What No One Tells You About Construction and Contractors

A deck is something quite a few homeowners have or want to have, as it's somewhat like extending your home to the outside of your house so that you can enjoy a bit of sunshine while still being able to cook and use furniture. It's one of the largest timber products that are common to have in an ordinary home. A deck's life length can be decided by a bunch of factors, but the most important one is how it's being maintained. To make sure your deck can survive for many more seasons to come, you should be aware how to properly care for it.

Cleaning

The most important thing to do regularly is to clean your deck. Brush off light dirt and debris gathered on the surface of the wood as often as possible to stop it from mixing with rainwater or grease accumulated by your footprints, which will cause the dirt to take a more permanent form. You should also make sure to wash it every now and again. Use a cleaning product specifically designed for decks or treated timber products and use it with water to scrub the deck clean. Rinse it off with water when you're done. Be careful if you're using a pressure hose, as too high pressure might cause the water beam to penetrate the wood.

Sanding

There are a lot of reasons to why the wood in your deck might start to look bad. It can happen when the wood shrinks in the heat of summer, causing splinters and rough patches to occur in the wood. It can also happen if you are too rough when cleaning it. In that case, you need to sand it. Gently remove all rough spots with a fine sandpaper. Make sure you refinish the spot afterwards for optimal water resistance. You also need to make sure there is no dust from the sanding left when you're adding the finishing product.

Finishing

A deck will also need to have its surface finished regularly to keep moisture and dirt out of the boards. A good time to refinish it is when you've had your deck properly cleaned. If you're not sure if your deck needs refinishing, just pour a couple of drops of water onto the surface of the wood. If the water turns into water pearls on top of the wood, the finish is still good. If the water soaks right into the wood, you need to refinish it. Use a finishing product that contains wax for the ultimate abilities of water resistance. You should also go for a product that has a high level of protection against UV radiation.