Maintaining your garden deck

Maintaining your garden deck is important to make sure it looks its best for years to come.

If your deck has been finished with an Owatrol product, then maintenance should be minimal. However, if you have used a wood finish that is not Owatrol, then you will need to follow the manufacturer’s instructions on maintenance as it may well differ from ours.

Let’s take a look at the maintenance required for decking protection available from Owatrol Ireland.

Maintaining your garden deck treated with a saturating wood oil

If your deck has been treated with Textrol wood oil or Aquadecks water-based wood treatment then the maintenance will be minimal. When applied to decking you will usually find that a maintenance coat will be required around every 2 years or so.

However, if you live in an area that is usually exposed to quite harsh weather or if your deck is subject to a lot of heavy traffic, you might need to apply a new coat more often.

We recommend using a high-grade cleaner on your deck before application, such as Net-Trol wood cleaner and brightener. This powerful yet gentle cleaner will remove both surface and ground-in dirt, grease and grime allowing the wood oil to saturate properly into the surface of the wood.

To apply Net-Trol, simply:

• Wet the surface with fresh, clean water
• Apply Net-Trol with a brush or roller
• Scrub the surface with a stiff brush
• Leave to stand for approx. 10-20 minutes
• Scrub the surface whilst rinsing with water or use a pressure washer (max. 60 bar)
• If required repeat the procedure
• Allow to dry for 48 hours before applying a finish

Usually, just 1 coat is needed to maintain the wood after cleaning, but it is possible to require more depending on how long it has been between coats. A deck that has had no maintenance coats for several years may be more porous and therefore absorb more oil.

If instead, you have used Deks Olje D1 wood oil on your deck, you will likely find your maintenance to be even less than Textrol or Aquadecks. Over time, wood finished with Deks Olje D1 will lighten due to UV exposure. This is completely normal and unavoidable. Once the wood has lightened, it is ready for a maintenance coat. How often this is required depends on several things such as weather, pollution, high traffic etc. You should, however, not expect to have to apply a new coat for several years.

One maintenance is required, all you will need to do is clean the deck with Net-Trol, wait for it to dry and then apply 1-2 coats of Deks Olje D1 again.

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We hope you found this post on maintaining your garden deck helpful. Please feel free to leave any tips, tricks or advice you have in the comment section below.

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Textrol image credit to R&A Pressure Washing Services Ltd.