Deck Cleaning & Sealing Tips

Cleaning First

Before you apply any deck sealer or preferably a penetrating water repellent, the wood needs to be clean. This is a common sense issue. Each and every spring, I am amazed at how much dis-information there is out there about this process. Each spring, I see magazine and newspaper articles promoting the use of chlorine bleach based products.

Chlorine bleach is a wonderful sanitizer. If you want to kill germs, use it. If you want to kill the trees and plants around your house, use it. If you want to take the color out of your deck lumber, use it. If you want to accelerate the corrosion of the nails, screws and structural hardware that holds your deck together, use it.

If you want to avoid all of the above problems, use oxygen bleach to clean your deck! Keep reading for details about oxygen bleach.

The Cleaning Process

I wish I could share with you all the handwritten letters and e-mails I have received about decks that have been ruined by power washing. This method of cleaning decks is simply a huge mistake in my opinion. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that wood is soft and can be easily eroded with a high pressure stream. I get calls from professional cleaners all the time telling me I am wrong. They say if you hold the wand just right there is no damage. They are wrong. There is damage, it just may not be visible unless you look closely. What's more, the damage is cumulative. Wash your deck with a power washer year after year, and I guarantee that you will see erosion of the light colored areas of the lumber.

I wrote a step by step deck cleaning tutorial complete with photos. The photos at this section are not enhanced! Wait till you see the before and after shots. I did the entire thing with oxygen bleach and it is so easy to use. We were working above a valuable rose garden and the rose bushes were not harmed in the least by the oxygen bleach cleaner.

Really Easy

I get reviews every week from people who have used my 100 percent pure Stain Solver oxygen bleach. Just yesterday, I got one from Mark U. that said, "Tim, your Stain Solver exceeded our expectations! The deck looks superb! The product was easier to work with than you said it would be."

It is indeed easy. You simply pour the oxygen bleach powder into some warm water, let is dissolve, apply it, let it sit, lightly scrub and rinse!

The trick to cleaning decks with oxygen bleach is to work in the cooler part of the day and to keep the surface of the wood wet with the solution for 15 to 20 minutes. It will foam and bubble which means the oxygen is working, not you. Lightly scrub to remove loose and UV damaged wood fibers and rinse with a garden hose. It is that simple! I URGE you to read and follow the Deck Cleaning Tutorial.

Oxygen Bleach

Now here is one of the best kept secrets out there. Oxygen bleach. Go to stores and the clerks and managers look at you like you are crazy! Why? Because it takes years and tens/hundreds of millions of dollars of advertising to build brand awareness of a product.

If you watch cable TV, you have undoubtedly seen commercials and infomercials about some oxygen bleach products. The trouble with what you see on TV is that the commercials and infomercials are very sensational. There is some smoke and mirrors going on, trust me. Oxygen bleach does all of those things you see and more, but it doesn't do it in seconds like they show you! What's more, the products that are advertised on TV contain vast amounts of useless filler! If you buy those products, you are buying extenders and dust that simply take up space in the bottle. The sellers do this so it seems like you are getting lots of oxygen bleach. To the best of my knowledge, one company puts in 30 percent filler and another company puts in an astounding 40 percent of useless filler!

Just after I published the column about cleaning wood siding, I learned that the most powerful oxygen bleach available is one that is blended with a precise amount of soda ash. The soda ash boosts the alkalinity of the solution but surprisingly does not raise the pH. This means it is safe to work with and yields the best cleaning results. I now sell oxygen bleach that is blended to achieve this high standard. I call my product Stain Solver. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only company in the USA that blends it to this precise concentration. What's more, the ingredients in Stain Solver are all made right here in the USA. I have had tens of thousands of people buy it over the years and they are all satisfied.

Cleaning & sealing a deck is easy, right? What could go wrong? This eBook explains what could go wrong.

Better Buy?

I have also seen some of my competitors products for sale in grocery stores, warehouse membership clubs and national chain discount stores. BUT, do the math before you buy! By the time you calculate the amount of actual oxygen bleach you are getting, your actual cost to drive to pick it up, your wait in the checkout line, and all of the other hassles, you just might be better off letting me ship oxygen bleach to your doorstep. Go to www.stainsolver.com to securely order on-line right now.

How Much Do I Need?

People want to know how much to buy. Two pounds of my oxygen bleach needs to be mixed with 5 gallons of water to get the best deck cleaning results. If you buy another brand, you will need to add LOTS more to get similar results!

I find that 5 gallons of oxygen bleach solution will clean 300 to 500 square feet of surface area. People often underestimate the amount of square footage in railings. The average railing on a deck contains four square feet of surface area for each linear foot of railing. It sounds unbelievable, but it is true. The bottom line is that the average sized deck that may be 15 feet by 20 feet needs at least 4 pounds of Stain Solver. Most people order 6 pounds just to be on the safe side.

You can call at 513-407-8727 to order if you like. www.stainsolver.com

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