Spring Deck Cleaning

By Mark J. Donovan I was up at my summer home this weekend and saw that the snow had finally cleared from my mahogany surfaced deck. Fortunately the deck held up very well over the winter, even though we probably got a total of 6 feet of snow. All it needs is a spring deck cleaning to ready it for the warmer weather. I’m very happy with my decision a couple of years ago to go with a semi-transparent stain on the last go-around with the decking. Previously I had used deck sealers and all of them ended up looking pretty shabby after a couple of years. They peeled, formed dark stains and overall just looked crappy. So on the last go-around, I sanded the entire deck surface and used a semi-transparent stain on it. It took a couple of weekends to do the project, but the results were stunning and the deck has held up nicely. There’s no peeling and the color has remained consistent. All I plan to do in the next couple of weekends is do a spring deck cleaning on it with a mild detergent, water and a long handled brush.

I wish that was all I had to do for the deck at my main home. It looks like I am going to be forced to replace the decking and railing material. The decking is Mahogany there as well, however I used a finishing nail gun and galvanized finished nails to hold the decking boards down until I installed the stainless steel screws. The galvanized nails have corroded and left stains on the wood that I cannot remove. For the deck railing system I used pressure treated lumber. It has warped and twisted and looks quite shabby. So that’s one of my many projects later this spring or early summer.

If you have plans to build a deck, make sure to check out my Deck Installation Bid Sheet. It will help you find a quality decking contractor and give you valuable tips on how to ensure a quality deck construction.