NOTE: This week’s post was inspired by the Owens family, who are currently living in Sierra Leone. They wrote, “Can you write an article about how to care for a composite or a hardwood deck as well, or do those materials not need any care?”
Let’s start with composite decks; I’ll write about hardwood decks in the coming weeks.
What is a composite deck?
“Composite” is a generic term that covers many name brands such as Trex, Evergrain, and Timbertech. Your composite deck generally consists of two main ingredients – plastic and wood. Over the past 20 years, each of these brands has hired my company to do maintenance and mitigation work for composite decks. We are very experienced.
Maintenance Instructions
All composite decks require annual maintenance cleaning just as wooden decks do. After all, composite decks endure the same cold winters, hot summers and mold and mildew growth.
DON’T use the “composite cleaner” from Home Depot or Lowes (if you’re cleaning your deck yourself). It is essentially just bleach, which they sell at $10 per gallon. Never use bleach as it dries out and damages the wood in your composite deck.
DON’T use high pressure when cleaning composite decks. High pressure will remove the top surface of the deck and leave permanent marks.
DO use a non-bleach mildew killing agent and a surfactant (foaming agent). A degreaser, such as Simple Green, with low pressure also works well. We use a proprietary detergent with low pressure.
Composite Issues
Just like wooden decks, composite decks will fade over time due to the sun and its harmful ultra violet rays. Composite decks are also susceptible to stains from spills, metal furniture and pots. During the manufacturing process, the wood part of composite decking is not treated; therefore, mold and mildew get mixed in with the wood and plastic. A year or so after installation, customers begin to see black specks of mold rise to the surface of their deck. Even after we clean the deck, customers will have us come back in short order because black specks continue to rise to the deck’s surface.
Solutions and Protection
Customers experiencing the above issues may stain their composite deck with a solid color (deck paint) or they can use a stain specifically formulated to stain composite decking. Our website has standard colors for composite decks Custom Stain Colors (scroll towards the bottom of the webpage). These stains were made with the same pigment as the original color of your deck. A custom composite stain will ensure your deck remains vibrant and beautiful as well as mitigate the mold issue for years to come.
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