How to get your deck ready for summer

If your deck is looking a little tired, mildewy and mouldy after a winter, (or a few) exposed, now is the time to get it up to scratch for summer fun outdoors.

Gisborne-based independent builder Stan Scott says too many of us crank up the water blaster for the job – a major no no.

Much better, he says, is to get hold of a good quality deck cleaner and a brush. A litre of deck cleaner will, when diluted, typically make ten litres of cleaning solution. This should cover approximately 60 to 70 square metres.

But before you start the clean, deal with mould and moss - an anti-mould product will need to be applied first.

“Throw down some spray and walk away type product and leave it to soak up for a few days.”

Then you can start cleaning areas of about a few square metres at a time, Scott says.

“I would advise not getting a deck broom that's too stiff, there are some that are almost like a wire brush and all it's going to do is rough out the grooves a lot more.

“So, you just want something like a like a good, hard yard broom really with plastic stiff bristles and you dip it in your bucket of mixture and on a relatively overcast day you could probably do a few square meters at a time and then just hose it off.”

If it’s a sunnier day, work on a smaller area at a time and hose it off with clean water, he says, you do not want the product drying on the deck as it can leave a residue and damage the wood or compromise any future staining.

Working this way steadily over the deck will make “a massive difference", he says.

“Whether you've got a hardwood deck or a treated pine deck, or if you've got a composite deck, they all fall to getting a bit of mildew on them - this brings it back to looking like new.”

Do not be tempted to unleash the water blaster, he says.

“A lot of people leave it too late when it's coming into Christmas Day and then they bust out the water blaster, which is the worst thing you can do for your deck, unless it's got a deck scrubbing attachment on it.

“All the water blaster does is just forces water into the cracks and the sun dries it out, and you're losing about half the age of the timber and the lifespan of the timber by doing that.”

It’s also a time-consuming and ineffective method, Scott says.

“Most DIYers have a relatively small water blaster that's got a spiral, and I think we've all seen our mates water blast the driveway and the deck and there's little swirl marks everywhere.”

This is a good time for some light deck maintenance too, he says.

“It's also probably quite good to have a hammer and a punch. Just if there's any nails sticking up, you might want to just punch those down.

“I ended up in the hospital after I scooted a chair along a deck and it hit a nail and it flipped up and I landed on my throat. It crushed my larynx. Christmas day I was in Waikato Hospital. That was from a nail sticking up out of a deck.”

If there is a pre-exiting stain on the deck freshen it up post clean, Scott says.

“And I'll tell you what, it looks great, especially if you've got the two main types, a pine or a hardwood like a kwila deck.”

There are plenty of choices of water-based deck stains for both types of deck, he says.

“The good thing about pine is it'll accept pretty much any colour, but once you start on that colour with a pine deck especially, you'll have to do it every couple of years.”

So, is putting a stain on in the first place a making a rod for your back?

“Some people like that silver look, but once you clean it, like I say, I do mine every year, and once you clean it, it'll go back to mucky again.

“But if you stain it, you're going to increase the longevity of the timber because you're putting back some oils back into the timber.”

The amount of tannin and oil in a new deck is something to be aware of versus an older one, he says.

“I just laid a built quite a large deck for a client that we're working on at the moment, it's a kwila deck and the oils that are coming out of that at the moment because we've had a lot of rain, you know, it's just like a river of red oil underneath.

“All the natural tannins and the oils are starting to come out, the owner wanted to keep that natural red look. I wouldn't encourage putting any stains on to that if for at least one season, because the timber is still so full of all those tannins.”

Applying a stain needn’t be back-breaking, he says.

“You can buy a mop, it's like a woollen pad and you just put it into your paint tray and you just mop the stain on two or three boards at a time, do it full length and it comes up absolutely beautiful.”

Take your time and make sure it’s not a blazing hot day as the stain will dry too quickly, he says.

“You want to do it in the shade, don't do it in the in the height of summer when it's really hot or about five hours before a kid’s birthday.”

Once the deck’s done hook into the grubby outdoor furniture, he says.

“There's actually some really good fabric cleaners for your outdoor furniture, that could be another weekend, or if you’ve got a shade sail bring it down and clean it.

“There's all sorts of mild cleaners that will make all that stuff look a million bucks for you.”

But don’t leave the deck glow up until the holidays are upon us, Scott says. This time of year is ideal on a dry day.

“Let's clear the decks, pull all the furniture off, clean the decks nice and early before Christmas, and then you’re set up, you can do all the other faffing once you've got your decks done.”