Deck Cleaning and Maintenance: How to Look After Decking?

Decks have grown in popularity in recent years as a cost-effective method of extending your living space to include more space. A hardwood deck gives your house beauty and value and is a wonderful place to enjoy outside fun. For excellent upkeep and care, a few basic deck cleaning techniques are essential.

Before you go out to sleeve your deck, read this useful advice so you will know how to maintain your lovely and squeaky wooden deck clean. Regular deck care may extend the life of your deck and guarantee that your yard continues to look beautiful for years to come.

How to Take Care of Composite Decking?

One of the primary advantages of composite covering is that it has excellent upkeep compared to wood. However, it doesn't mean that your composite deck won't now and then need a little TLC.

Decking care is not a huge task. If you use the following suggestions once or twice a year and keep an eye on the deck's molding, gritting, or coloring sections, you can prolong your service life and spend many more pleasant summers outside.

Washing and Cleaning Your Deck

A thorough cleaning of your deck once a year is essential to the maintenance of your outside area. Letting leaves and debris gather on your deck for an extended time may cause discoloration and promote mold and rot growth in wood decks.

1. Remove any furniture and plants off the deck and carefully sweep it. If something becomes lodged between the slats of your deck, remove it with a putty knife or screwdriver and then brush it away.
2. Sweep the deck clean of any leaves or debris with your broom; use a stiff-bristled broom to guarantee a thorough clean. While sweeping, it's a good opportunity to check for splinters or loose screws on your deck.
3. Apply the Decking Cleaner or dish soap of your choice. When using Decking Cleaner, be sure to follow the manufacturer's recommendations. Add water to the dish soap. After adding enough cleanser, scrub your deck with the stiff-bristled brush. This will likely eliminate any mold and algae, as well as any stubborn stains.
4. Scrub your deck's surface using a soft-bristled brush or broom and a deck wash or cleaning solution — it's important to pick one that's suitable for your deck.
5. You may want to use a putty knife or other tool to remove any debris or dirt trapped between the Decking Boards that the cleaner could not reach.
6. After carefully cleaning and scrubbing your decking, rinse away any cleaner or dish soap with a garden hose or the lowest setting on a power washer. Utilizing a pressure washer expedites the process and removes dirt from your deck.
7. After removing all debris, it's time for a short wash.
8. Allow 24 hours for the Deck Boards to dry, and use caution while walking over them, as the Deck surface may be slick. Utilizing a deck cleaner is critical, as it assists in removing muck and build-up and kills mold and mildew.

If you believe your deck still needs a thorough cleaning, an oxygen bleach solution may be suitable. Unlike chlorine bleach, they will not discolor the wood or composite deck and will not harm your plants or garden.

There are specialized wood deck cleaners available, as well as solutions designed especially for composite decks. Additional sanding, sealing, varnishing, and painting are required to preserve your outdoor decking. If you want perfect decks, then The Composite Company has top-class products for you. This company is well known for deck supplying and installation.

What's Best: Decking Oil or Stain?

You have two distinct choices for treating and protecting decking: decking oil and decking stain.

1. Decking Oil

Oils typically come in natural or transparent hues, enhancing your wood's natural look. Decking oils sink deep into the wood and enter the grain to preserve them from the inside. This stops the timber from cracking, splitting, or splitting and should keep the timber fed and healthy for longer.

Oil is also really durable and simple to maintain. You have to keep it clean and change it from time to time. You may discover that you need less oil than the stain to accomplish the job. Our oils cover about six to 10 meters squared, so that you may only need one tin to protect your deck.

It also protects against rain and sunlight, making it less probable that your wood will weather and grey and appear nicer for a longer period instead. Decking oil is also less slippery since it permeates the wood rather than resting on top of it.

However, oil cannot be stained or over-painted, so if you want the finish to alter, you must first remove the oil. You cannot also use oil in certain hardwood decks, such as teak or balau wood. They are inherently oily already and have a very thick grain that may be difficult to penetrate.

2. Decking Stains

Decking stains are comparable to lacquer and available in a range of hues. In contrast to the oils, covering stains mostly screen the weather rather than entering the wood deeply. It offers the same degree of weather protection and helps to prevent redness and greyness.

Stains are also really resistant against stumbling. They build a hard layer over the top of the wood to handle a lot of footfall. This layer, however, may be slippery if wet. Decking stains are more prone to peeling and flaking if not kept correctly.

Due to the pigmentation of stains, the grains of your cover may be covered so that if you seek a simple look, you can best apply oil.

How to Stain Your Deck?

Adding Decking Stain to your hardwood or softwood Deck is an excellent method of protecting your deck from moisture penetrating the red boards and promoting mold development. The Decking Stain can produce a protective barrier on the wooden surface and improve or modify the color of the boards.

We recommend that a fresh new, unprotected hardwood deck be kept for around 2-3 months before the boards are covered with sealants. This enables the wood to rest before applying a stain.

Stain your deck with these steps

1. Make your deck clean and remove all the old stains, varnishes, or paints. Before proceeding to step two, wait until the deck is fully dry.
2. Check to determine whether the water droplet test needs sealing on your deck. Drop a few droplets of water onto your deck's dry region.
3. Put protective clothing and layers to the surrounding plants and add masking tape around the deck's borders to avoid goods from staining walls and boundaries.
4. Remove the Decking Stain solution completely before adding a good brush quantity.
5. Apply an external wood stain to the boards using a Deck Stain Brush, using long, even brush strokes that go with the wood grains to ensure that a thorough seal is placed between the boards' grooves. Four boards should be stained at a time to avoid overlaps.
6. Apply the second coat after drying the first coat by the same guidelines as previously.

How to Treat Oil Decking?

1. Decking may be done using Deck Oil or Decking Stainer. While the dye protects the board against the surface, oils penetrate the wood and protect it against the interior. The oil typically comes in natural or clear colored solutions and provides long-lasting and weatherproof qualities when applied to your garden covering project.
2. Oil your deck using the following steps:
3. Following the procedures above, verify that your deck is clean, removed from any prior solution and treatments, and the deck is dry and therefore not slippery before applying the oil deck treatment.
4. Test to determine if your deck has been treated lately. You won't have to reapply for Decking Oil if it does. Put a little quantity of water onto your deck's dry region. If the water absorbs, your deck has to be treated. If the water stays on the surface, the covering oils are still active in the wood, and no further action is needed.
5. Cover the surrounding wood plants and borders, preventing them from being coated with oils.
6. Put on your brush a large quantity of oil and paint boards according to the grain direction. It is preferable to apply for even coverage to four boards at once.
7. After completing, let to dry and apply the second layer after absorbing the first layer of oil.

Deck Repairing and General Maintenance

Once your deck has been cleaned, inspection and identification of any problem areas will be simple. Loose, cracked, or rotting boards are checked. It is important that you repair, mend or replace them with new ones. If not, the deck may deteriorate worse because the planks may twist and warp.

As wood ages, it may swell and shrink and raise nails and screws above its surface. When this happens, take a hammer and nail punch or screwdriver and work them back below the deck surface. Where feasible, repair any screws or nails that are rusty, which may cause the deck to change the color and make the wood lose.

How can you guarantee that your deck looks fantastic throughout the summer? The Composite Company describes the critical phases of deck maintenance in this post. Learn how to care for decking and the best method to handle decking in the sections below. This Company will provide you best maintenance services for your deck.