Wood Deck

Keeping A Wood Deck Clean Is A Good Way To Avoid Costly Maintenance Later.

Wood is made up of microscopic small cells. When a small piece of wood is looked through microscope it looks like honeycomb. Cleaning your deck when it appears to be dirty is strictly an appearance issue and does not affect the performance of most composite materials.

Cleaning your deck is your responsibility. Try safely to remove spots on your deck. If you are in an area where mold and mildew grows regularly you need to clean it more often so that it doesn't appear again. Deck cleaning should be done regularly because it damages the fibers preventing good adhesion of any type of top coat. Keeping a wood deck clean is a good way to avoid costly maintenance later.

Debris that clogs the spaces between deck board's traps moisture, encouraging mildew and rot. Blast out the debris, using a powerful nozzle on a garden hose, then push out remaining debris with a putty knife or an old handsaw. We should thoroughly scrub the surface with a sudsy mixture of water and laundry detergent, using a stiff fiber brush on a long handle. Work in small areas and rinse periodically. This may be all it takes to return much of the wood's natural tone.

Unprotected wood is immediately attacked as soon as it is exposed in the sun's ultra violet rays and water from snow, rainfall and dew. The water cans rotten the wood in untreated lumbers such as cedar and redwood.

Understanding the problems with wood:

The particles are larger than the cells will be blown or washed away smaller particles will fall into the cell and accumulate over time. The cells fills as we no longer see the color of the wood, but only the color of the combined particles appearing to the viewer as an unattractive grungy gray. The finishing of the wood should be done properly. Preserving of the wood and storing is dependant on:

1. Getting the surface clean

2. Saturating the wood with high solid finish.

The wood without proper protection will rapidly deteriorate from the following elements: Water, freezing and thawing, sunlight, mold and mildew. The water absorbs into the wood and washes out the natural wood resins and color. And also rain water promotes algae, mold, and mildew growth and rotting.

Pressure washing a wood deck

Pressure washing wood deck is one way to clean up the wood deck surface. You can do it yourself or call for a professional deck cleaning company. But you must be extra careful while using pressure washing as excess pressure can cause extensive damage to the deck surface. If you are a novice at cleaning decks, go for the simple and age-old method of washing the deck with a mop and warm water.

Pressure washing techniques

When pressure-washing wood decks avoid using excess pressure and do not use chlorine bleach when you use pressure wash for wood decks. This will lead to the wood being eroded and high-pressure streams can erode the soft light wood between the dark wood on the deck. The wood gets splintered and you may end up cutting your hand on the splinters, which could be as sharp as razor blades. In several instances, the wood gets blasted to a condition beyond repair if you are not careful with the kind of pressure washing technique used for cleaning the deck.

Types of pressure wash for wood deck

You can use hot pressure or cold pressure wash for cleaning your wood deck or a chlorine bleach pressure wash. A steam pressure wash can also be used. While applying pressure wash, care must be taken to ensure that the wood surface is not damaged in any way. Approach a professional deck cleaning company if you are not sure about the right type of pressure wash for your deck or if you are not able to handle the pressure wash by yourself. Taking the decision about the type and method of pressure wash is important for the long life of your wood deck.

Wood Deck