Jim Rooney On The Level

Q. My house has a ten year old deck made of pressure treated lumber. I’m getting ready to do some spring cleaning. I would like to try to make this deck low maintenance but it gets sunlight the majority of the day and requires cleaning every two to three years. My Navy experience leads me to believe the best way to care for this deck is to put on a couple of coats of paint and enjoy it rather than work on it. What do you think?

A. When I was in the Navy the ships were made of steel-- no exterior wood that I remember-- and the deck crew were constantly chipping and painting so I think your nostalgic memories of laying on a couple of coats of carefree paint, Navy-style, needs a bit of updating.

A ten year old pressure treated wood deck that gets a steady diet of sunlight will begin to split and crack with the surface wood fibers breaking down under assault of UV rays from the sun. Aggressive cleaning will remove the top layer of sun-damaged wood cells and the deck surface will be somewhat restored to a new looking finish for, as you say, a couple of years-- if you’re lucky. A truly maintenance-free deck means shifting to composite deck material and that will be costly so let’s stick with what you’ve got.

Some people will attack a faded wood deck surface with a pressure washer and, in the hands of an unskilled user, will inadvertently damage the deck surface by forcibly raising and splitting the wood grain under the force of the high pressure water. You know when you’ve done that because after the deck dries it looks like it’s grown peach fuzz of tiny wood splinters. The deck’s not ruined but in order to get rid of the fuzz you almost have to sand it out and that’s work. And stay off any wood deck with bare feet or you will find yourself in the Emergency Room gett ing splinters pulled.

If you are contemplating paint as a solution to extend the time between aggressive deck washings then let me relieve you of that notion before you do something you’ll regret. Remember paint is a film and the whole point of using paint, cosmetics aside, is to present a barrier between what you want to protect-- the wood decking-- and the elements. That works in theory but ten year old deck lumber that’s never been painted before will take an enormous amount of paint to present that film continuous and unbroken from cracks and splits in the wood. I guarantee you wont do a perfect job. The result will be that over a couple cycles or two of seasons with sun, rain, ice and snow some of that paint will begin to chip, peel or pop off. Now you’ve got a deck that looks bad, the protective film is compromised and here you go marching back outside with brush and paint can in hand. Once you’ve entered into the painting cycle there is no breaking it. I’ve seen folks who have inherited a painted deck through a house purchase try to blast the old paint off to get down to bare wood but that’s a job that usually doesn’t have a lot of real success attached to it.

What I suggest you do is just what you have been doing with some added components. You can use the cheap and easy wash that I suggest for everything from wood decks to cleaning vinyl siding or even lawn furniture. Take a cup of liquid laundry bleach plus a quarter cup of automatic dish washing detergent-- or TSP-- into a gallon of hot water. Wear old clothes. Scrub onto the deck surface with a plastic bristled brush on a long handle to save your back. Then wait until it’s almost dry and hose it off with a garden hose.

You can buy commercially prepared deck washes that do the same using other chemical bases but the results are about the same using what you’ve probably already got at home without laying out any cash. Take a ride to a good paint store or home center-- or even go on-line-- and research a good wood deck sealer that has a UV inhibitor prominently advertised on the label. There is a on-going debate in the industry as to which sealer is better but for my money it really just boils down to marketing. Usually the average coverage per can of sealer is listed on the can but, again, with a ten year old deck you'll use at least a third more than they say you will. Don’t go cheap. Read the directions and follow them diligently. Be careful not to slop any sealer onto deck furniture, house siding or nearby vehicles. Then you can kick back for a couple of years or more and admire your nice wood deck.

Keep the mail coming. If you've got a question, tip, or comment let me know. Write "On The Level," c/o The Capital, P.O. Box 3407, Annapolis, MD 21403 or e-mail me at jimrooney@jimrooneyonthelevel.com or inspektor@aol.com.