Decking Guide: Maintaining your garden deck

This week’s post focuses on the maintenance work which needs to be carried out on your garden deck to keep it looking at its best.

If you’ve followed our previous advice and used a good quality decking protection product then your maintenance should only be minimal.

We’ll discuss the maintenance needed for the main types of decking protection here in this post. However, please remember that if you haven’t used Owatrol products you need to check the instructions from your manufacturer on how to maintain their products.

Maintaining the protection on your garden deck treated with saturating wood oils

If you have treated your deck with either Owatrol’s Textrol penetrating wood oil or our Aquadecks water-based penetrating wood treatment then necessary maintenance is minimal. For decking, a maintenance coat is usually required approximately every 2 years. Usually, a single application will be plenty to restore the great natural look of your deck.

If you live in a location exposed to particularly harsh weather or your decking gets a lot of very heavy traffic you may find that you need to top up the protection more frequently. If not then every 2 years should be sufficient.

Before applying a maintenance coat of Textrol or Aquadecks, you should give your decking a quick clean using Net-Trol wood cleaner. This will remove any dirt and grease which has built up and allow the finish to penetrate properly. It will also bring back the natural colour if the wood has begun to fade to more of a grey colour.

It’s simply a case of wetting the surface, scrubbing the Net-Trol on using a stiff brush, leaving it to work and then rinsing it off whilst scrubbing again.

If you treated your deck with Deks Olje D1 then your maintenance is likely to be even less! Your decking will gradually lighten over time. This is due to UV exposure (this is completely normal and your decking is still protected). Once it has lightened to a light grey colour it is time to apply a maintenance coat. The length of time this process will take depends on the location of your deck, the weather and other factors. However, it will usually be several years.

At this point you simply clean the deck with Net-Trol and then apply Deks Olje D1 again. This will usually only require 1 or 2 coats.

Maintaining the protection on your garden deck treated with opaque finishes

If you have finished your decking with Owatrol’s Decking Paint or Solid Colour Stain, both of which are covered under our 5 year guarantee against peeling or flaking, then rest assured safe in the knowledge that very little maintenance is required. You shouldn’t need to do much maintenance for a good few years except for a quick clean with Net-Trol. This will remove dirt and grease build up.

However, surfaces with particularly high traffic or exposure to harsh weather may need a maintenance coat sooner. If the colour begins to fade or the deck begins to look worn, it’s probably time for a maintenance coat.

To apply a maintenance coat of Solid Colour Stain or Decking Paint you first need to give your deck a good clean with Net-Trol wood cleaner. To do this, simply wet the surface and scrub the Net-Trol into the wood using a stiff brush. Then simply leave it for 15-30 minutes and then rinse with lots of water whilst scrubbing. Then you apply the maintenance coat in the same way as your initial application. One or two coats with 3-4 hours of drying time in between the coats.

If you use high quality decking products, then as you can see, the maintenance required is very minimal. Using our products means your deck should look at its best for years to come.

Next week we’ll be taking a look at some decking inspiration. So if you’re stuck for ideas for your decking, then stay tuned!

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We hope you found this guide on maintaining your garden deck interesting.

If you have any other advice or top tips, please feel free to leave them in the comments below. We love hearing from you!

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