Clean Decks, Docks, Patios, and Siding

This outdoor deck, railing, tables, chairs, steps, etc. can all be cleaned safely with oxygen bleach mixed with water. Tim sometimes writes his Newsletters while sitting on the deck, but not this Newsletter! (C) Copyright 2018 Tim Carter

Question #1: Tim, I’m in need of your help. I own a summer home on a lake that has a dock and large deck. I’ve also got my normal home that has an outdoor patio surrounded by huge trees and expensive landscaping. All of these things, as well as the siding on my home, need to be cleaned. Online research has resulted in lots of confusion. Some websites say to use chlorine bleach and water to clean everything using a 1:1 ratio. Other websites say to use something called oxygen bleach. My wife wants me to do the right thing and not ruin anything. What would you use and more importantly, why? Brad - Worcester, MA

Brad’s question reminds me of a dinner I had twenty-two years ago with a physical chemist. Ten days earlier, I had started to do research for my first-ever deck cleaning column. Before I share what happened at the dinner, allow me to tell you what I knew before meeting the chemist.

CLICK this image and listen to the first story - Vic has a gorgeous patio on the back of his house. One part of the patio has sunken down. I've got the fix.

Back in the mid-1990s all the information out there said to use chlorine bleach to clean decks and patios. I intuitively knew this was not the best product because of what my next-door neighbor did each spring.

Each spring my neighbor always poured three or four gallons of pure chlorine bleach onto her concrete patio stepping stones that were under a majestic maple shade tree. She spread it around with a push broom to clean the patio and the bleach seeped down into the soil. The fumes were so powerful they made me sick. I warned her the chlorine was so toxic it would kill the tree. She frowned at me and told me to mind my own business.

Each year more and more of the tree died. After spending thousands of dollars on root treatments and injections, the tree company finally came and cut the poor tree down.

Let’s get back to the dinner meeting conversation. Before driving to the meeting to consume some tender barbecue ribs and Saratoga potato chips, my research had uncovered these additional detrimental effects of using chlorine bleach outdoors on anything you own:

• it destroys the lignin fibers that hold the wood together
• it removes the natural color of the wood
• it’s highly corrosive to metal fasteners and framing connectors on wood decks
• it will poison ponds and lakes

At dinner, the chemist introduced me to oxygen bleach. I thought chlorine bleach was the only bleach out there. I was wrong.

Stain Solver is MADE in the USA with USA ingredients that are food-grade quality. CLICK THE IMAGE to order some NOW.

It turns out oxygen bleach had been around for decades. Stain Solver is a brand that's certified organic.

This product is a powder that’s mixed with water. Once you mix it, it releases trillions of invisible non-toxic pure oxygen ions into the solution. These ions are powerful cleaners and blast apart any organic stain, mold, mildew, algae, sun-damaged deck sealers, cooking grease, etc. It’s safe to use on docks as the solution that drips into the water adds needed oxygen to the lake or pond.

The best part is the oxygen bleach doesn’t harm any vegetation or trees. It doesn’t remove the color from anything. It doesn’t harm the lignin in natural wood. Oxygen bleach is completely safe for all composite decking, vinyl siding, fiber cement siding, outdoor furniture of all types, etc.

The more the chemist told me about this magical product the more intrigued I became. It turns out it was developed for the hospitality and hospital industries. Hotels, motels, and hospitals were tired of spending vast amounts of money replacing bedding ruined by washing it with chlorine bleach. Oxygen bleach was both color and fabric-safe!

In the late 1980s, an enterprising entrepreneur found out about oxygen bleach and introduced it to consumers like you and me. He started out selling it as a carpet cleaner at small home and garden shows. Soon he was advertising his brand on TV.

Fast forward to 2018 and now there are any number of oxygen bleach brands out there that you can buy. Some are certified organic and some are not. It’s probably a good idea to use a certified organic one if you want to ensure you don’t damage any of your expensive outdoor possessions. The certified organic brands are also safe to use around all vegetation.

I’ve created a free downloadable document for you at my website. This document contains a list of all oxygen bleaches I’m aware of. It also has links to videos, one of them showing why you do NOT want to use a pressure washer to clean your wood deck or teak outdoor furniture. A pressure washer can RUIN anything made from wood.

Just go to: https://www.askthebuilder.com/b1242/ to get the free PDF document.

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