Decking Cleaning Tips & Tricks

Mistakes To Avoid When Cleaning Your Composite Deck

» Refer to to view general care and cleaning video for Transcend, Enhance and Select decking. All food spills should be removed as soon as possible.

Taking Care Of Composite Decking Home Guides Sf Gate

Harsh chemicals, such as bleach, are NOT recommended on any composite surface! These chemicals can eat away at the composite structure and leave permanent discolorations and damage. While you won’t use your deck regularly during the winter season, you probably still want to clean pathways to your backyard and make it safe to walk. When power washing your deck, direct the spray to match the grain. This helps prevent accidentally scoring or marking the surface by going against the grain or by crossing over several boards. If a paper towel doesn’t clean the food or beverage stain from your deck, then the simple soap-and-water method from chapter 1 should remove it.

Make sure you inspect the gaps and keep the spaces between the deck boards clean and free of debris. The combination of moisture and dirt/pollen will cause mold to start growing on your deck.

How To Power Wash Composite Decking

For dirty wood decks, choose an all-purpose wood deck cleaner. For superior cleaning results, be sure to choose a solution suited to your deck material. Keep reading to learn how to select the best deck cleaner for your needs, and to find out why we’ve chosen the below as top picks.

How Long Do Composite Decks Last?

• Harsh cleaners can damage the painted surface, weakening it and leading to cracking and peeling.
• Painted wood decks, often coordinated to match the trim on a home, come with special cleaning issues.
• A gentle all-purpose deck cleaner that does not contain ammonia is usually the best choice for a painted wood deck.
• For how to clean composite decking DIY, start by spraying the deck off with a hose and water to remove any surface debris.
• Often, the only maintenance composite decking requires is an occasional power washing.
• Composite decks on the other hand, offer a lower level of all-around maintenance – they won’t splinter and you don’t need to worry about periodic staining, painting or sealing projects.

Gently scrub the deck with a soft-bristled brush to remove any built-up dirt on the deck. Composite decking is a great alternative to traditional wood decking.

If this is the case, then the wood fibers, or concentrated areas of them in the decking easily could support the growth of mold and mildew. The mold and mildew also can feed directly off of the wood fibers in your Trex decking. The dark spots on your deck, based on the photo you sent me, appear to be mold and mildew. Mold and mildew feed on natural materials such as wood fiber, natural sugars, dirt, dust, grease, oils and food. If you have trees or other vegetation near your deck shading the decking, these might be manufacturing airborne sugars that coat the deck.

Never exceed 1,500 PSI when pressure washing your deck. You don’t want to damage or score on your beautiful deck surface. Some manufacturers allow higher than 1,500 PSI, but always check their guidelines before using higher pressure. This ensures the spray is not concentrated enough to damage the deck’s surface. Whether your deck is brand new or a decade old, we know all decks get dirty - spilled food, possible mold, a drink stain, etc.

If you need to shovel snow off of your deck, gently use a plastic shovel or a broom to remove snow. Be sure to shovel parallel to the direction the boards are laid. If it’s a topical stain on a first or second generation Trex deck - you can pretty much wipe it off with anything but that’s not going to work on deep set mold. You would have to scrub until your knuckles go bloody and even then - it still wouldn’t be able to get below the surface. Over-spray from bleach cleaning happens and it can kill plants and trees. Not only is bleach corrosive and damaging to the plants it directly comes in contact with, it will most likely kill plants altogether.