We've been overloaded with warm damp weather lately and mould just loves it. Our wooden decks get slippery and the paths are skating rinks, but we grim-and-bear it, but often don't have the time to maintain it. Should we find the time, what's the best way to get on-top of it?
At Deckcare we suggest a few ways to tackle the mould.
Looking after yourselves, your kids, pets and plants health is key to continually having a good life - especially more now than ever with respiratory viruses flying around. The toxicity of bleach based deck cleaners doesn't help us as we soak things up we touch, all it does is a slightly quicker job - at times. Bleaches, as promising as the are to fix the job, affects the lignin in wood, breaking down its cells, therefore effecting its structure. This only help degrade your deck and at Deckcare we want to look after you and make your deck lasts longer, so that you don't have to fork out for a new deck any sooner than required.
Using warm water and 50/50 white vinegar mix to spray the wood before you scrub it is a good alternative to bleached deck-cleaning products.
Water blasting at close range isn't good for the wood fibres and can easily open them up to be more prone to mould if the PSI (Pounds per Square Inch) are too high, especially with soft woods like pine. However, there is a case for 20-40 years of mould on wood and how do you effectively eat through that without damaging you or your precious deck? Gentler use of a Water blaster can help get those persistent and hard to get to spots the alternative, 'scrubbing' can't. This is where the weigh-up occurs. If you use on-shelf deck cleaners, some with bleaches (I personally have seen too many friends reactions to bleach based products to ever recommend them), it'll help break-down the mould, but how many layers of mould is it expected to eat through and the affects on you isn't helpful to apply or live on. Theres also the manual scrub, but this takes a lot of time, a huge amount of energy and patients. I recommend scrubbing with the white vinegar mix, but it's a case-by-case assessment of how much time it'll take.
Like anything, there are pro's and con's.
Eco Pros:
1. Looks after your health and the environment around you.
2. Looks after the structure of your wooden deck.
3. White Vinegar is way cheaper than deck-bleach products.
Cons
Eco cleaners are effective, but not as much as on-self deck cleaners.
Scrubbing take a lot of energy and time.
Dave Leigh, Deckcare Waiheke Island
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