Blunders and Myths to Avoid When Maintaining Your Wood Decking

The wood on your decking needs tender loving care to keep looking beautiful and last for longer. The wood will need to be cleaned and inspected at regular intervals, and occasionally sealed or stained. Unfortunately, not all DIY homeowners are aware of how to go about these processes properly. Therefore, they make rookie mistakes and ascribe to myths that harm the wood on their decking instead of preserving and making it look new. If you are going to maintain your wood decking by yourself, below are some common blunders and misconceptions you should avoid when:

Cleaning

There are plenty of cleaners out there that can be used to remove dirt from the surface of your wood decking, but not all are good for your wood. Some DIYers usually resort to harsh cleaning chemicals when they are faced with stubborn dirt. Avoid using undiluted bleach on your decking because they will blemish or blotch the wood. Instead, dilute the bleach with water before scrubbing off any stubborn stains.

If you are going to use a pressure washer for your cleaning job, make sure the water pressure is just right. If the pressure is too low, the force of the water won't be sufficient to allow for a squeaky clean deck. If water pressure is too high, it might splinter the wood, resulting in surface imperfections.

Sealing

Unlike deck cleaning, which is to be done at regular intervals, deck sealing is to be performed occasionally, but not any less thoroughly. Deck sealing is required to protect your wood from constant exposure to harsh weather elements, such as rain, UV light, snow, ice and hail. While sealing is needed to protect your decking from the elements, it is not advisable to do it immediately the decking is installed. For best results, it is important for the wood to "age" before a sealer is applied to it. This will help restore the lustre look of your wood decking that will be lost after some time.

Some people think that just because they built their decking with pre-treated timber, it should not be sealed. That's a big misconception. Pre-treated wood is still vulnerable to weather-induced damage, and will therefore need to be sealed.

Professional maintenance is what your wood decking requires to keep looking new all year round and to last for long. If you do not think you can maintain your wood decking like a professional, then it is prudent to let a professional work for you.


Share