Deck cleaning, like all wood restoration, takes a lot of practice, experience, the right cleaning chemicals, and the proper use of industrial grade power washing equipment. In order to safely restore the look to your faded deck, it is important to know the history of the wood. First of all, what type of wood is it? Does it have an oil-based or water-based stain on it (if any)? What brand of sealer is on it? Is it cracking or warping? And the list goes on…
Different woods have different density’s because they have different fibers and grains in the wood. This may seem insignificant at first, but go ahead and splash the wrong cleaner on the wood and you may find yourself calling a local professional to help you out real quick. So before you jump into your next home improvement project on your own, make sure you do your research.
At KC Power Clean, we thoroughly enjoy each deck cleaning job we encounter. Partly because most Southern Californians don’t have decks, and the ones who do usually paint them. So when we get to restore a deck and stain/or seal it, it’s a fun project.
We recently cleaned a deck for a long-time customer of ours, and we would like to show some pictures below with our cleaning procedure for this particular project.
This redwood deck has not been sealed in a number of years, and it has never had an oil-based stain or sealer. The owner of this deck just wanted a cleaning followed by a low-end water-based sealer that would keep the natural color of the wood.
Here is a picture of the deck before our cleaning began…
Since this deck required no stripping of a previous stain or sealer, we were able to use a sodium percarbonate based cleaner to brighten this deck to its natural color. We highly recommend this cleaning procedure whenever possible because of its ease of use and safety to the surrounding environment. As long as you have a high gallon per minute power washing machine with the correct nozzles to properly rinse the deck, then this procedure will work on many decks that do not need stripping. Just remember to put on a large orifice pressure washing nozzle to lower the pressure of your machine to around 500-1000 pounds per square inch.
After a good days work in the sun, take a look at the freshly cleaned deck.
In the video below is Matt giving the deck a second rinse after the sodium percarbonate cleaning stage.
Now we need to let the wood dry out for 48-72 hours so that it will accept the sealer properly. It has been said that wood should be a moisture level of 10-15%, which can be determined with a litmus paper test. When in doubt, give the deck a couple of days in the warm sun and then apply your sealer. Also, don’t be surprised if you need to do some minor carpentry to drive in some nails, replace a rotted board, etc. Then some sanding may be necessary to rid the deck of any “fuzzies” that may have occured during the pressure washing stage. But don’t worry, this will only help the deck accept the sealer. Just be sure to blow off all dust and dirt before sealing.
Lastly, another shot of the deck as it is in the drying stage…
Happy deck cleaning!
KC Power Clean (714) 342-5326
