Pressure treated deck maintenance?
Question:How do I get the color back. It looks weather beaten after the winter although I pressurewashed it and sealed it 2 years ago
Answers:
There are so many chemical washes available, but some are not friendly to the environment so pick a "green one".
I am not a "greenie" but I wouldn't want to use one that would harm my kids and garden when I water blast it clean.
The home depot sells some stuff in a green jug, made by behr. I just did mine and it worked great. I sprayed it on with a pressure washer, waited 15 minutes and cleaned it of with my power washer, on the lowest setting. Very easy. Good luck.
All decks will sunfadde. You can't get the pressure treament color back without putting on more preservative (yuk). Unless you live n the tropics just go but a good, oil (alkyd) semi-transparent stain in the color of your choice and apply it to your deck according to packaging instructions.
You should first clean your deck. Best to use a cleaner and a scrub brush and a garden hose to rinse, pressure washers damage wood and can drive water deep into cracks within the wood causing potential failure of any coating you decide to use. Allow the washed deck to dry for several days and apply coatings on surfaces not hot to touch and out of direct sun where possible.
I strongly recommend avoiding silicone bearing coatings such as 'waterseal' since the silicone can build up with repeated applications and render the deck uncoatable in future.
In general terms decks must be recoated every 18-24 mo. so avoid expensive products which claim to have warranty protection- it is generally limited to a set amount of product (usually two gallons) and allows for some failure. so cheep and easy is the best way.
I've installed a lot of decks in my time, and pressure washed many as well. I get them to a point where they look like they did originally then after drying, I re-treat. I don't use chemicals to wash. The only variations I note are any over lap or lingering too long in one aread with the pressure wash gun.
Thompsons is probably the most widely known and used treatment, but it won't last more than one season... But then I've never seen any that did. Certainly opinions vary; I just choose not to use Thompsons. You might just consider it an annual spring chore for outdoors.
Steven Wolf
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