Have you ever passed by a store and noticed the color on a poster wasn’t quite right? Or perhaps the color of your car has lost its shine after a few years. What you see are the effect of the sun’s ultra-violet rays.
The same ultra-violet rays that cause car paint and posters to fade also cause your decking to turn gray over time. In exotic hardwoods like our Brazilian decking, the fading occurs only on the surface.
In woods like pine or cedar, the fading can cause the wood fibers to deteriorate, which leads to cracks and eventually broken boards. As for plastic decking such as composite or PVC, the color fading caused by ultra-violet rays is permanent.
So how do you restore your Brazilian hardwood deck? Well, it depends how much regular maintenance you’ve done. Here are a few methods to bring back the color of your faded deck:
Method 1 – Start with the simplest of approaches and test a small amount of Ipe Oil on part of your deck. Sometimes applying a coat of Ipe Oil is enough to bring back the color. If this didn’t work, move on to the next method.
Method 2 – Use DeckWise Cleaner and Brightener. Wet your deck with a garden hose and apply the dissolved solution (follow the instructions on the back of each product) using a bristle broom to agitate the surface. Rinse with a garden hose, and once the surface is dry apply a new coat of Ipe Oil. Now your deck should look as good as new!
If your deck refuses to look new, give these methods a shot.
Method 3 – Using a pressure washer with a wide angle fan tip nozzle, wash your deck straight down the length of each board. This keeps you from stamping a pattern into the board or raising the grain of the wood and causing splinters. If pressure washing didn’t achieve the original finish, there’s one more thing you can try.
Method 4 –Sand your deck, starting with an 80 grit sand paper on an orbital sander and finishing with 100 grit sand paper. Once you’re done, vacuum your deck, or rinse it well with water to remove any dust and apply Ipe Oil. This should bring it back to the beautiful deck of years past!
We hope this helps you get your deck back to the color you want! Bookmark this page if you wish to share these deck maintenance tips with others, and don’t forget to give us a call if you have any questions or shoot us an email at [email protected]
I have had a Tigerwood deck purchased from Advantage probably about 8 or9 years ago. I did not properely maintain the deck and have now paid for my poor performance. Sanding every inch!!!
When hosed with water the shine is magnificent. Dried it becomes rather dull. Is there a product that gives the wet look or at least a bright shine?
Yes, Ipe Oil applied once a year or so will keep the color nice and bright.
I too waited too long….I’ve sanded, but it’s still grey…stain is on its way. Will the stain revive it? Should I sand more??
Don’t worry, the oil coating will revive the color.
We actually want our deck to go to silver. How do we clean it to maintain it as a bright silver?
The wood will turn silver naturally, you just need to keep it swept clean of debris. If you really want to go the extra mile, you can use DeckWise cleaner and brightener on a yearly basis, but if your deck stays pretty clean this may not be necessary.
My mahogany porch decking has grayed, which I like, but it seems dry and gives off some splinters, Is there an oil I can put on it to dampen down the splinters but keep the gray look?
Mahogany is soft compared to other woods like Ipe, Cumaru, Tigerwood etc, so it can be more prone to this issue. You can try oiling it but that typically brings the color back. You could also try lightly sanding it with a fine sand paper on a sanding pole. Try something like 220 grit on a sanding pole and very lightly go over the surface. Test a small area first, if you sand too much you would restore the surface to the original color. You are probably not wiling to redo your porch but if the silver look is what you are after then Ipe, Cumaru, Tigerwood, Massaranduba or Garapa would be better options as they are march harder and typically do not splinter as they turn silver.