Deck Cleaning

[rghilliard]

I have received so much from the forum and I would like the give back a little helpful advice. My wife and I were at a local everything costs a dollar store (Mighty Dollar) a few weeks ago and they had Olympic Oxy-Deck Wood Brightener. We bought a bunch of it since our deck was in terrible shape. When I say terrible shape I mean over a decade of neglect, so bad I thought it really needed to be replaced. Much to my surprise, the deck cleaner, a stiff push broom, a pressure washer and lots of elbow grease have the deck looking really good. If we can get a few dry days I will seal it and be done with this project.

The active ingredient in Olympic Oxy-Deck Wood Brightener is the same as regular old Oxy-Clean that you can buy very cheap. I used about six pounds on an average size deck in horrible condition. What I like better about this vs the chlorine based cleaners is that you don't have to worry about getting it on plants, siding, bricks, etc.

One word of caution. I did use a pressure washer since the deck was in such bad shape. Generally, I would not use a pressure washer on a wooden deck since it will dig out some soft wood. Considering the condition of the deck, it was a trade off I was willing to make.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Thanks for the tip!

 

[tim_pool_newbie]

In the spirit of sharing tips for the deck, although I haven't tested this one myself yet, I'll pass along a little tip my dentist gave me recently with regard to keeping the green algae from taking up residence on your wood deck. He said he lives in a very wooded area and used to wrestle all the time with algae growing on his deck (and apparently even wooden shingled roof). He said he knew someone that hired a professional to clean his deck and when he glanced at the ingredients of the solution he was using, it turned out to translate to plain old household vinegar. My dentist said he now routinely (twice a year) sprays down his deck and roof with a simple solution of vinegar and the algae never appears.

Living in a brand new development, with no tree cover at all to speak of, I WISH I had the problem of too much shade causing algae, so I haven't tried this yet. But give it a shot...you never know!!