Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - Deck Maintenance

This is my first post here, I just found the site, and I have a question on maintaining a deck: Let me set it up: In november, I purchased my first home, a 100 year old farm house in Upstate NY. It needs a lot of work, but its not a true handyman special. Some upgrades have been done. Like the deck in the back. It is fairly new, i have no idea how old it is, but it is definatley not an orrigonal part of the house. It is made out of GreenWood. I went into Home Depot and asked the girl in the paint section what i should be doing yearly to keep the deck up. She pointed me to Behr's Quick Fix, Bleach, finally the Brightener. A three step process, before I re-seal the deck. She said that I would be able to finish the entire project in about 1 weekend. :wall: Not knowing any better I believed her. :wall: I know now how wrong that is... Any way, this brings me to my question: When i finished the 3 step proccess, the wood grain looks lifted up and kind of fuzzy like. Am i supposed to now sand the entire deck before i water proof it? Or do i just apply the sealer on top of it the way it is? And after this is all done, how do I keep up the deck? What do i need to do seasonally?

Sorry for such a long post, it would have been longer if i would have added my feeling towards HD and their employees in the paint section :madhell:

Thanks

Welcome to the forum

It is sad to say but the majority of home improvement sales people don't have a clue about the real life use of the products they sell. They may have read the manufactures brochures [propaganda] but that is no substitute for having used the product.

Did the deck get rinsed well? Did you use pressure washer? The only time I have had the wood fuzz up is with either well worn [possibly soft] wood or over use of a pressure washer. If the deck isn't good and dry the fuzz may lay done some when it dries but I doubt it. Whether or not to sand depends on you. A solid latex stain will hide the fuzz better than a semi-transpearent stain or sealer would.

If you use something like thompson water seal you will need to recoat yearly. Clean when neccessarry. Stains will last 2-4 years. :)

I used my garden hose to rince it. I did the deck in sections for each step making sure that I rinced it very well after the application. Maybe i used TOO much water? I have already purchased 3 gallons of the Behr Premium Waterproof Sealer #501 for the deck. It is supposed to have a Ceder Tint to it. Im hoping it will cover the Green that is still in the wood.

I doubt you used to much water [after all hard rain isn't much different] You may have used the bleach or other chemicals too concentrated. I only use bleach and pressure washer but I never use more than 50-50 mixture of bleach and water. I've never used the behr sealer but cedar tints generally look nice.

I sent an email out to Behr asking the same question before I found this website and they finally replied:

Thank you for contacting Behr.

A light sanding with a medium grit sandpaper will remove the grain raise.

Thank You
Web Tech Service

They are a lot of help HUH?

I sent an email out to Behr asking the same question before I found this website and they finally replied:


They are a lot of help HUH?

Alot of factory techs are like alot of sales people - never used the product - ain't got a clue, but ready to help :rolleyes: what a joke
well I better be nice before I get hate mail. Have a good day :)

Behr's quick fix is a lite version of what a professional would use to clean a deck or at stronger concentrations strip a deck. It is a good cleaner and a good suggestion from the person at the depot. If you used it properly it will not cause the furring. One reason to use it is so you don't have to use as much pressure to clean the deck and avoid the furring that high pressure causes.

The brightner is used to restore the PH to a nuetral level because the main working ingredient in the cleaner is sodium hydroxide ,which is lye, is as alkaline as it gets and will darken wood in some cases,again a good reccomendation from the Depot.

Your furring is more than likely from the bleach. It is,simply put,bad for wood. It will furr the wood if not rinsed properly. A hose is not a good option for rinsing bleach off the deck. What you think is a good rinse isn't.

Before you go and put on anything test it on a small piece of PT wood. If you put it on the green deck and it doesn't look like you think it will not be Behrs fault.

Thanks for the input. I just followed the directions on the back of the bottles. It said to use the garden hose on all 3 steps, and that pressure washing should be left to the professionals. I thought I rinced it well enough. Guess not. Either way, it is done. I have already sanded most of the deck. I still have a couple of small sections to touch up, but I am trying to balance this project with everything else going on in my life and the weather so it is slow going. With any luck, ill get a week of sunshine before the end of June so I can waterproof it.

I have used a water hose only to rinse off bleach with good success. You may have either used the bleach too strong or let it dry [not rinsed soon enough] But we all learn from our mistakes. That's what makes us smart [or atleast not as dumb] :) Hopefully you will have plenty of summer to enjoy your new looking deck.