Background
The decking was completed in 2015 but due to a lack of any reasonably long periods of settled weather it was never possible to get at least two coats of oil onto all the wood. First the wood had to be allowed to dry out having been pressure treated and left to stand in stacks. Then the wet summer made the drying out process slow to complete. As a result i had to leave the wood over the winter with just the minimal protection.
Fortunately in 2016 it was possible to clean and prepare the decking for the application of at least two coats of decking oil which should help preserve its appearance for the next year or so.
Fortunately in 2016 it was possible to clean and prepare the decking for the application of at least two coats of decking oil which should help preserve its appearance for the next year or so.
Ronseal Decking Cleaner and Reviver was used to clean the dirt, algae etc from the surface of the wood. I found it did a good job in the past when i used it on decking in Dublin. It also removes a lot of the silvering/greying of the wood which occurs with decking when it weathers.
The cleaner needs to be left for 15-20 minutes and then rinsed off.
In this picture the cleaner had been applied then a long handled stiff scrubbing brush was used to work the cleaner into the surface.
When the decking had been completed in the summer of 2015 i had noticed that the drainage around the newel posts was not great. As can be seen here the water used to rinse off the cleaning fluid has become trapped at the newel post and the dirt settles out causing discolouration of the wood if it is left too long.
After allowing the decking to thoroughly dry, fortunately there was a long period of dry weather at the beginning of October 2016, the decking oil could be applied. Here the difference in colour of the treated and untreated areas can be seen.
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The solution was to trim the decking surface so that the water can run down the grooves of the decking and then along the front of the newel post to the angled channel that was cut down the side of the post. The water was is now able to run efficiently off of the decking.
This section of decking was just below the area where water previously drained off the gutters before the down pipes were installed in September 2015. The wood had been weathered more than the surrounding areas and required a little more work to bring back its natural colour. Over the entire decking surface the knotted areas were treated before the rest to allow the oil to soak in.
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