I use about 1/4 cup of dishwasher soap in a bucket of water as deck wash. I scrub with a push broom, then rinse really well. The deck comes out very clean without the cost of deck wash.
By Kathleen from Reno, NV
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We have a large, painted wooden deck and two very large dogs. To say the deck is frequently dirtied by their paws is an understatement. My husband had tried several things to clean the deck without damaging the wood or making it slippery.
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How do you clean the cracks in your wooden deck? The boards on my deck are a little too close together and SO MUCH gunk gets stuck between them. I tried using a screw drivers to scrap it all out and I also used the high power nozzle on the end of the hose to shoot it out with water, but neither technique works all that well.
Any ideas?You might need to buy or rent an actual power washer to get them clean. Also, there is a product called "OxiOut Algae and Mold Remover" that can be applied with a sprayer or a brush. I know that Improvements catalog carries it for $17.99 for a 64oz bottle of powdered concentrate that makes 10 gallons of cleaner, but you can probablly find something similar elsewhere.
How about pulling up the boards and installing them with wider gaps? That would be the proper fix. I did remove a bird feeder on my deck once because it loaded up the gaps too much. BTW, too much high pressure washing will roughen the wood and make it splinter more easily.
I would clean the cracks,as best as I could,with a garden hose and a stiff bristled brush-an old broom works well-You don't want cracks between the deck boards.[expansion/contraction pulls the nails loose]
I haven't tried this myself yet, but have heard it works pretty well: screw a cuphook onto the tip of a wooden broom handle, use the hook to scrape the junk out from between the boards, then just sweep it up.
After cleaning my deck with a commercial cleaner, which worked well, some of the wood has grayed. Do I have to rewash or just rinse better?
By Brian B.
We are cleaning mildew and paint stains off a deck that has aluminum under the deck ceiling system to keep the patio below dry from rain. What kind of recipe or product will do this without damaging the aluminum under deck?
By ken
We are cleaning mildew and paint stains off a deck that has aluminum under the deck ceiling system to keep the patio below dry from rain. What kind of recipe or product will do this without damaging the aluminum under deck?
By ken
One of the most important steps to keeping a deck from rotting is to clean it with deck cleaner once a year. To save money on deck cleaner make your own. This page contains deck cleaner recipes.
Ammonia is good general purpose cleaning agent that can be used on many surfaces. This is a page about clean teak wood with ammonia.
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
Can you use Dawn to wash off your deck? My deck smells like cats. Is it safe to use outdoors? Will it harm plants?
Was just wondering if anyone knew any thrifty way to clean a wood deck? Hopefully I can get rid of some of that grey color and brighten it up. Thanks in advance.
