Roishe Cheng

This deck was coated in BEHR "Redwood" acrylic stain by the previous owner. Since the base coating is in relatively good condition, I am looking for recommendations on what chemicals to use for cleaning this surface dirt away. I've spent countless hours here reading tons of threads and from what a lot of people are saying, bleach should *not* be used on wood? What is your recommended recipe to clean up this deck along with the recommended dwell time? I have access to an X-JET, DS tips along with all of the chemicals that PressureTek carries: F8, F13, F18, F10 and simple cherry. The reason I have an X-Jet and all these chemicals is because I am working on some other cleaning jobs around the house this week. I also have my pool supplier dropping off a few bottles of 12.5% bleach this week. So I'm covered on chems. Pics inline: Many thanks in advance!

I have a 2.7 gpm/3000 PSI machine with an X-JET M5. The spray can get up to two stories on my machine with no problem. I consider myself a pro-DIY (difference between being a professional with equipment that can function in a manner to make it worth my time and be profitable). I don't think I could make three stories with my machine and X-JET which is fine because the houses I wash (family and friends) are all only two stories. I have the X-JET pail and make my own house washes using chems sourced from PressureTek. I would never dream of using this machine for daily production line work as the rinsing as other pros have stated is "slow." I have used this setup to wash 2 story houses, decks, awnings, fences, driveways. It works but the rinsing speed takes some time. You can do a lot with the tools you own, provided you are ingenious but having real intelligence comes with KNOWING the limitations of your gear.

Since I'll be doing a lot of washing this week, I noticed that the garden shed roof was never cleaned by the previous owner. Any of you ever run across a roof this messed up before? I am pretty sure there is no chem that will strip that and I will have to add agitation as well. It's a small roof so brushing the entire thing isn't an issue. Would you stick with a bleach/soap mixture or add something else? Thanks.

Thanks for the tip, is that related to pine tar because there are 18 pine trees in my backyard.

This residence was constructed in 2000. The roof was never washed and to me it doesn't seem that bad. I don't see any streaks but was wondering if pros sometimes clean them after almost 10 years have elapsed to "brighten" the appearance at all, basically a light soft washing with some chems but nothing too crazy. Would you go with the common bleach, dawn and water mix that appears to be used a lot around here or something else?

John, thanks for responding to all of my other threads as well. I will follow your guidance and let you know how it turns out.

Thanks John, wasn't planning on cleaning it at all since it looks pretty good compared to a lot of the roofs around here just wanted to know what the pros thought.

Pros, do you think F10 left to dwell on this fence for 10 minutes, followed by F8 would be all that's needed to remove the grey and brighten it up? Thanks.

Charlie, thanks for the guidance, I will work on it in sections so it doesn't dry out.

John, thanks for the response. You're right about it being "Behr Crap", their interior paint isn't much better either, I use BM or Pratt & Lambert for all the painting jobs I've done. BEHR is like water, very poor hiding qualities. I am going to try ds'ing 12.5 on a small section and will post up the after pics. Thanks again!

Thanks, bought the house 2 years ago, I am pretty handy, used do GC and build houses in Florida with my uncle so I can figure this stuff out. I am pretty handy with a PW as I've used them plenty of times for detailing autos and doing some simple house cleaning chores/driveways etc. I am definitely *not* looking to strip the Behr. Just want to clean the deck and get all the dirt out. Just looking for recommendation on chems to use.

HI Newlook, thanks for the response. I am just looking to clean it. So when you say mild soap, you are referring to just Dawn?

I've been detailing cars for a long time. Unless you have a very good coat of base wax, removing dirt using just chemicals alone can be tough. It's a fine line because as bump up the strength of the chemicals, either you start stripping wax or affecting the finish. If you want to use a slightly stronger chemicals to clean the paintwork then you should SEAL the paint first with UPGP (Ultima Paint Guard Plus) or Wolfgang 3.0 paint sealer. When I foam cannon a car, the foam is so thick that you can't even see the car's color anymore, it's just pure white. Here are some pics of the foam after 3 minutes of dwelling, as you can see the color is starting to show again but it goes on very thick. Best thing to is to foam cannon the car and using a horsehair wash brush, quickly brush it then just rinse and you're done, apart from wiping or electric leaf blower. The foam below btw, is from a Karcher 1800 psi electric power washer :). I use DP XTREME FOAM from here: DP Xtreme Foam Formula High Yield Foaming Auto Shampoo- Foamaster gun car wash A little goes a long way. I use a CAMSPRAY FOAM attachment for my PW. You can buy it here: Cam Spray 527100 - Foamer Attachment