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Gentlest way to clean green algae off decking?

Moor

Active member
Messages
336
Location
West Midlands
I’m after advise for my own decking. I have a planed sleeper decking in my back garden that’s been charred and rubbed back to leave a dark finish with lots of grain texture in it. It’s got some green algae on it which I need to kill off before re-oiling without compromising the colour and texture of the wood. I have used hypo on wood before and it made the surface look fluffy, this is definitely something I want to avoid.

Any suggestions?

 
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Any decent biocide will work well on wood , Benz ,algo clear pro are what we use , hypo will also work but don’t use tk stronger mix as it will turn the wood silver 6-1 mix is normally ok ,I haven’t found the wood goes fluffy with hypo but it will if you pressure wash it with to higher pressure 

 
@kevinc250 is best to ask .
hi guys, and thanks for the tag paul, its not often i post on these topics for many reasons as if i'm honest what i may have said works two years ago in a post may not be valid or the best way to have a good outcome two years onwards as we are all learning all the time.

usually when the wood becomes "fluffy " it is either damage by a pressure washer or using hypo, too strong a hypo mix will damage the lignen in the wood and cause irepairable damage to it hence, don't use hypo on wood unless you are very confident.

@Moorif i get the description right of the decking/sleeers right then you'll only need to sanitise it before resealing so when you reseal they'll be no bacteria growing underneath the seal whilst not affecting the colour/grain etc.

what @tench0771 said about a light pressure wash is correct-if you have a karcher or can borrow one then thats the best pressure to use, (alongside the bigger washers theres a lot of soft washers who use these smaller machines for various jobs to good effect),

for the sanitizing i'd avoid hypo at all costs or even the benz stuff for your use as you want to see the grain and its stained a dark colour.

i'd reccomend sodium percarbonate for you particular circumstances (buy technicnal grade wherever possible) use warm to hot tap water if you are in a hard water area and either spray on or use a watering can to apply.

after all that and you want to see the grain then after rinsing apply oxallic acid to raise the grain before you reseal.

i hope this helps and i have purposefully left some holes in this post before anyone asks so i'm not spoonfeeding but to spur some onto doing a bit of research for themselves.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
hi guys, and thanks for the tag paul, its not often i post on these topics for many reasons as if i'm honest what i may have said works two years ago in a post may not be valid or the best way to have a good outcome two years onwards as we are all learning all the time.

usually when the wood becomes "fluffy " it is either damage by a pressure washer or using hypo, too strong a hypo mix will damage the lignen in the wood and cause irepairable damage to it hence, don't use hypo on wood unless you are very confident.

@Moorif i get the description right of the decking/sleeers right then you'll only need to sanitise it before resealing so when you reseal they'll be no bacteria growing underneath the seal whilst not affecting the colour/grain etc.

what @tench0771 said about a light pressure wash is correct-if you have a karcher or can borrow one then thats the best pressure to use, (alongside the bigger washers theres a lot of soft washers who use these smaller machines for various jobs to good effect),

for the sanitizing i'd avoid hypo at all costs or even the benz stuff for your use as you want to see the grain and its stained a dark colour.

i'd reccomend sodium percarbonate for you particular circumstances (buy technicnal grade wherever possible) use warm to hot tap water if you are in a hard water area and either spray on or use a watering can to apply.

after all that and you want to see the grain then after rinsing apply oxallic acid to raise the grain before you reseal.

i hope this helps and i have purposefully left some holes in this post before anyone asks so i'm not spoonfeeding but to spur some onto doing a bit of research for themselves.
Exactly how I would do it Kevin. 

 
hi guys, and thanks for the tag paul, its not often i post on these topics for many reasons as if i'm honest what i may have said works two years ago in a post may not be valid or the best way to have a good outcome two years onwards as we are all learning all the time.

usually when the wood becomes "fluffy " it is either damage by a pressure washer or using hypo, too strong a hypo mix will damage the lignen in the wood and cause irepairable damage to it hence, don't use hypo on wood unless you are very confident.

@Moorif i get the description right of the decking/sleeers right then you'll only need to sanitise it before resealing so when you reseal they'll be no bacteria growing underneath the seal whilst not affecting the colour/grain etc.

what @tench0771 said about a light pressure wash is correct-if you have a karcher or can borrow one then thats the best pressure to use, (alongside the bigger washers theres a lot of soft washers who use these smaller machines for various jobs to good effect),

for the sanitizing i'd avoid hypo at all costs or even the benz stuff for your use as you want to see the grain and its stained a dark colour.

i'd reccomend sodium percarbonate for you particular circumstances (buy technicnal grade wherever possible) use warm to hot tap water if you are in a hard water area and either spray on or use a watering can to apply.

after all that and you want to see the grain then after rinsing apply oxallic acid to raise the grain before you reseal.

i hope this helps and i have purposefully left some holes in this post before anyone asks so i'm not spoonfeeding but to spur some onto doing a bit of research for themselves.
That’s great, thanks very much. I have sodium percarbonate as that’s what I have used to clean decking before, I didn’t realise it gets rid of algae too. I’m trying my best to avoid pressure washing as it’s not dirty, just got a light coat of algae which I want to kill before re-oiling.

 

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