Wood Types

Alder (Painted)
Alder is a tight-grained hardwood that is used in fine furniture and noted for its ability to be painted. It is prized for its durability and strength, and it is relatively stable during moisture variations. It ranks third behind oak and pine as the wood most commonly used for ready-to-finish furniture. Alder gives the look of many fine hardwoods at a reasonable price. All of our pieces constructed from Alder are finished with a high-gloss, two-coat, water-based enamel for long-lasting elegance. Our products come in the following bold, bright colors: Signal Blue, Sunshine Yellow, Barn Red, Surf White, Capeside Green, and Earthbound Green.

Cedar (Western Red Cedar)
Western Red Cedar is a fine-grain, dimensionally stable wood that is naturally weather resistant. With minimal care, our Cedar pieces will provide a lifetime of service and charm. Western Red Cedar contains natural oils that act as preservatives to help the wood resist insect attack and decay. Properly finished and maintained, Western Red Cedar ages gracefully and endures for many years.

The wood is uniform red to brown in color but fades to a silver grey when used externally. It is relatively soft wood which can be easily marked and has a distinctive aroma. The grain is usually straight and displays prominent growth rings. Cedar needs to be re-stained every season in order to avoid fading to silver grey.

Western Red Cedar is, above all, a wood of exceptional beauty. In its natural, unfinished state, it has a richly textured, tactile grain combined with a palette of warm, mellow tones ranging from light amber to deep honey brown. No man-made material can duplicate the depth of cedar's natural luster. It also remains subtly aromatic, and the characteristic fragrance of cedar adds another dimension to its universal appeal.

Beauty aside, the purely practical, dollars-and-cents value of cedar offers other benefits:

• It is a light weight wood that is easy to handle.
• Indoors, cedar's dimensional stability makes it perfectly suited to a variety of uses in high moisture areas such as cottages, sun rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, saunas, and greenhouses.
• It is free of pitch and resin and it finishes to a richly glowing surface that can be enhanced with transparent or full-bodied stains or with paint. Cedar is the preferred material for all outdoor garden applications that seek visual harmony with the landscape.

Cypress
Cypress is a beautiful, distinctive and durable wood that assures years of trouble-free satisfaction and its uses reflect that. In addition to rugged outdoor furniture, cypress is regularly used in building construction, posts, beams, decks, docks, porch flooring, greenhouses and siding. Because of its durability, cypress can be used in many of the same products as cedar and redwood. The reason for this durability is natural preservative oil known as "cypressine" which gives the wood resistance to insect attack and rot.

Cypress is all but indestructible. It is a close grain wood that resists checking and warping and it is long-lasting as well as weather resistant. Cypress can be easily painted and holds paint longer than other wood. If you choose to paint this product, you should use an exterior oil-based primer (white or gray) followed by an exterior oil or latex paint of your choice. If you choose to have the product remain natural, you should apply a natural oil-based stain or preservative annually or as needed. Note: Cypress is a dense wood and the drying process may take several days depending on humidity and temperature. Small cracks called weather checking may appear in the wood. This is a natural process and will not affect the useful life of this product.

Cypress - Distressed
Our Cottage Classic products feature Southern cypress wood stained with white acrylic stain and a subtle antique finish. The finish is a Cuprinol water-based acrylic deck and rail stain that further enhances the ability of the wood to resist cracking and splitting. This finish will not crack, peel or rub off onto your clothing. This unique process of staining and finishing creates the timeless "cottage" or "distressed" look.

Pine
Pine is a soft wood that comes in many varieties from various parts of the world. In the U.S., Eastern white pine, ponderosa pine and sugar pine are some of the varieties used to make furniture.

• All have yellow coloring with brown knots and are excellent for staining.
• Staining and protective finish is recommended annually.
• Pine is also generally light in weight.
• Suitable for outdoor use and resistant to rot, decay, and destructive insects.
• All hardware for the furniture is also weather resistant.
• Durable.

Teak
Comes from Java, Burma, Thailand and India. Colors enrich with age. Straight grain, though often richly figured. Has a fragrance similar to rosewood.

Teak wood is a superior choice for outdoor use. This immensely stable timber has a high oil and rubber content, a "built-in" natural water repellent which makes it virtually immune to rotting. The genuine Teak wood we use for our furniture at PorchSwings.com weathers beautifully, season after season, and can be left untreated outside without the risk of rotting.

When shopping for Teak furniture, don't let low prices fool you. Always make sure you are buying 100% genuine kiln dried solid teak wood furniture and not furniture made from Shorea wood or a combination of lesser quality woods. When you buy PorchSwings.com furniture, you can rest assured that only the finest quality genuine plantation teak is used.

Recycled Plastic
Recycled Plastic is made of amazingly strong and durable recycled plastic polymer crafted to look and feel like real wood. Each piece contains over 500 plastic milk jugs that were once destined for the landfill!
Recycled Plastic is a high performance wood lumber substitute manufactured from high density recycled plastic. Recycled Plastic is made to closely resemble wood products without the maintenance.

The advantages of Recycled Plastic are hard to ignore. Recycled Plastic absorbs no moisture and will not rot, warp, crack, splinter or support bacterial growth. Recycled Plastic is also compounded with permanent UV stabilized colors, which eliminates the need for painting, staining, waterproofing, stripping and resurfacing. This material is also impervious to many substances including salt water, gasoline, paint, stains and mineral spirits. Recycled Plastic is also extremely easy to clean and maintain. Simple soap and water is all that you will need to get rid or dirt and make it look new again. For extreme cleaning needs, you can use a 1/3 bleach and water solution.

Recycled Plastic is non-toxic to humans and animals, and won't leach or bleed arson, heavy metals or chemicals into the soil. It can also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by sequestering more than three times the amount of carbon as wood, rendering the carbon inert for decades.

• It is tougher and more resilient than treated wood.
• Never splinters.
• Never warps.
• Never corrodes.
• Mildew resistant.
• Unaffected by termites and other insects, rodents, worms or marine parasites.
• Resistant to heat, cold, salt and acids.
• Lowers worldwide consumption of hardwood trees.

Recycled Plastic is a great product that will stand the test of time.