What's in deck cleaners?

[Stephen Tashiro]

What are the active ingredients in products advertised as deck cleaners? Do they contain oxalyic acid or other types of wood bleaches? Or is the terminology "deck cleaner" a generic name for any sort of cleaner that can be used to wash decks?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Stephen, I just went to HD's website and looked at the SDS sheets for 3 different "deck cleaners". One contained oxalic acid, one contained Borax dexahydrate and one had TSP (trisodium phosphate). I think "deck cleaner" is just a generic term for anything that can be used to clean decks.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Stephen, I just went to HD's website and looked at the SDS sheets for 3 different "deck cleaners". One contained oxalic acid, one contained Borax dexahydrate and one had TSP (trisodium phosphate). I think "deck cleaner" is just a generic term for anything that can be used to clean decks.

And some contain Chlorine bleach.

[John Goodin]

I have had great experiences with oxalic acid based cleaners.

[William Chain]

Oxalyic acid, aka Barkeeper’s Friend. If you like its effectiveness in pots, pans, sinks, etc, you’ll love it on your deck. It’ll persist longer than bleach too. Borax will work well and deter bugs until it washes away with enough rain. Persulfates are good too (kaboom, oxyclean, etc) and they’re safe to handle. I go with oxyclean in water in the pressure washer soap tank and a stiff brush.

[Kev Williams]

Barkeeper's Friend, good stuff! I use it for everything, sinks, de-rusting stainless, our ceramic cooktop (when we had it), I even polish boats with it...

oxb4.jpgoxaf.jpg
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- I have no decking to use it on, but I'll bet it'll work!

[Rob Luter]

From personal experience, deck cleaners contain ingredients that don’t work.

[Tom M King]

I've tried probably everything, over the years, and for a good while now, only use water through the pressure washer with a fairly wide nozzle. My pressure washer is 2500 psi, 4.4 gpm, and I use some nozzle 25 degrees or wider. We quit staining decks, and docks a long time ago too, because it just made us put off pressure washing, since that blasts off any finish.

[Mel Fulks]

I've got an ipe deck .And it was a lot of work since I used the plastic "biscuits" and angled SS screws. The ipe was ,for me, interesting stuff but the brown painted look is not competing well with nature. If I replace it , I will put thin tapered pieces
on top of the joists to to make a slope to drain rain. New surface will be 3/4" inch plywood covered with painted canvas.
As a kid I saw porches like that ,and I know they work.

[Tom Bender]

Where it's an option, brick pavers are way better.

[Doug Garson]

Where it's an option, brick pavers are way better.

Not sure how you clean a wooden deck with a paving stone or did I miss your point?

[Mel Fulks]

Not sure how you clean a wooden deck with a paving stone or did I miss your point?

I've seen references to stones being used to clean steps and floors. And my Mother told me her family used sand
to scrub floors. Having a finish on floors is a pretty modern thing.

[David Publicover]

Holystones are what was used to clean and polish a ships deck. Not fun work in my experience.

[Ole Anderson]

I have an old Trex deck, the kind that is prone to mildew. It needs more than power washing. I have tried several products. The best one so far seems to be 30 Seconds Outdoor Cleaner. The primary ingredient? Sodium hypochlorite (bleach) along with some "proprietary" ingredients. Probably cheaper to just use pool chlorine. I do power wash it first. Ooh, post #4000. Whoda thunk...