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Hello I have just painted my garden fence which I'm pretty happy with. Now my deck looks terrible in comparison! ijust gave it a clean with White Knight to get rid of a lot of the moss. I've never painted or oiled a deck before so have no idea what I need to do. It also got a few splashes of Dulux Domino from the fence painting which I need to cover. There is also a slightly rotten patch where leaves have been sitting. What is the best thing to do with it? Thanks for your help.
Rosemary
Hi @RosemaryK,
You should find this guide useful: Refresh and renew your timber deck. If you have a pressure washer, that would be a good place to start. There looks to be a substantial about of moss/mildew which could be blasted off. You should also use Cabot's 1L Deck Clean and an Oates Long Handle Deck Scrub Brush to remove any contaminants on the timber. Once the timber is clean, you can thoroughly inspect it and replace any rotted boards. If the deck has deteriorated, you might also need to give it a sand.
Once you've cleaned the deck, feel free to update us with some images and we can advise whether the sanding process will be necessary before oiling. The main priority at the moment is getting the deck perfectly clean and repairing damage.
Mitchell
Hi @RosemaryK,
Just thought I would add that this guide by experienced Workshop member @Adam_W might be useful to you - How to renovate a timber deck.
I would also like to emphasise that a rotting deck can be very dangerous, so I also encourage you to share some photos after you have cleaned the deck so we can see any damage that needs repair.
Welcome to the community.
Jason
Hi @RosemaryK,
As per my previous comments, it would be great if you could show us some images after the deck is cleaned. It's really up to you how much effort and time are put into restoring the deck. Painting the deck is a good way to cover up issues, but as @Jason mentioned, the rotted boards can be a safety issue.
Decking oils will either be natural or come with some type of stain in them. Here is the Cabot's 4L Jarrah Water Based Deck And Exterior Timber Stain. It has a stain included replicating the colour of Jarrah timber. For a dark wood colour, your best bet would be to select from the available colours in-store. However, I suspect Jarrah will be the closest match.
I'd still be of the opinion that replacing the rotted boards would be in your best interest, as any inspection of the property is likely to reveal them.
Mitchell
Thanks Mitchell for that advice.
Here are some photos after I scrubbed with the Deck Clean and a hose. It doesn't look any different to before. I cant easily get my hands on a gurney.
Rosemary
That is a deck that definitely needs a sanding to be fully restored @RosemaryK. The dirt and grime have fully penetrated the timber fibres, and you'd need to sand the decking back to fresh timber. Given what you mentioned above, you might want to coat the deck with an oil and stain combination, so you can move on to other projects. The darker colours will probably disguise the deterioration to a certain extent.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mitchell
To complete a full restoration which will result in an amazing-looking deck, you need to sand first @RosemaryK. If sanding is out of the question, then I'd suggest it would be still worth applying an oil and stain. Even without sanding, it should hopefully make the deck look better than what it currently does. Unfortunately, because of the discolouration on the deck, the results you see might be less than satisfactory.
Mitchell
