Composite deck issue after cleaning

TheCleaningDoc said:
On something like that, try some penetrol. Some plastics tend to leach the oils over time and penetrol will probably remove that haze. I have used it on faded shutters to bring back the color and it the last time I looked at a shutter that was done with that, it was 6 months old and got direct sun from sunrise until about 3:30 pm. You can get it in the paint department in Lowes or Home Depot.
Click to expand...

Penetrol or Flotrol?
 
I usually clean with a jacked up house wash solution and sometimes a roof grade solution.

The materials for composite decks started out with a blend of wood in them and now they get encompassed in plastic ( like V- siding). This is to prevent water absorption and mold going deep. Now most materials are thick hard composites .

Now stick the stuff outside in the sun horizontally and let it collect all foriegn matter and the weather. Now let the tempature shift 30 degrees and sometimes 50 . Let this go on for 365 days a year.

What do you thick happens to the material?

I just cleaned one pretty old too ! Grease stains, rust stains , burn marks, candle wax all over, huge color shifts from the sun. If it was wood I could fix it all!
 
If you don't use a bleach mix on it what do you use because everyone of the over the counter Composite cleaners usually have some sort of bleach smell to them.
 
Diamond Jim said:
I usually clean with a jacked up house wash solution and sometimes a roof grade solution.

The materials for composite decks started out with a blend of wood in them and now they get encompassed in plastic ( like V- siding). This is to prevent water absorption and mold going deep. Now most materials are thick hard composites .

Now stick the stuff outside in the sun horizontally and let it collect all foriegn matter and the weather. Now let the tempature shift 30 degrees and sometimes 50 . Let this go on for 365 days a year.

What do you thick happens to the material?

I just cleaned one pretty old too ! Grease stains, rust stains , burn marks, candle wax all over, huge color shifts from the sun. If it was wood I could fix it all!
Click to expand...
I agree
 
TheCleaningDoc said:
On something like that, try some penetrol. Some plastics tend to leach the oils over time and penetrol will probably remove that haze. I have used it on faded shutters to bring back the color and it the last time I looked at a shutter that was done with that, it was 6 months old and got direct sun from sunrise until about 3:30 pm. You can get it in the paint department in Lowes or Home Depot.
Click to expand...

Talk to me about the Penetrol treatment on composite decks. Do you wash it then apply it after to a dry deck? How? Full strength or dilute with something? With a pump up sprayer or with a truck brush?
 
I struggle to understand why you found it necessary to use hypo in the first place. The deck material is PLASTIC is it not.? What's wrong with just a detergent mix and plain old water under pressure. If it was a plastic floor covering in your home would you rush out to get the hypo to gun all over it.?? I think not so why the need to fire it on all over the deck, of a customer what's more, if it's not really necessary..??? Shake my head in disbelief.
 
WASH-IT H.B. said:
I struggle to understand why you found it necessary to use hypo in the first place. The deck material is PLASTIC is it not.? What's wrong with just a detergent mix and plain old water under pressure. If it was a plastic floor covering in your home would you rush out to get the hypo to gun all over it.?? I think not so why the need to fire it on all over the deck, of a customer what's more, if it's not really necessary..??? Shake my head in disbelief.
Click to expand...

You can shake your head in disbelief all you want,.but you cannot clean these composite decks with detergent, water and pressure. What you will have is a deck that won't be clean,..and if pressure is used,.it will likely look worse than it did when you started. I don't know how you kill mold in New Zealand,..but here in the USA we use Sodium Hypochlorite. You always seem to have some issue with others who use hypo and act as though we are all out of your league when it come to exterior cleaning solutions.

And no,..we don't use just detergent water and pressure to clean vinyl houses, plastic fencing,..etc..

Jeff
 
Just the other day I was doing a composite deck. I thought it looked good at the time when I finished but then I noticed just a small amount of mold under the railing. Well I went and got my rag, put a little sh on it and wiped away the mold. Three minutes later the spot was ten times cleaner then the rest. Of course I had to do the rest of the deck so I jacked up my house wash mix. Now I am here to tell you that the SH made a unbelievable difference in the cleaning.
 
I wash a lot of these decks and the one in the beginning of this thread is faded from the sun and or weathering. I use my standard house wash mix with SH and they always turn out looking great.

The one I just washed early this morning is approx. 8 years old and it looked excellent after the washing. I have done this same deck every other year so I know for sure, The SH isn't harming it at all.

On another note, Don't kill the decking with high pressure!!! I run a 2510 tip with the 4gpm machine. If you use the correct chem mix, You don't need a ton of pressure... Too much pressure will actually "score" the decking and cause a rapid re-molding with all the roughness left behind...

Mike
 
Last edited:
814jeffw said:
You can shake your head in disbelief all you want,.but you cannot clean these composite decks with detergent, water and pressure. What you will have is a deck that won't be clean,..and if pressure is used,.it will likely look worse than it did when you started. I don't know how you kill mold in New Zealand,..but here in the USA we use Sodium Hypochlorite. You always seem to have some issue with others who use hypo and act as though we are all out of your league when it come to exterior cleaning solutions.

And no,..we don't use just detergent water and pressure to clean vinyl houses, plastic fencing,..etc..

Jeff
Click to expand...
We must have a better class of mould and mildew over here, Jeff, not to mention the lichen and green Algae.
Don't get me wrong, I too use hypo but I don't find it necessary to drown everything with it...If you really try just water will do the job. Water and detergent will do it even better and Hypo on an as and when required basis also has it's place. I Live in a coastal city here in NZ and even on the first houses back from the sea we get Mould and Algae. Composite decking is common on beach front properties as is the PVC sidings and apart from the south (Shaded) side of most homes DETERGENT DOES THE TRICK. I find for the most part Hypo only changes the colour of mould and Algae and true to form BLEACHES it out, it doesn't clean. It's the detergent that does the cleaning along with a little elbow grease when required and just plain old water.
 
All of what you just wrote wouldn't be effective to kill the mold and would take ALOT of extra (Needless) work to remove mold,..and then it would return sooner if it wasn't killed. The composite decks you're cleaning are likely not as clean as you think they are,.just clean'ER. I'm still not sure what you're issue is with hypochlorite. When used responsibly it is very safe,..and is a staple product in this business. Our roof cleaning manufacturers and siding manufacturers recommend it as a way to combat mold and mildew,..Clorox makes and outdoor grade to be used by even regular home owner types.

I used to NOT use hypochlorite when I first started in 1996,..did this for about 3 years,..then I ran into some serious mildew and used a light solution of SH/water,..and never looked back.

Anyhow,.we aren't all always gonna do things the same.

Jeff
 
814jeffw said:
All of what you just wrote wouldn't be effective to kill the mold and would take ALOT of extra (Needless) work to remove mold,..and then it would return sooner if it wasn't killed. The composite decks you're cleaning are likely not as clean as you think they are,.just clean'ER. I'm still not sure what you're issue is with hypochlorite. When used responsibly it is very safe,..and is a staple product in this business. Our roof cleaning manufacturers and siding manufacturers recommend it as a way to combat mold and mildew,..Clorox makes and outdoor grade to be used by even regular home owner types.

I used to NOT use hypochlorite when I first started in 1996,..did this for about 3 years,..then I ran into some serious mildew and used a light solution of SH/water,..and never looked back.

Anyhow,.we aren't all always gonna do things the same.

Jeff
Click to expand...

I started in 96 too! I was washing vinyl siding with home depot house wash. At the time it was sodium metasilicate. I had to go up and down a ladder twenty times for a simple house wash. I hated it and stuck mostly to deck cleaning and staining. If I knew then what i know now, I would have thousands of house washes under my belt and probably be retired.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top