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If you’re thinking
about painting an old teak outdoor table,
it must be pretty far gone in terms of appearance. Teak wood
is
long lasting and of beautiful grain and coloring, and to want to cover
it up is a sign that the table’s seen better days.
While
teak furniture can be painted, there are several steps to the process
to make sure that it comes out as nice as you’d like, and you
should examine the amount of work involved before committing to the
project.
Note that, because its oils make
it
naturally weather resistant, most teak is in the form of unfinished
wood furniture. That means that there is no oil or varnish
treatment to temper the natural elements of the wood. Prior
to
putting a coat of paint on most wood furniture, you would have finished
and primed it. In the case of teak, you still have to prime
it
with a substance that will make sure to neutralize the affects of the
oils on the paint you intend to use. The best source of
primer
for such a purpose is Kilz.
However, before even that can be
applied, there is the process of sanding to consider, especially on an
old worn table like the teak outdoor furniture you are planning to work
with. There can be all manner of imperfections after years of
neglect that can make painting it straight out a fruitless task that
ends in chipped and peeling paint, such as splinters, warping, bubbles,
and even dirt and dust that have ingrained themselves into the
surface. You need coarse sandpaper and several hours to make
sure
that you remove every last old visible particle to reveal the new,
untouched, undamaged wood beneath. Now you have a piece of
teak
patio furniture that can be primed and painted.
However, now that
you’ve
revealed the beauty of what was beneath years of grime and rough
treatment, you may want to reconsider painting the table and match it
up with other teak wood patio furniture you can purchase. You can already see that the table lasted
longer than other types of wood patio tables, so you know the material
is worth consideration.
If you do decide to paint the
table
after all, be sure to buy enough paint for at least two layers, if not
three. Even with a coat of Kilz, the wood can absorb a lot of
paint, and that means you’ll go through several coats before
you
see the finished result as you would like it, without splotches or
transparent spots. When you are done, your teak table will
most
likely be unrecognizable in terms of material and only noticeable in
shape. When you’ve finished, you should seal the
paint
well, since weathering can cause it to come off easily and unevenly.
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