Photo Courtesy of: www.cabinstain.com

Your entire backyard is a work of art, landscaped and decorated just the way you have always imagined. And you have a schedule for keeping it that way. You regularly clean your outside furniture, repot your plants and reseed your lawn, well what about the deck? Don’t forget it also needs maintenance. A good seasonal cleaning and re-sealing will go a long way in insuring your deck will last for many years to come.

• Sweep the deck thoroughly and then use a putty knife to clean the dirt out from the spaces between the boards. If not removed, leaves and pine needles will rot in between the boards, eventually affecting the boards themselves.
• Either purchase a deck cleaning product or use a mixture of half bleach and half warm water to scrub the deck. This will kill any algae or mildew. If your deck is oversized you might want to consider using a pressure washer for this step. Any vegetation surrounding the deck needs to be covered before applying the bleach mixture.
• Rinse thoroughly to remove all remaining debris and bleach. Wait several days for the deck to completely dry then apply a stain or waterproof sealer. This can be done with either a foam roller, brush or stain pad.
• Let the deck dry completely before replacing furniture, planters and grills.

Now that your deck is cleaned and sealed, add deck maintenance to your schedule to be done at least twice a year.

Photo: http://www.cabotstain.com/