Share
I rescued a derelict and neglected teak bench seat from kerbside pick up and brought it back to life with some new materials and a bit of effort.
Materials
Merbau decking
Aquadhere glue
Turbo Builders Bog
Dowels
Linseed oil
Cabot's Exterior Varnish and Stain
Tools
Gerni pressure cleaner
Ryobi sander
Dowel centre points
Hammer
Spatula
Handsaw
Paintbrush
Tape measure
Steps
Step 1
I saw a derelict old garden bench ready for council pick up and asked my husband to collect. His comment was that he had collected a load of old firewood however I ignored that.
Step 2
Did a complete inspection and found multiple defects including rot, loose side arm, missing seat and numerous cracks, holes and gaps.
Step 3
Got out the Gerni and gave it a thorough wash which cleaned off the mould, dirt and fungus. Once dry I gave it two generous coats of boiled linseed oil to put some moisture back into the very dry wood.
Step 4
I cleaned out all the rot from numerous holes and cracks which I filled with Turbo Builders Bog and scratched some lines into the bog to imitate the wood grain. I also removed one of the arm supports which was loose, installed new dowels and glued it back into place.
Step 5
Cut new cross pieces for the bench seat area from pieces of waste merbau and screwed them into place. Measured up for new seat planks and went to Bunnings to buy 1.8m merbau decking.
Step 6
Screwed the new decking planks onto the installed supports from underneath so the screws didn't show.
Step 7
I gave the entire bench two generous coats of Cabots Exterior Stain and Varnish Teak finish and once dry, I moved the bench into the garden ready for relaxing when summer comes.
