Deck cleaning and fence washing

Grey is one problem, green is another

Grey on a deck is weathered wood, the top layer breaking down in the sun and the rain. Green is growth, and it is the one that makes boards slick enough to put someone on their back. They come off differently, and a deck that has both needs both dealt with rather than one pass and a hope.

Pressure is the fastest way to wreck a deck

Wood is soft, and a pressure washer held too close or held still will tear the grain up and leave permanent tracking across the boards. Once wood is furred up like that you cannot undo it, you can only sand it. The job is to lift the growth and the grey without chewing into the board underneath.

If you are staining, this is the prep

Stain does not soak into a board that is coated in algae, mill glaze or old flaking finish. It sits on top and it lets go a season later. Washing and prepping properly is the difference between a stain job that lasts and one you are redoing next summer. We do paint prep and stripping as its own service if there is old finish that needs to come off first.

Does power washing a deck remove the stain?

Some of it, and usually not evenly. A wash at the right pressure takes off stain that is already failing, the flaking, peeling and worn through patches, and it will lighten a tired semi transparent stain. Stain that is still bonded to the wood mostly stays put. You end up with a deck that is clean but blotchy, bare in the traffic paths and still coated along the edges and under the furniture.

Turning the pressure up until all of the stain comes off is how decks get wrecked. The wood fibres go with it and the boards come out furry and gouged. If the old stain has to come off completely, that is a stripping job, done with a stripper that loosens the finish first and a low pressure rinse after. We do stripping and prep as its own service, and we will tell you which one your deck actually needs.

Fences too

Fences get the same treatment and the same problem, usually worse on the side facing the trees. If the deck is getting done it is normally worth doing the fence in the same visit rather than looking at a clean deck next to a green fence all summer.

Composite decks are their own thing

Composite gets treated like it is bulletproof and it is not. Too much pressure can mark the surface permanently, and most manufacturers will void the warranty over pressure washing. It still goes green like anything else in this climate, it just wants chemistry and a low pressure rinse rather than force. If you are not sure what your boards are, tell us and we will work it out on site.

The best time to look at the rest of the deck

A clean deck is the easiest time to spot what actually costs money later. Press a screwdriver into the boards near the posts and where the deck meets the house, and if it sinks in you have rot. Look at the ledger board, the bit bolted to the house, for rust, missing fasteners or staining behind it. That is the connection that fails when a deck comes down. Grab the railings and pull, they should not flex. None of that is a washing job, but it is a lot cheaper to find in May than to find the hard way in August.

What drives the cost of a deck wash

We do not quote decks by the square foot over the phone, because the size is only part of it. These are the things that decide the job:

• Size. More boards is more time, but a big open deck is quicker per board than a small one broken up by planters, benches and corners.
• Condition. A deck washed last year is a light clean. One that has gone black and slick under the trees needs product, time to work and a careful rinse.
• Railings and stairs. Every spindle, post and step is handwork. A deck with long runs of railing and a set of stairs down to the yard takes noticeably longer than a flat platform off the back door.
• Access. Height off the ground, a slope underneath, how close the beds are and whether we can get to it from the side of the house all matter.
• The fence. If the fence is getting done in the same visit, the setup is already paid for, which is why most people add it.

Send a couple of photos and roughly how big it is, and tell us about the railings and stairs. You will get a straight number for your deck, not a range.

When it is worth having us do it

If the deck is high, on a slope, or you would be working off a ladder with a wand in your hand, get someone in. Same if it is composite or a hardwood you do not want to risk, or if it has never been done and there are years of growth on it. We bring our own water on the truck, so there is no hose to run, no tap to find and nothing added to your water bill. That also means we can do a deck at a cottage or anywhere the water is shut off.

If you would rather take it on yourself, we wrote up the whole thing: how to clean a deck in Nova Scotia, including the order to do it in and what to check on the ledger board while the boards are clean.