Cleaning and Staining Your Deck Has Large Impact
Cleaning and Staining your deck will greatly factor into the life-span of your wooden deck as well as the overall appearance of the deck. This image vividly showcases how much of an impact regularly cleaning and staining your deck can have.
Deck Cleaning And Staining
Deck cleaning and staining can be a long, hot, tedious job but is incredibly satisfying to see a beautiful end result. That beauty can last years or just a few short months until weather begins to wear at the finish making the deck look like it needs a little more attention. This depends on how much attention was paid to the project and how well it was done. Here are some steps to make sure that the job has a long-lasting result.
Deck Cleaning
To clean your deck there are a few products that can be used depending on the condition of your deck.
- If your deck is made of brand new lumber, you have to give it a few months to dry out before you can stain it
- After a few months, it will need to be cleaned to remove any dirt, stains, etc. including "mill scale" which is when the grain of the wood is crushed during the milling process
- On an older deck old stains, mildew, dirt, and the graying of the sun damage need to be removed
- This can be done with a sodium percarbonate wood cleaner (oxygenated bleaches) which will clean the wood but not plants, vegetation, or your skin
- Old stains or multiple layers of stain will require a stain stripper
- Stain strippers are slightly caustic so handle with care
- If there are some spots with stain left, use a palm sander
Deck Brightening
The best part of brighteners is that it does many things with no elbow grease, scrubbing, or sanding. You simply spray it on, let it soak, then rinse it off. Brighteners do the following:
- A simple step that neutralizes the strippers
- It opens the wood to improve penetration
- Restores the wood to the way it looked when it was new
The most important step between cleaning and applying stain is to rinse and rinse thoroughly. If the chemicals are left in or on the wood, they will start to deteriorate the new stain and ruin the finished product very quickly.
Deck Staining
When it comes to stains, you get what you pay for. In this case the cheap brand is not as good as the more expensive brand as there are many ingredients that go into a stain including:
- Pigment
- Mildew, mold, and algae killers
- Resins
So with all of these ingredients, the better they are, the longer your stain and your deck should last. Even waterborne stains have become much improved due to government air and environment regulations. They clean up with soap and water and the wood does not need to be completely dry to apply it although neither should be applied in the rain. They also come in a synthetic version which is even more resistant to the elements and mold, mildew, etc.
When staining, be sure to only apply the recommended amount as more is not better as the wood has to be able to breathe and absorb the stain. If too much is applied, it will begin to peel very quickly.
For help with your existing deck staining or replacement project or any other outdoor home improvement projects that you may have around your house, contact a Home Repair Handyman contractor in your area.
