Homemade Deck Cleaner, Quick and Easy!

Cleaning your deck is something you don't often think about until you have family come over or are hosting a barbecue out on your patio- then you don't know what you should do to get your deck nice and clean. Mopping your deck likely won't do much good (and some household cleaners can actually damage the finish on your deck anyhow), so what do you do? Well, you make your own homemade deck cleaner, and quickly get rid of the dirt and even mild mold on your deck, quick and easy!

What you need is a scrub brush or a stiff-brush broom, your hose, vinegar, and that's it. Vinegar is a natural cleaner, used for so many household cleaning chores it's not even funny (see The Amazing Qualities of a Simple Vinegar and Water Spray in Your Home to see what I mean). Vinegar can kill mold, clear up stains, and even break up clogs in a kitchen drain. And, you guessed it, vinegar can clean up your deck and make it good as new, too- without damaging your deck's surface.

Get out your hose and give your deck a good spray before you wash it with any type of cleaner. This way, you are preparing your deck to be cleaned, making the surface more porous and breaking up dirt. It just makes the cleaning of your deck that much easier to spray it down with water first.

Add 2 cups vinegar to a gallon of water, and pour the mixture all over your deck. Double the recipe if you have a larger deck or have certain sections that need special attention. For areas that are a bit more stubborn, like a stained spot on your deck, soak an old rag in the mixture and place directly on the stain. Allow the vinegar and water mixture to set on your deck for 10 minutes.

After 20 minutes, get out your scrub brush or stiff-brush broom. Scrub the deck vigorously to break up any dirt or moldy areas on your deck, or just do a light scrubbing for a deck that just needs a light washing. Spray the deck down again with a hose to thoroughly clean the deck.

Don't have vinegar but still want to clean your deck, or you have a super dirty deck? Mix half a cup of powder laundry detergent sans bleach (bleach detergent can possibly damage your deck) with a gallon of water and stir well. Repeat the above process and you can have a super clean deck in no time! This recipe is great for when you have a sticky deck from barbecuing.

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cleaning my own deck