Trying to make our deck look a little better than it was. Im not sure how old it is and it was never stained. Thanks to those who replied best way to clean it. I started with Olympic deck cleaner. Quickly realized it's just overpriced bleach. Save yourself some money and just use a bleach and water ratio like yooperdave suggested. I used the deck cleaner solution and a stiff bristle brush. Turned out with a grade of "C-" cleaning IMO. Deck rougher than I thought. No before pics, this is after 1st cleaning attempt. Still rough, switched to power washer and simple green. (Saved the well and pumped creek water for power washer) Got it to look better but there was still some black areas. At least got the green off. Because of the dark stains, and roughness of some parts, we decided to use a solid stain over a semi transparent. I brushed it on. I hate doing the rails. A plug for Stihl pics make it appear more of a reddish color than it is Ran out of stain and light last night. Have some posts to do, front board, gate, as well as second coat. Not perfect but better than it was... I guess.
I really like the rock wall! roughness requires sanding. I drum sanded half of ours. Really cleaned it also
I cleaned up my sister's neglected deck. Bleach and cleaner regimen. Then the cheapest "sealer" at HD. Did it again the next Spring and then again the Spring after that. The third cleaning almost looked like new. Which wasn't really what I was striving for. Just trying to make it look 'better' and clean up under the often maggot infested grill.
Looks great! Report back in a few season. I’ve had terrible luck with colored stains for this type of application. All that hard work, in my case, was short lived.
I'm hoping it will protect it to get a good number of years out of it. A couple boards are border lined to be replaced. I am worried about the wear. Between the trees, dog, kids and me, we'll give it a good run. Been there and done that with short lived hard work of staining.
Doing that stuff right is a real PITA. My mom spent the better part of two weeks on prep and another chunk of two weeks on the application. They moved a year later, so no idea about longevity. But I recall the cussing she slang about that product.
Nice looking - I can appreciate all the work. Did mine last summer, was furloughed for a week. Spent it cleaning, sanding, and sealing the deck. I used a solid stain - Barn Red.
