Written by
When you first had your deck installed and fully in working order for a great outdoor retreat in the sun it looked great and you loved spending time outside on your deck . Your friends and family loved coming over and spending time out on your beautiful new deck soaking up some rays and enjoying a nice bar b q on your relaxing new deck. You loved your new deck but now it seems to have lost its luster with grey and mildewed wood. I am going to talk about how to clean a deck before staining so that you can restore the beauty to your wood deck and also your wood fence.
So it has been a few years since you initially had your deck installed it’s a night and day difference between what your deck initially looked like to its now dull grey appearance. It is hard to believe that it is the same deck. Now your once beautiful deck is grey and covered with bird droppings, black stains, mold, mildew, twigs, and leaves. This destruction of your deck is about enough to make anyone sick to their stomach. Your once beautiful deck is now a grey old decrepit useless eye sore.
Wait a second there no need to get upset about your once beautiful deck because we can give it a brand new lease on life, and you can do this all by yourself. I am a professional pressure washer and have been for over 10 years and have spent a lot of time repairing and restaining decks and fences. I am going to give you some tips and tricks to get your deck restored back to life so you can start enjoying it again like you did when it was originally built. So here we go.
The first thing you are going to want to do is a walk around of your deck and observe any anomalies and rotten boards and post. I like to write these down so I know what supplies I need t get. Pay extra attention to the areas that have been overtaken by mold and mildew and also look for areas that have been faded out due to the suns ultra violet rays. It is always good to know what you are facing when you begin to clean your deck.
Now that you have inspected your deck it is time to get to work. I like to take a big broom and brush off all the surface debris on your deck. You want to make sure you have cleared the deck of all twigs, debris, and other items so there is nothing on the deck before you continue to the next step. Go back to the boards and post that need to be replaced and do so. It is very important that you replace these as they are not only an eye sore but can also be very dangerous.
Now you are ready to begin pressure washing your deck. When you pressure wash your deck make sure you use a fanning motion. Fan your wand into the wood being sure not bust or blister the wood then fan out as you pull away from the wood. I recommend using a minimum of 2000 psi pressure washer. The bigger the pressure washer the faster and less close you need to get to the wood. Once you have finished pressure washing your deck you are ready to stain.
You can also purchase deck cleaner that can be applied before you start to pressure wash that will make the task of removing the mold and mildew a lot easier.
