What Is the Best Way to Treat Decking?

Your decking needs maintenance and regular treatment. The way you treat it depends on the type of decking you are using. Here are the most commonly used decking materials:

• Hardwood timber decking
• Treated pine decking
• Composite decking

These materials have different properties and levels of resilience to different environmental conditions. You need to make sure that you know all about them even before you purchase your decking material. The maintenance costs, in some cases, are not neglectable at all, especially in the long run.

Therefore, you need to calculate the price of material, the yearly maintenance cost and the price of decking installation. The installation price can be negotiated, especially if you use Service Seeking to get several quotes for the same decking project.

How to Maintain Hardwood Timber Decking?

Your timber decking will have to be thoroughly treated once a year. This will include cleaning and applying some sort of coating of your choice. However, that is not all. You need to make sure that you properly use your decking over the year in order to prevent damage to it.

Image source: Bardera Constructions

But let’s start with the basics. First of all, whatever you plan on doing, you need to clean your deck. That is not a hard task, and it is done in several steps:

1. Sweep the deck to remove all dirt and debris
2. Make a solution of cleaning agent and hot water
3. Soak the decking with your solution and leave to rest for 15 minutes
4. Scrub the decking with hard brush
5. Leave to dry for two days or until entirely dry

Now that you have this part done, you need to choose whether you want to repaint, oil or stain your timber decking.

• Repainting your decking means that you will probably need to sand it first. This means removing all the residual paint and coating from before. In some cases, this is not a big problem, while in others, it asks for hours of hard work.
  When the timber decking is nice and ready, coat it with primer for the paint and then paint it according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Painted decking can be in many different colours, and you can choose from wood tones or opt for some bold and unexpected hues.
• Staining your timber decking doesn’t offer such a dramatic change in colour. It is used to protect the decking timber from the elements and to waterproof it. As for the colouring, staining can offer some transparent shades to your deck’s already existing hue.
• Oiling your timber decking is one of the most commonly used treatments because it doesn’t just offer the coating for the timber, but it also penetrates inside it. In that way, this oil replaces the natural oils of the timber, making it more elastic and less prone to cracking.

Both oiling and staining need to be reapplied regularly. You will probably have to do it at least once a year. There are also different timber protectors that are used as barriers against UV rays, rain, traffic, and similar influences. It is translucent, so it doesn’t hurt the appearance of the decking.

It is important to remember that you should not do anything to your decking if it is freshly installed. It takes around six months for your timber to be ready for any sort of treatment. That time is needed for the tannins and the oils to ooze out of the timber.

If you apply any treatment earlier than this process has been completed, you will cause damage to your timber since the moisture will be left locked inside and start unfavourable processes.

How to Maintain Treated Pine Decking?

Treated pine decking should have at least one thorough scrubbing a year, followed by oiling or staining. Staining may be a better choice for treated pine decking since it penetrates the structure of the timber, and that is where your treated pine needs the most help.

Image source: Spec Net

Namely, all those preservatives that it has been treated with will give it strong protection against the weather, insects, fungi and similar negative influences. However, what it cannot prevent is the cracking, splintering, twisting and general change in structure.

That is what happens to pine as it dries out and gets left without its natural oils. That is why oiling can help it have a longer lifespan.

Besides this annual treatment, the treated pine timber should also be maintained in the following manner:

• Remove leaves as soon as possible – they can be moist and leave marks
• Avoid water stains – this is self-explanatory. Wood will absorb the water and those stains are hard to get rid of.
• Regularly check the nails, screws and other fixtures.

How to Maintain Composite Decking?

Composite decking is actually made out of recycled plastic that is mixed with adhesives and wood particles. This yields a strong and durable material that works perfectly well for your decking. The durability of composite decking is right there on the level of hardwood decking timber.

However, the best thing about composite decking maintenance is that it requires a minimum of effort from your side. It just needs a nice, good washing once a year. You don’t have to stain it, paint it or oil it.

Image source: Deck & Erect

Just use hot water and dishwashing detergent. Sweep the deck, soak it in hot, soapy water and then hose it down. You just need to ensure all the water is removed from the decking. If it stays, it can create a fertile environment for the mould. That is why some people go over their composite decking with squeegee and dry mop.

Maintenance difficulty and costs should be two of the factors you take into consideration when installing your decking. Another important factor is the installation cost. There will be no surprises about the installation price because you can now ask for quotes from decking installers from your area and compare them.

Get the quotes for your decking project in hardwood, pine and composite decking versions and make the best choice.