Deck Scrub

It’s been a while since I last cleaned the mildew, algae, and bird droppings off the deck. I thought about trying one of the deck-wash products available at the home improvement stores. According to their directions you just spray on the cleaning solution, wait 10 minutes, and rinse with a hose. In the end out of concern for the environment and a suspicion that no job could be that easy unless the cleaner is mostly bleach, I decided to clean the deck the old-fashioned way—with a scrub brush (see photo).

The deck is only a few feet from the high tide mark. Despite the filter provided by the bed of gravel under it, some of whatever product I use is eventually going to end up in Mud Bay. Yesterday I mixed up a batch of Bi-O-Kleen, a concentrated cleaner and degreaser which bills itself as “environmentally friendly with no negative effects on rivers, streams, plants or wildlife.” I diluted it for moderate soil conditions figuring I would make up whatever cleaning power it lacked with my own labor.

This post makes it sound like Bi-O-Kleen doesn’t have a lot of cleaning power. It does. But my sore back tells me I supplied more power than it did.

The deck is about 400 square feet. That doesn’t sound like much until you start scrubbing it by hand, one board at a time. The key was to divide it into sections and to get into a rhythm. Also to have a good tune to hum (mine was Bobby Darin’s “If I Were a Carpenter”). The deck is a few feet off the ground so I was able to stand while I scrubbed the boards near the edges. I did the rest while kneeling. The process took about an hour and a half.

I probably should have scrubbed it last spring so I could enjoy a clean deck all summer. With Western Washington’s rainy fall weather starting soon, it won’t be long before the algae and mildew are back. But the deck looks pretty good right now, a lot better than it did. Next time I will use a brush with a long handle to make things easier on my knees.