Decking is a fantastic feature in any garden, but like plants your decking needs that little extra care and attention to keep it looking it’s best. Luckily this doesn’t have to be an impossible job, and if you keep on top of it, relatively easy! With the right cleaning products you can completely transform the appearance of your decking and keep it functional for years to come, and who doesn’t love saving money?

Since your deck isn’t something that can be protected and exposed to weather throughout the year, regular maintenance is the key to having your deck last tens of years rather than just years. If you want to keep your deck looking its best, giving it a thorough cleaning at least once a year will hugely help towards this.

An annual wash can create new life into your deck, preserve the appearance of the wood and ultimately could help prevent costly repairs in the long run.

Cleaning and Prepping the Area

Start by cleaning everything from the surface of your decking, including all furniture, pots and everything in between. Next grab a broom and sweep the entire area from debris, dust and leaves. We find our Bassine Sweeping Brush range are perfect for this and get well within the grooves of the planks. Pay attention when it comes to the nooks and crannies too as this can be where the majority of the debris collects.

Hose down your Area

Once you’re happy with the sweeping, hose down your decking to loosen and rinse away the remaining tougher dirt and grime. Aim at the heavily soiled areas to remove as much of the tougher dirt as possible to make the next step easier.

When you’ve addressed the most problematic areas, be sure to spray in between the decking boards too to rinse away any remaining leaves or grass that are stuck.

Scrub and Rinse

To avoid damaging the deck, create a gentle cleaning solution of warm water and a general dish soap liquid such as fairy. If you’re wanting something more specialised something like Ronseal Decking Cleaner and Reviver has proven good to use.

Cover the surface of the decking with the warm water solution and begin gently scrubbing with a stiff-bristled brush, we recommend our 9” Bassine Deck Scrubbing Brush for this. Brush continuously until the solution start the lather. Once you have done the planks, concentrate ton the grooves between, if you find your brush isn’t working for you well enough, try our angled grout brush to help scrub away! With it’s stiff bristles and angled shape it’s perfect for getting in between the cracks. Once everything has lathered up, let it stand for about 5 to 10 minutes and rinse with clean water and leave the deck to dry.