hold dirt and oily dirt doesn't wash off, but stays on teak.

More details coming soon!


Repair

It is always best for teak deck to repair any problems sooner rather than later. If problems are not taken care of, they will lead to other failures and repairs are more time consuming and costly. Leaky teak deck may let water in to the sub-deck or below the decks themselves, causing rot or mildew to ruin whatever is below.

The following information is mostly for old type decks with grooved seams and screw installation. New type decking like our standard or custom teak deck will not have these problems. Most frequent problems on old decks are (click topics to expand):

*Above tips and guidelines are result of years of experience and are found to be helpful and work in many cases. However, every deck is different and by no means we guarantee the results on your deck,so please use your local professional carpenter if you don't feel comfortable working on your own.

Loose or missing plugs over screw heads

This is probably the easiest of the problems to fix, but if it's happening at the same time as the seams having already been worn out, you are facing a bigger job. But let's assume your deck seams are still good. A sign for loose plug is black ring around plug, which is caused by mildew as water gets in the screw hole.

Fix this by drilling out said plug with an annular cutter like Hougen Rotacut, it is a sheet metal tool, but works wonders. See Hougen.com Rotacut for more information.

Remove any existing glue from the screw head and back out screw. Countersink the hole deeper (you should have at least 1/4 inch above screw head) and for best results go for the next plug size. Use a dip of caulk in the screw threads to ensure water tightness and install the new screw. Glue in the new plug with epoxy, and after glue sets in, chisel of extra plug flush to surrounding teak. This procedure obviously works in case of missing plugs too.

Leaking seams, caulk separating from teak?

Leaking seams may just need some re-caulking or in worst case the deck has to be re-done. Even small leaks or water penetration can be detected by hosing the deck and observing how it dries. Where teak or seam stays wet longer than deck around should be carefully inspected for possible problem. If water just gets in the seam but not under the planking or into sub-deck, bad seams should be removed, teak edge cleaned to bare wood, and seam re-caulked.

Worn out seams and plugs

If seams are worn enough to the point where caulking is gone and many screw heads are exposed you have to figure how much of actual teak is left. If the deck was originally 1/2 inches thick with 1/4 inch deep groove for caulk, the remaining teak is only 1/4 inches thick and, if seams have been leaking for longer time, you should consider replacing your decking. If teak decking was installed over cored sub-deck, you should take action as soon as possible, because water most likely is ruining the subdeck and time just makes repairing more expensive.