Cleaning and Staining a really dirty deck with stain on it in Walton Park

Yesterday, April 6, 2016 was a brutal affair! I tangled with the roughest, ugliest, nastiest deck I have cleaned in many a year. I used a stain-stripper made by Sherwin Williams and it was a bit more expensive than the product I typically use by Wolman's. I tried to get my service representative to work with me, since I buy at least a hundred gallons of this product in one year. But, I am still waiting for that sales-reps telephone call.

Anyhow, stain was last put on the deck in 2002. It was that battleship grey color also covered by a lay of black sap from a pine-tree next to the deck. Now, I had to have a plan of attack. This is not an easy conversion. To make something this ugly look beautiful is something of a science project. I have grey stain, I have black mold, I have sap. Also, cigarette butts are scattered all about the deck. The gentleman who owns the property decided to use it as an ashtray since the deck was going to get pressure-washed anyways. No big deal- I thought.

Then, I come to learn that the handrails are painted with house paint. House paint is not something that you use on treated wood. You don't do it! You absolutely have to use a wood deck stain! A stain has special chemicals that make it adhere and penetrate into the wood in a proper manner.

Then, I learn that some of the wooden boards are rotten and need to be replaced. There is no getting around it. So, I remove one of the boards that seemed down-right dangerous. With that board out of the way, I coated the deck with the stain remover. The stuff began to do what acid does and ate into the stain. Just afterwards, I used bleach on all of the white handrails that were now soiled and black looking. I coated those with bleach and detergent and let them do their work.

It took some time, but the work paid off. The darkness on all of the white handrails lightened over the course of a few hours.  I really didn't have to pressure-wash much on the handrails, I just wanted to let the bleach do its magic. Now, the deck was a different story. I cleaned the wood and it was very slow going. After several hours the would looked much cleaner. I coated the cleaned wood with bleach and allowed it to set for a bit. After it sat, I washed it off and now it is ready for some dry time. We will stain the deck next week and I will show future pictures afterwards.

Wow, that is some ugly wood. You can't see it but moss is growing on it. Nasty!

WOW! LOOK AT THAT WOOD, NOW! Ready for stain. 

Gorgeous wood shines through. Only, Southern Home Wood Deck Cleaning can make it look like this. Don't even try, lol...leave the hard work for the master.

Only in Richmond, VA! Call, Southern Home at 

(804) 585-8016

2800 Garland Avenue, Richmond, VA 23222