Bringing back color to weathered wood decks

Any wood deck or wood tile will eventually fade and turn a silvery grey over time if it is exposed to direct sunlight and the weather. The rate at which this will occur depends mainly on the intensity of the sunlight and the degree of exposure to the sun's UV rays.

Whilst there are a number of excellent commercial products for sealing and protecting wood decks, the best of which contain transparent microfine oxides as well as conventional iron oxides, inevitably some greying and fading of the wood will occur.

So what can you do if you'd like to bring back the colour and brightness of your deck or wood tiles on a patio deck to something close to its original condition?

Pressure washing with water - Whilst pressure washing can be effective in removing a lot of dirt and grime from a deck it can never restore the original colour or appearance. Pressure washing is also not particularly effective in removing mold and mildew, at least not on a long term basis.

Sanding back the surface - The most labour intensive, but most effective method of restoring a wood deck to its original colour is to sand back the weathered surface to reveal the original wood colour underneath. This certainly achieves the best result, although it's virtually impossible to sand back the sides of the deck boards especially when the boards have a pencil round edge. It's also difficult to use power sanding equipment if the boards are twisted, warped or cupped in any way. Immediately after standing back their deck you should apply one of the better quality decking oils/sealants.

Chemical cleaners and brighteners - Chemical products that rely on a bleaching effect have been around for a long time. Typically they are a sodium percarbonate or chlorine based cleaner which tends to bleach the wood, so that the procedure needs to be followed up with an oxalic based pH balancer/brightener. These products are generally quite effective in removing the weathered appearance, but they won't entirely restore the wood colour to its original condition or depth of colour.

But the principal disadvantage of the oxygen or chlorine type bleach products in particular, (apart from the issue of hazards in handling and in disposal of the waste solution) is that they are more likely to cause damage to the wood or result in an unnatural look to the wood when finished.

Fortunately there are now some more advanced biodegradable products available on the market such as Deck Restoration Plus which are claimed not to cause the same problems as the bleach type products. But as with the percarbonate products these are also a two-step process - firstly using a cleaner to remove mold, mildew, and dirt and then an optical brightener to restore the brightness and colour of the wood.

So as you can see, if you are wanting to restore the colour of a wood deck or wood tiles on your patio deck, the choice really comes down to the labour intensive process of sanding back all the weathered wood or of using one of the modern biodegradable chemical products which are designed to clean and brighten weathered wood without excessive effort and with minimal environmental impact.

Tagged with: deck restoration • decks • home improvement • patio decks • patio pavers • patios • Tile • tiles • wood tiles

Filed under: Tile

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