Ten Tips for Maintaining a Wood Deck

If you are trying to maintain your wood deck there are many different things you should keep in mind. Maintenance on a wood deck can be a hassle but it can also save you a lot of headache and money in the future. If you are looking for some maintenance tips for your wood deck, here are some great things to keep in mind.

The first thing you should keep in mind is that you should not use products that contain chlorine bleach alone to clean or restore your wood deck. The bleach products can interfere with the penetration of the cleaning and will leave dirt and gray surface fibers all over the wooden deck.

You should use products on your wooden deck that say specifically formulated to loosen dirt and lift degraded surface fibers. Also products that say they will remove stains from wood and fungal growth are the most useful products for cleaning your wood deck.

In order to help exposure to the sunlight, you should use a finish coating that contains pigments. Clear coatings that you can put on your wooden deck will not help or block the sunlight rays and it will not keep the exposure from the wood. Coating pigments will protect the wooden deck surfaces just like lotion does to your skin when you are outside. The pigmentation in the surface coating will help protect the wood from drying out or aging too fast.

Inspecting your deck is always a great way to help maintain the features of your wooden deck. Walking around and checking for cracks, debris and problems with the foundation will go a long way in maintaining your wooden deck. Always check on seals and on the foundation to make sure that everything on your wooden deck is secured tightly and is safe for you to use.

Use a water-repellent coating that contains preservatives to help protect your wooden deck. Using a water-repellent with a preservative will help protect your wooden deck against fungi growth like mildew and mold. The constant shade of decks often is a place for the growth of bacteria so you want to use a product to help cut down on the possible bacteria on your wooden deck.

When you have a deck that is in a lot of sunlight, you should use an acrylic stain that has transparent iron oxide pigments. Using a stain that is acrylic and has the pigmentation in it will help protect the color of your wood and will also give your wood more protection against graying and degradation.

Before you apply the coatings to your wood deck you need to be sure to clean off your wooden deck. Make sure there are no grease spots or other possible spots on your deck before you start coating your deck or else it will not coat properly.

If you are staining or coating your wooden deck you should always mix the gallons of the chemicals together to help prevent against color variation. Color variation can happen between gallons when they were bought at different times or are from different stores. Even if it is the same color, it is important to mix all of the chemicals together in a large container to ensure that the chemicals will all appear the same once on the wooden deck.

When you are inspecting your deck you need to be looking at possible repairs you might have to make. For a wooden deck, the most obvious problems are rotting. If you see spots on your wooden deck that are more than a half-inch deep then you need to replace the pieces of wood. You can use a pry bar to loosen the bad pieces of wood and then replace them with rot-resistant wood.

If you have nails in your wooden deck that are coming out or are loose, you should just replace them. Do not try to just hammer the old nails back into the wood because this can either damage the nails or damage the wood. Take the nails out with a hammer and replace them with new nails in the same location. This will help protect your deck and it will help keep your deck sturdy for a long time.