If you want to know how to clean a wood deck without a pressure washer, then this guide will show you how to pair up “This Specific Cleaning Product” with a “Special Type of Brush” to remove any stubborn deck grime without blasting it with a pressure washer…
Here’s what you need to know…
All you need to clean your deck is a deck brightener and a deck scrub brush…
Oh, and you’ll also need a garden hose in place of a pressure washer…
So make sure you have a garden hose with a nozzle on the end…
How about I show you the brightener and deck scrub brush that I use when I don’t need a pressure washer…
If you use the right cleaning products and equipment, you won’t need a pressure washer to get your deck clean…
Alright, let’s get straight into it…
I’ve already told you what cleaner and equipment you need but this section will dig in deeper so you know exactly what to use…
How about we start off with our old trusty deck scrub brush…
Use a deck scrub brush to loosen dirt, mould and stubborn stains…
This is a deck scrub brush…
This brush will be your best friend and “Ally” while cleaning your deck…
You see, this deck brush has firm bristles so it’ll loosen the dirt and green mould that sits on your deck so you won’t need a pressure washer to remove it…
The thing is, whether you use a pressure cleaner or not, you still need to scrub your deck with a deck brush…
And they’re not that expensive…
You can pick one up from Ace Hardware for $41.99…
Or you can get one from Amazon for $31.98
Either one of these deck brushes will do the trick…
You can even go to your local hardware store and pick one up from there…
The only thing that matters is that you get yourself one so I can show you which cleaning product you need to get…
The best cleaning product for cleaning a wood deck without a pressure washer…
Let me show the cleaning product that you should use when cleaning your deck with or without a pressure washer…
This here is a deck cleaner from Ace Hardware…
Now a deck cleaner is used to remove mould, algae and other contaminants…
And the great thing with a deck cleaner is that you can scrub it onto your deck, let it sit for 20 minutes and then simply hose it off…
There’s no need for a pressure washer…
But it is necessary to always follow up with another cleaning product called a deck brightener…
A deck brightener will neutralise the chemical that is left on the surface of your deck from the cleaning product…
This here is a deck brightener…
Now it says “wood bleach” but it’s more of a wood brightener than a wood bleach…
Some people freak out when I tell them to clean their deck with a brightener because it contains oxalic acid…
And we all know how dangerous acid can be…
But oxalic acid isn’t that type of acid…
Deck brightener is diluted oxalic acid so If you touch it, your hands won’t melt off…
And the smell won’t burn your nostrils…
I’ve had oxalic acid splash up on my face and it didn’t burn at all…
Not even one bit!
Now, I don’t recommend bathing in it, or even using it without gloves and goggles on, but oxalic acid is completely safe to use at these diluted levels…
Just make sure you cover your plants and spray them down with water after you’re done…
Plants are really sensitive to any type of cleaning product…
While it can kill your plants if you don’t use it properly, it won’t damage your deck…
And it will not, I repeat…
It will not strip the coating from your deck…
Believe me…
It has no deck stain stripping power whatsoever…
How about I show you how to use it properly so you’ll have the confidence to use it safely to clean your own deck?
How to clean a wood deck so you don’t need a pressure washer…
This is pretty easy to do…
You can do it in 3 steps…
Step 1.
All you need to do is scrub your wood deck with the deck cleaner and leave it on for around 15 to 20 minutes…
As you scrub, you’ll start to notice the green algae and some of those tough black stains starting to loosen up…
You can see above how the black is starting to lighten up and bring back the natural colour of the wood…
Step 2.
Make sure the cleaner doesn’t dry on the surface…
The deck cleaner is only active while it’s wet so it can’t clean your deck if you allow it to dry before hosing it off…
Take your garden hose and spray a light mist onto the deck to keep it wet…
Step 3.
After 15 minutes, get yourself a hose nozzle like this one…
You can get this one from Amazon and it’s pretty good…
It has seven different spray patterns which is pretty crucial when it comes to spraying down a deck…
You’ll want to set the nozzle to the firm spray setting and hose the cleaner off your deck…
Although we aren’t using a pressure washer, we still want to give your deck a firm spray…
Now just hose down your entire deck and give it a good soaking…
I like to start at one end of the deck and then spray along the boards, not across them…
It’s best to start at the edge of your house and work the brightener off the edge of your deck…
Now because you’re not using a pressure washer, the key here is to really flood your deck with a lot of water so the deck cleaner will wash off…
Step 4.
Scrub your deck with the deck brightener…
Allow it to sit on your deck for 15 minute and make sure keep it wet…
Now hose your deck off again, just like you did for the cleaning product…
You don’t want to leave any brightener on your deck…
Especially if you’re going to recoat it with a deck stain…
This is the problem with trying to clean your deck without a pressure washer…
It’s really hard to tell if you’ve removed all of the deck brightener from the surface..
Well, you know I’ve got a little trick for you right?
How to make sure you’ve washed away all of the cleaning products from your deck…
At this stage you’ll notice that I kinda lied to you…
I said there’s only 3 steps but this is actually step 4…
Don’t roll your eyes…
Step 4 is easy…
And super important to do…
So quit your whining and let’s get to it…
Ok, you just scrubbed your deck with the brightener, right…
You would have noticed that your deck looks all soapy…
But then when you clean it off with the garden hose, it’s hard to tell if you’ve washed off all of the cleaning product…
The moment you flood it with water, you can’t see the suds anymore so you would assume that the cleaning product has all been washed off…
But that’s not the case…
You see, in some cases when you clean a wood deck without a pressure washer, all you’ve done is dilute the cleaner to the point that it’s hard for you to see…
But it’s still there…
Now, here’s my little trick to make sure you’ve cleaned your deck properly…
Once you’ve finished hosing down your deck, you want to get yourself a soft bristled broom like this one…
This is exactly the type of broom you need…
Then take your garden hose, set it to a firm spray and spray down your deck again but this time you’re going to sweep off the excess water with your soft bristled broom…
Flood it just like you did the first time then sweep it off…
Then I’d recommend giving it another quick spray…
That’s the only way to make sure you’ve cleaned your deck off properly…
The double wash with the soft bristled broom is the only way to make sure that you’ve washed away the cleaning product properly…
And that’s how to clean a wood deck without a pressure washer in 3 easy steps…
Ahhemm!!
I mean 4 easy steps…
Anyway…
Anybody can do it…
Even with the fourth step it’s still really easy to do…
Just remember to cover any plants that could be splashed by the deck brightener…
Or make sure you give them a good soaking before you clean and after you’ve sprayed the deck down…
That’s pretty much all you need to know…
Now get to it…
You’ve got this…
Peace,
Jason…
Need some Expert Advice?
If you’ve been searching the internet trying to find an answer to a specific deck problem and you’ve found it impossible to get a straight answer…
Why not just reach out and ask me directly for an answer?
I’ve got 10 years of deck knowledge crammed into my noggin. I can pretty much guarantee I’ve got an answer to your problem just rattling around in there…
Come on, don’t be shy…
FAQ’s
The easiest way to clean a wooden deck would be to scrub it with a deck cleaner, pressure wash it off then scrub it with a deck brightener and then pressure wash that off as well. You can easily do it without a pressure washer as well…
To clean your wooden deck you can use a deck cleaning product to remove contaminates, followed up by a wood brightening product to bring the natural colour back into your deck. You can use a pressure washer or a garden hose to wash the product from your deck…
If you are simply removing dirt and dust from the surface of your deck, then yes you can definitely wash a wood deck with dish soap…
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