I'm Going to Do This Deck, Just Need to Know How.

[John Doherty 126]

Just cleaning, for a friend.

What do you woodies suggest?

[bigchaz 157]

What kind of chems do you have available?

Use sodium hydroxide (f-18, hd80, etc) mixed heavy and downstreamed or can be applied straight with a weaker mixture. Let it dwell for a few minutes and pressure wash off

Brighten with oxalic or citric acid

[PressurePros 248]

John, that's real straightforward. On decks with that amount of mold, I add two gallons of 12% to a strong stripper mix and downstream. 10-15 min dwell time.

Keep the deck wet. If the chem dries it tends to get more fuzzy. Follow with acid.

Scott sells premixed stripper and acid. For a single project like this, that may be a "no-fuss-no-muss" way to go about it.

[plainpainter 217]

John - buy F-18 - it doesn't make wood go dark. Depending on how nasty the deck is mix your F-18 from 10 ozs all the way to 24 ozs. and then downstream. If you don't want massive furries - use the weaker end of the spectrum and Brush the chemical into the surface. Or mix real strong, your choice to brush, and use a soap tip to rinse. Don't bother neutralizing - slightly basic wood that won't get stained fends off the molds and mildews better. Again F-18 doesn't darken wood worth diddly.