What are the best products to use and the preferred methods of application to clean, brighten and seal a 2-year-old deck made of treated lumber with nothing ever having been applied to it? Also, what's the difference between cleaners and brighteners? Is there one product that will do both jobs?
After doing much research on the web, I came up with much conflicting information about the products and methods. On some sites, it was difficult to tell whether a product was being recommended for use or just for sale. If anyone has recommendations from first-hand experience, I'd love to hear them. Here are some of products (in no particular order) that were repeatedly recommended:
Cleaners: Stain Solver or Oxy-Boost. (Both equally good; Stain Solver costs more.) Oxyalic acid TSP (sometimes the recommendation was to add TSP to oxygen bleach) DEFY Timber Wash Chlorine bleach was NOT recommended
Methods of Cleaning: Use brush or broom to scrub the stuff on, then rinse with hose. Pressure washing was NOT recommended
Brighteners: DEFY Wood Brightener (TimberBrite)
Sealants: TWP 100 series (semi-transparent stain) Cabot Sikkens Clear Wood Finish Olympic Clear Wood Preservative Olympic Water Guard Wood Clear Olympic Water Guard 57560 DEFY Clear UV-Resistant Clear Wood Finish DEFY Epoxy Fortified Wood Stain
MANY thanks for all assistance provided. Suze