Teak vs aluminum, a US trade specifier guide.

The one-paragraph answer

Specify teak when the install is coastal residential, when the natural silvering aesthetic is a feature rather than a bug, when the buyer accepts higher entry price for a 30-50 year lifespan, and when the assembly is ground-level or single-story so fire codes do not force non-combustible. Specify aluminum when the install is hospitality high-turnover dining, when the building requires non-combustible furniture (rooftop, public assembly, above the second floor in most US jurisdictions), when ease of weekly repositioning matters, and when the budget allows for an 8-12 year service window followed by replacement. Most US trade projects above $25,000 specify both — teak for the perimeter lounge, aluminum for the dining and bar zones.

Use-case decision matrix

Lifecycle cost over 20 years

For comparable seating (a 4-person dining set in a Tier-1 specification), the rough US trade numbers we see:

Premium teak's higher entry price is largely recovered by year 15 through avoided coating refresh and replacement cycles. Aluminum is cheaper at the door and roughly equivalent over twenty years if the buyer stays committed to maintenance.

Salt-air, UV, and corrosion behavior

Teak

Teak's natural oil content (4-7% by weight in Grade A specimens) is the source of its weather resistance. The wood does not absorb saltwater, does not split in UV cycles, and does not require any sealing for structural integrity. Aesthetic sealing for color retention is optional and reversible. FSC US chain-of-custody documents are available on every quote from our four FSC-claimed brands.

Aluminum

Aluminum's oxide layer is self-healing — scratched aluminum re-oxidizes within hours. The vulnerability is the powder-coat surface above the metal, which can crack under thermal cycling and admit moisture. Salt-air environments accelerate coating failure: within 1 mile of the ocean, lifecycle drops from 10-12 years to 5-8 years on standard powder-coat. Marine-grade aluminum with anodized or epoxy primer adds 3-5 years to that service life. ASTM F1858 includes UV and salt-spray test protocols that European premium brands routinely exceed.

Fire-code reality for rooftops and public assembly

This is the single most under-discussed factor in US trade procurement.

• Wood, including teak, is combustible. Ignition point approximately 260°C. Combustible furniture is restricted on rooftop assemblies, in public assembly spaces of certain occupancy classifications, and in jurisdictions following the International Building Code Chapter 25 amendments.
• Aluminum is non-combustible under ASTM E136 testing.
• California Title 19, NYC rooftop assembly rules, Chicago high-rise terraces, and most major US hospitality jurisdictions effectively require non-combustible outdoor furniture above the second floor.
• Practical effect: a Manhattan rooftop bar must specify aluminum or steel framing even when the design intent is teak. The workaround is a thin teak veneer over aluminum substructure — available from several European brands and certified as non-combustible in assembly.

Weight and repositioning

A typical 4-person teak dining table weighs 95-140 lbs. The same table in cast aluminum weighs 35-55 lbs. For hospitality applications with daily reset between brunch and dinner service, this is the difference between a two-person reset crew and a one-person reset crew — relevant labor cost over a decade.

For residential, weight is a feature: the table does not blow over in 40-mph gusts. For hospitality, weight is a liability.

Maintenance reality

When teak or aluminum is the wrong choice

The decision matrix above covers the majority case. Below are the corner conditions where the obvious answer is wrong and where most specification errors actually happen.

Teak fails when…

• Yacht interior with HVAC condensation cycles. Teak swells and contracts with relative humidity below 35% paired with hull condensation. Spec quarter-sawn ipe or marine-grade aluminum with a teak-laminate top instead.
• Phoenix, Albuquerque, Salt Lake patios above 5,000 ft. Daily 40°F+ swing between night and day cracks teak across the grain within 3-5 years. Aluminum is stable; if a wood feel is mandatory, spec FSC ipe with mechanical fasteners (no glue).
• Bay-front condos with cleaning-service contracts. Pressure washers raise the grain and gouge teak surfaces in two seasons. If the building requires a third-party cleaning contract, switch to anodized aluminum or sealed ipe with a maintenance addendum.
• Public parks and unsecured municipal terraces. Teak is a theft target; recovered units are sold to refinishers below market. Aluminum with cast-in city ID is the standard.
• Mixed-light atria. Teak that lives half indoor / half outdoor never silvers evenly. Cane-line or Tribù aluminum with a wood-veneer top removes the patina mismatch.

Aluminum fails when…

• Within 1,500 ft of saltwater without anodized or epoxy primer. Standard polyester powder-coat blisters within 18 months. Spec Fast or Kettal marine-grade anodized series, or accept teak.
• Hospitality contracts that do not budget for coating refresh. The lifecycle math only works if the property commits to year-5 powder-coat refresh; many owner-operators skip it and demand a frame warranty claim by year 8.
• Heritage residential where the design intent is "ages gracefully." Aluminum does not age — it either looks new or looks worn. Teak's silvering is the patina the architect specified.
• Heavy-wind rooftops above 12 stories. Cast aluminum stacking chairs at 8-12 lbs fly. Ballasted teak or hospitality-grade extruded aluminum (above 18 lbs per chair) is required.
• Acoustic-sensitive boutique hotels. Aluminum amplifies chair-on-stone noise. Teak or HPL-top tables on aluminum bases is the workaround most acoustic consultants accept.

Authenticating Grade A teak before deposit

Grade A teak from a documented European mill is the only spec where the 20-year lifecycle math holds. The US trade market is full of mid-grade and "plantation B-grade" teak sold at Grade A pricing. The five disqualifiers below catch most of it before deposit.

1. FSC chain-of-custody document on letterhead, with the mill code printed on the shipping crate. A generic FSC logo on a marketing PDF is not chain-of-custody. Barlow Tyrie, Skagerak, Gloster, and Ethnicraft all provide the live document on request.
2. Heartwood-only specification on the cut sheet. Sapwood content above 5% is sold to retail; Grade A trade specifies 0% sapwood. The cut sheet should state this in writing.
3. Oil content lab certificate, 4-7% by weight. Below 4% the wood is either young-growth or kiln-stressed and will check (split) within 4-6 years. European mills certify oil content on Grade A series; ask for the certificate.
4. Stainless 316 hardware, not 304 or zinc-plated. A Grade A teak set with zinc-plated bolts is being sold below true Grade A — the mill is cutting cost where the buyer cannot see it. Ask for the hardware spec on the invoice.
5. Origin: Indonesia, Java, or Solomon Islands plantation. Not Africa, not Burma. Burmese teak is restricted under OFAC sanctions and is not legally importable to the US. African teak (iroko) is sometimes mis-sold as teak; the wood is similar but the oil content is half. The origin should be stated on the import documentation.

If a supplier cannot produce four of these five within 48 hours of request, the specification is not Grade A and the 20-year lifecycle assumption does not apply.

Trade workflow: warranty, BIM/CAD, COM cushions

Warranty grade: residential vs hospitality contract

Every European outdoor brand publishes two warranty tracks, and the consumer one is often what gets quoted by mistake.

• Residential warranty (default on the website): typically 5-10 years on frame, 2-3 years on coating, 1 year on textile. Excludes "commercial use" — which a hotel terrace, restaurant patio, or HOA pool deck all qualify as.
• Hospitality contract warranty (on request, signed addendum): 3-5 years on frame at heavy-use rating, 2-year coating with refresh credit at year 5, textile excluded but COM/COL pass-through warranty applied. Higher price, usually +12-18%.

Always quote the contract warranty for any project that is not single-family residential. We confirm this in writing on every quote.

BIM/CAD library availability

COM (Customer's Own Material) cushion logic

If the project is specifying a custom textile rather than the brand's standard library, COM rules differ between teak and aluminum lines:

• On teak frames: most European teak brands accept 4-yard COM minimum, require fabric pre-test for outdoor weathering (200-hour Xenon at minimum), and apply a 10-15% upcharge on labour.
• On aluminum frames: tighter cushion construction means COM minimums are typically 6-8 yards, fabric must be Sunbrella, Outdura, Perennials, or Bella-Dura grade, and the warranty on the cushion is pass-through to the textile maker (not the furniture brand).
• Trade rule: never approve a COM spec without the textile data sheet attached. The most common quote dispute is a designer-specified fabric that fails the brand's pass-through warranty test after delivery.

Which European brands lead each material

For teak

Established US trade channels for FSC-certified teak from European mills:

For aluminum

European aluminum specialists with US trade pricing:

For mixed assemblies (teak + aluminum frames)