Sanding, Cleaning, And Finishing Your Outdoor Deck

You want your Ipe deck to be as beautiful today as it was the day you installed it

, whether it was this last summer or 10 summers ago. It is important to continuously maintain your hardwood deck even if you have built it with the strongest most durable wood there is. Using woods such as Tigerwood or Ipe will give your deck the chance of holding up for 40 years, but maintaining it and keeping and keeping it in the best condition possible will give it a change to remain strong for even longer than that.

To begin cleaning your deck remove the furniture and vases, and giving it a good sweep with an outdoor broom, removing all fallen leaves and small branches, pinecones and acorns and all dirt particles large enough to see. Then wash your Ipe with wood cleaner following the dilution instructions on the bottle, remove all residue thoroughly with water and if there are any stains on the wood use a power washer set on the lowest setting. But to be sure you do not end up with water marks you will need to spray the wood evenly and do not let one side dry while you wash the other side, move quickly and efficiently. It is best to avoid power washers on Ipe and other wood if possible due to the amount of powerful water could damage your deck and other surfaces it hits. Before returning all the furniture and vases you must let the deck dry completely, this could take up to 48hrs depending on the temperature outdoors.

As far as refinishing a deck, some woods require more than others, if your deck is quite old and gray and is in real need of a new makeover then you will probably have to sand it down. Sanding a deck that is really warn warped or raised deck will remove any possible splitters in the wood, be sure not to sand it till it has fully dried from the washing. Before you begin be sure all nails and screws in the Ipe wood are nailed and screwed in good, you do not want any loose boards, also, with a project as large as this you do not want to use a piece of sandpaper only, you will want to rent, if you do not own, an orbital sander. Begin with trouble spots; these are the spots with the most chipping, sanding small areas at a time and moving constantly, you do not want to have the machine running while it is not moving.

Once sanding is done sweep away all dust from the sanding to be sure you do not stain the particles to the deck and give the wood a new stain. Now if you like the color of your wood you only want a sealer to help protect form water and dirt, if you wanted a deeper color wood now is the time to choose a colored stain. Remember, the stain is going to take a good 2-3 days to dry, try and choose a time to do this that you know there will be little chance of heavy winds and rain, and no walking on it till it is 100% dry.

Once dry return all your furniture and vases and enjoy your beautiful clean outdoor deck again and again!

by: Mark Hawkins

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