How do you clean your deck?

[Nursenini]

Just curious how everyone else cleans their deck...
Do you use any specific cleaner or just water?

Our deck is colored stamped concrete that most likely was not sealed by the contractor (although he said it was) according to an independent contractor that came out to give us his 2 cents.

So far, I have just used hose water and a push broom type scrub brush.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Yep, pretty much just use the garden hose to clean it off. If there was ever any major amounts of dirt, you might need to use a power washer with a special concrete cleaner attachment (looks like a rotary polisher that they use to wax and buff concrete floors with). If your deck is not sealed, I would be careful with any cleaning agents as you don't want to lift the color stain. If you have to use chemicals, go with the mildest, pH-neutral cleaner you can find.

So when are you going to seal the decking?

 

[Nursenini]

Yep, pretty much just use the garden hose to clean it off. If there was ever any major amounts of dirt, you might need to use a power washer with a special concrete cleaner attachment (looks like a rotary polisher that they use to wax and buff concrete floors with). If your deck is not sealed, I would be careful with any cleaning agents as you don't want to lift the color stain. If you have to use chemicals, go with the mildest, pH-neutral cleaner you can find.

So when are you going to seal the decking?

*sigh*
I'm STILL trying to get them to do something about this deck. It's been more than frustrating. I'm almost at the point of contacting an attorney to see if we have any grounds for legal action. REALLY don't want to...
I did do an "ask an attorney" online question and the one I messaged with seemed to think we have merit for legal action. However, he was in Texas, we are in Ok.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Yeah, this is one of those situations where having legal insurance helps (look up LegalShield or other such products, it may be something you might want to consider having on hand). Typically all it takes is for a lawyer to send out a nicely-worded letter on your behalf to an offending contractor and then you'll see lots of attention paid to your request. Right now, with your word against his, he's got no reason to believe you're going to do anything about it so why should he bother. Once lawyers start sniffing around, then people feel the heat...

Is this guy a licensed contractor in your state? Does your state have a registry of contractors (ROC) or some other official board of contractors? In states that have those, you can typically take a complaint to the ROC and then they will often investigate and intervene on your behalf to get the matter resolved. We have an ROC in Arizona and they are pretty responsive to complaints if there is a factual basis for the problem.

I do feel badly for you though. It's always a terrible situation to find ones self in when you think people will do the right thing and then they fail to uphold their end of the bargain. Hang in there and don't stress about the decking too much....just no glasses of merlot allowed while sitting out by the pool...use non-spill sippy-cups like I do, it's all the rage with the 0-4 year old set.....:grin:

 

[GaryT58]

The rotating surface cleaners that Matt speaks about work great. I have one. My pad under my decking (next to pool deck) gets green as it gets little sun. With the rotating unit, I can clean in a hour what used to take me all day. I do not add any other cleaners to it as it works well without it. I have composite decking which I clean yearly as well, and I did try one of the cleaners for pressure washers, but found it did not seem to clean any better than just straight water.

 

[Marlahoutex]

I'm supposed to CLEAN the deck??????

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I'm supposed to CLEAN the deck??????

You want a 3100psi gas powered power washer with a Honda engine, those are the best.


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[Nursenini]

Yeah, this is one of those situations where having legal insurance helps (look up LegalShield or other such products, it may be something you might want to consider having on hand). Typically all it takes is for a lawyer to send out a nicely-worded letter on your behalf to an offending contractor and then you'll see lots of attention paid to your request. Right now, with your word against his, he's got no reason to believe you're going to do anything about it so why should he bother. Once lawyers start sniffing around, then people feel the heat...

Is this guy a licensed contractor in your state? Does your state have a registry of contractors (ROC) or some other official board of contractors? In states that have those, you can typically take a complaint to the ROC and then they will often investigate and intervene on your behalf to get the matter resolved. We have an ROC in Arizona and they are pretty responsive to complaints if there is a factual basis for the problem.

I do feel badly for you though. It's always a terrible situation to find ones self in when you think people will do the right thing and then they fail to uphold their end of the bargain. Hang in there and don't stress about the decking too much....just no glasses of merlot allowed while sitting out by the pool...use non-spill sippy-cups like I do, it's all the rage with the 0-4 year old set.....:grin:

I cant find anything on this guy or his company. He's a sub of the PB. I don't even know if he knows I still have a beef with his work. The PB keeps stonewalling me and is now ignoring my texts.

I looked at LegalShield. They don't really do contractor cases, at least not the firm in my area. We haven't decided what to do yet but probably need to make a decision soon.

I love sippy cups

The rotating surface cleaners that Matt speaks about work great. I have one. My pad under my decking (next to pool deck) gets green as it gets little sun. With the rotating unit, I can clean in a hour what used to take me all day. I do not add any other cleaners to it as it works well without it. I have composite decking which I clean yearly as well, and I did try one of the cleaners for pressure washers, but found it did not seem to clean any better than just straight water.

yuck! But I'm glad it cleans up quickly for you! That cleaner sounds like it's a cool gadget to have!

I'm supposed to CLEAN the deck??????

LOL, Marla!! Mine gets dirt and bird dropping all over it. It's great "fly over country"!

You want a 3100psi gas powered power washer with a Honda engine, those are the best.


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Thanks for the advice on the power washer! That's on our ever increasing list as well! Now I know which one to get! Thanks, Matt!

 

[Marlahoutex]

Just kidding about the cleaning the deck. That's hubby's job since I do all the pool care, including removing a baby possum from the skimmer basket! Yuk!!

 

[Nursenini]

Just kidding about the cleaning the deck. That's hubby's job since I do all the pool care, including removing a baby possum from the skimmer basket! Yuk!!

EWWW
I do all the pool work EXCEPT the skimmers for that very reason, including but not limited to: snakes, spiders, frogs, etc...

 

[bmoreswim]

My DW mixes chemicals up for us pretty well. That said, if I didn't want to take care if it, we wouldn't have it to begin with. No deck cleaning going on here I can assure you. Only when I decide to recoat. It's the natural weathered look.

 

[Divin Dave]

since your deck is still new, and water hose and nozzle is fine. Eventually though, you'll need to power wash it, and when you do, get yourself one of these babies. They are flat out awesome and work better than advertised. It will make quick work of whatever you need to pressure wash.

I'll be doing mine in a few weeks.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Simpson-...GzT83EkGL5ChvjTPfD-w80qh--i5NsqI2kaAvqg8P8HAQ

 

[ponygirl]

We've removed 2 full grown possums from the bottom of the pool this fall and winter. Not pleasant. And boy are those things heavy when they are water logged.

 

[Nursenini]

since your deck is still new, and water hose and nozzle is fine. Eventually though, you'll need to power wash it, and when you do, get yourself one of these babies. They are flat out awesome and work better than advertised. It will make quick work of whatever you need to pressure wash.

I'll be doing mine in a few weeks.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Simpson-...GzT83EkGL5ChvjTPfD-w80qh--i5NsqI2kaAvqg8P8HAQ

Thanks for the tip, Dave! It looks like it would do a great job!!

- - - Updated - - -

We've removed 2 full grown possums from the bottom of the pool this fall and winter. Not pleasant. And boy are those things heavy when they are water logged.

EWWWWWWWW

 

[Reddogdan]

I can do the composite deck and all the concrete decking in an hour with the pressure washer

 

[borjis]

same here. I have a trex deck and then concrete around the pool, the arborvitae tree on my neighbors side like to drip rain water
on my deck and leave tanins stains each winter. (see my profile pic)

I can have it pressure washed to looking like brand new in an afternoon.

I would recommend the electric power washer "Sun Joe" very reasonably priced on amazon.
I got one 3 years ago and it's still going strong. If you go that route, get a brass garden
hose coupler, the sunjoe comes with a plastic one that leaks.

 

[Flippy]

A 3100 PSI pressure washer and this surface cleaner attachment. Just did my entire pool deck in under 35 mins. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JKQI0TS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Uncle Salty]

I have a 4K psi Simpson unit and the surface cleaner and it works like a charm. Make sure the cleaner meets the psi requirements for your unit and take the arms off and grease them before using and periodically after several uses.