Bringing Your Wooden Deck Back to Life with Pressure Washing

If spending more time in your home has caused you to notice the accumulation of dirt, worn or chipped paint on your wooden deck, you’re not alone! As the weather begins to warm up, but with many areas still encouraged to stay home, ensuring your home’s outdoor space is summertime ready is a must for many families. Below, we’ll discuss benefits and tips for pressure washing your wooden deck to bring it back to life this season. 

Important to note is the need for careful research, planning and execution, as pressure washing can mean serious damage to your deck without these steps. You can think of this option as an alternative to chemical desk brighteners, which may not achieve deep clean results and require intensive hand-scrubbing by comparison. 

The Benefits of Pressure Washing Wooden Decks

Boost Your Household Value

By two to four percent! While that might not be an amount you agree to if you’re talking about splitting a business profit with a partner, when you’re referring to boosting the value of your home, this should make you do a double take. Believe it or not, pressure washing your wooden deck (bonus if you also throw in siding and masonry improvements) can mean a higher bottom line if or when you decide to change spaces. 

In fact, this very method made Consumer Report’s list of the top five ways to boost the value of your home. Take advantage of the additional time you may have at home and tackle pressure washing as a weekend do-it-yourself project!

Impress the Neighbors 

Although no one likes to admit it, there is usually at least one house in a neighborhood that becomes the envy of the neighbors’. Even if you’re not into that sort of thing, it’s always nice to have that accomplished feeling when your property is at its best. Putting in some elbow grease with a partner (or two) and blocking off a DIY weekend is well worth it. 

Preserve Your Paint

Regular sessions with a pressure washer can help to prevent the growth of mildew and grime. Both are notorious for downgrading the value of your household’s paint while shortening the life of your siding. 

When you consider the cascade of benefits from pressure washing your wooden deck, you can understand why it might be worth it for you to invest in the process yourself! What begins with your deck ultimately trickles down to the quality and worth of your home’s exterior assets. 

Tips for Pressure Washing Your Wooden Deck (the Right Way)

Time is Everything

When we say “time”, we aren’t only focusing on how long you actually spend cleaning your wooden deck. We are also talking about how often you plan to re-treat your deck moving forward.

In the first example, you generally want to plan on spending more time than less, with the understanding that the slower you go the better your results stand to be. In the latter, you should typically plan to clean and re-treat your wooden deck every two to three years. 

Technique: Which is Right for You?

Not unlike many other things in life, technique is everything when it comes to getting the results you desire with pressure washing. Typically, one of two approaches is utilized when trying to renew the look and feel of your wooden deck: feathering and walking the nozzle. 

The first of these involves mastering the ability to maneuver angles using the pressure washer while slowly directing the nozzle away from the deck’s extremities. The second is quite possibly the most popular method, which involves simply walking the entire length of your deck or porch and starting or stopping the stream before and after changing direction.

Regardless of technique, you should plan to have a few materials on hand for the job. These include a garden hose, scrubbing brush, mop, bleach or detergent and a mop or sponge.

How to Pressure Wash (the Wrong Way)

If you have a deck with hard-to-reach areas, you definitely want to refrain from the urge to use a ladder. Because of the recoil associated with pressure washers, there is a high likelihood that doing so will result in you losing your balance.

You also want to be sure to only direct the flow of the stream where you want to strip material! This may seem like common sense, but once you start moving in a direction, you should continue and release before picking up with another section.

Learn About Additional Methods to Paint and Maintain Your Deck-Related Products!

As you now know, there’s a lot more to pressure washing your deck than that space alone. What begins with the wooden plans on your porch can translate into additional benefits for your home’s siding, paint and overall exterior appeal.