Top 5 Decking Cleaning Mistakes to Avoid

After a busy summer in your garden, you may be preparing your decking for autumn and winter by giving it a good clean. With months of use, your decking may be looking a bit worse for wear and you’ll want to clean it up before it gets cold out. Wood can last a long time, as long as it is treated properly and you use the right products on it. In order to make your decking last a long time, cleaning and finishing it with the right products is important, such as decking oil.

Here are 5 cleaning mistakes to avoid.

Thinking The Rain Will Clean Your Decking

It’s not a good idea to wait for the rain to start and think it will clean your decking for you. While we do get a lot of rain in the UK, it’s not an adequate way to clean all the grime that can build up on your decking. Just like your car, rain will just move the dirt and dust around your decking and not actually remove it. This could potentially cause more damage.

Sweeping Dirt Into The Gaps

You might be tempted to brush any dirt or debris into the gaps of your decking as a way to quickly get rid of it. Dirt, leaves and garden matter accumulating underneath or between gaps in your decking can lead to some issues. Rather than thoroughly cleaning your decking, this will eventually decay and cause discolouration and premature rotting of your timber. You may also find that pooling water has nowhere to run off to which can lead to warping and twisting of the wood.

Using A Pressure Washer On A High Setting

Relying on a pressure washer to clean your decking every few months can lead to damage. Timber decking of any type is not as strong as glass and steel, which is what pressure washers are designed to clean on the highest setting. Prolonged use of a pressure washer can damage your decking boards.

Using Decking Oil Without Cleaning First

To the naked eye your decking may not look that dirty, so you think you can just paint over it with oil. Without properly cleaning your decking, the decking oil won’t get a chance to properly adhere to the wood, so you’ll soon start seeing imperfections in the finish.

Not Giving Your Oil Enough Time To Settle

If you don’t check the weather forecast before using a decking oil and it rains before it has had adequate time to work its way into the wood, you’ll notice in a few days the oil won’t have done its job properly, so you’ll have to reapply it.

We recommend Treatex Exterior Oils for your decking oil or cladding oil. Visit our website today to view our fantastic range of wood finish products.