When was the last time you cleaned your deck? Summer means maximum deck usage and if you haven’t taken the time to maintain your deck, it can certainly look weathered. Don’t forget how important your environment is to rest and relaxation.
So here are 5 steps for cleaning your wood deck.
– Remove furniture and other items from deck. It will make your life easier!
– This may be a good time to replace splintered or rotten boards.
– Remove debris. Don’t forget to remove from between deck boards too. You can use a hose with a nozzle or any tool that helps you to remove the debris from the cracks between boards.
– A leaf blower works well to get the bulk of the debris off the deck.
– If deck has been previously painted or stained use wood stripper. If not skip this step.
– Select cleaner. Oxygen bleach cleaners or other wood cleaners, which can be obtained online or in your local hardware store, are a good choice.
– Important! Spot test in corner to make sure you like results. Going all in without testing your product could be disastrous.
– Be sure to protect adjacent surfaces, you are working with chemicals.
– Apply cleaner to wet deck. Spread evenly with pump sprayer or other recommended methods.
– Let cleaner set for 10-15 minutes or as recommended by your product. It is important that you don’t allow the cleaner to dry out during this waiting period.
– After allotted time, scrub deck with synthetic bristle brush.
– Hose off after time is up. You can use pressure washer to hose off cleaner for deeper clean but great care needs to be taken to not damage wood.
– Allow deck to dry and then inspect. You may need to touch up areas missed. If deck appears fuzzy from the grain of the wood popping you can sand lightly with medium-grit sandpaper.
– When the deck is cleaned to your satisfaction and completely dried, it is ready for stain/finish. Or if you’re not in the stain/finish game, go ahead and enjoy it as is!
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