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Composite deck cleanup

Skyman

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Nov 9, 2021
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Central Maryland
Hi, all.

We have a composite deck (don't know the specifics) that is fairly well stained and hosting some algae. What do you recommend as a cleaning agent that will be effective, but won't either harm the composite material, or kill the vegetation below with the runoff following rinsing?

IMG_7145(1).jpg

TIA.
 
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finn

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Mar 27, 2005
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The UP, God's country
My wife uses the pressure washer on ours…with one of the less aggressive nozzles.

Next time she will use the rotary attachment. I expect it will be easier and quicker since it’s got a relatively wide path.
 

mepstein

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Sep 17, 2010
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I used spray and forget. You won’t get the immediate satisfaction as you get from a pressure washer but it does an amazing job and keeps working for months. Much more gentle than blasting off the dirt and mold.
 

ericm

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Apr 17, 2016
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Southern Oregon
I use soapy water and a hose and scrub with a brush on a stick. Looks like you already have the brush.

They make special deck cleaners for mold and mildew but I don't know if they're a problem for plants.
 

Youngandfree

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Dec 29, 2020
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VA
I use soapy water and a hose and scrub with a brush on a stick. Looks like you already have the brush.

They make special deck cleaners for mold and mildew but I don't know if they're a problem for plants.
Yeah they can kill them
 
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S

Skyman

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Nov 9, 2021
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Location
Central Maryland
Thanks to all for the suggestions. OccupantRJ, have you used this on composite decking, and if so, what was the result? Given that many reviewers on the linked site mentioned that they'd used it on siding, it sounds as though it'll do no harm to composite decking, but for obvious reasons I'd like to be sure of this.
 

four.cycle

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Oct 19, 2015
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Location
Tacoma, Washington
^ My mother and late step-father bought a house with a composite ("Trex") deck in the back yard.
It became an annual event cleaning the mold off the deck.
Every year, by early April, it would look like your photos -ugh.
First I sprayed it with straight laundry bleach in a weed sprayer, then used a low pressure "Karcher" electric pressure washer on it.
Cleaned up and looked new when done.

The problem, of course, was that it blew all the paint off the lower part of the painted wood railing that ran around the perimeter of the deck, which required me to repaint the deck railing every year as well. (They were in this house about 15 years.)

I should never have taken the pressure washer to it. It had the effect of "blasting" the top surface of the deck and making it rougher than it was before, providing even more places for the particulate organic matter falling from the sky to call home.
Each year, the black stain problem became worse.

I stopped pressure-washing it. Stopped using bleach. Switched to a product called "Oxy-Clean" (that a guy used to pitch on television), and scrubbed it with a nylon-bristled deck brush, and just hosed it off with a garden hose. Looked great. Did not require repainting the railing. (That was about the last 4 years my mother still lived in the house.)

YMMV
 

mepstein

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Old Trex was porous and got moldy. New Trex has a plastic cap and cleans off very easily. Big difference between them. My dad had old Trex, I have new Trex his went bad by 10 years. Mine looks new after 4 years.
 
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Youngandfree

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Dec 29, 2020
Messages
877
Location
VA
Old Trex was porous and got moldy. New Trex has a plastic cap and cleans off very easily. Box difference between them. My dad had old Trex, I have new Trex his went bad by 10 years. Mine looks new after 4 years.
You can actually stain the old stuff to restore it.
 
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