How to bleach decking?

[Eddy]

Hi.

We have a lot of decking round this house. The previous owners had lots of pots all over it and of course they've taken all their pots with them. Where the pots stood, there are now light circles. The decking that wasn't covered has darkened.

One solution would be to go round putting pots in every position where they were previously, but we would rather not enter the world of pot-maintenance and pot-watering! So I am wondering if bleaching all the decking might create a unifying effect? Would a bleach solution lighten the wood that was not "protected" by the pots? On the other hand, maybe a bleach solution might do more than lighten the wood - it might damage it.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Eddy.

[Stuart Noble]

The rings should change colour naturally if left uncovered. The only bleach worth talking about is the 2 part peroxide stuff, which isn't cheap, and may well reduce the life of the wood. Oxalic acid is recommended for decking but it seems like a lot of money for what it is. I've never had much luck with it

[The Medway Handyman]

I've used bleach to clean my deck a few times. Bottle of Tesco's own label in a bucket of water. Works a treat.

Probably a mixture of sunlight & dirt, so a good cleaning with bleach will even it out.

[Eddy]

Thanks, Stuart. Have googled a bit and found warnings against using chlorine bleach, but that oxygen bleach is the thing to use, followed by several coats of "synthetic epoxy resin water repellent". Will have to have a look round BnQ and/or Focus to see if these products are available. This could be good, the only problem in my case is that the previous owner threw salt around when it snowed and all the screws have turned rusty and the rust has impregnated the immediately-surrounding wood. I doubt if the oxygen bleach will remove this as well. Instead it seems to me it will show these rust circles up.

My previous thought was to use an ebony wood preservative, as black hides a multitude of sins, but various sites suggest that the film/paint is no end of trouble.

What to do?

Eddy.

[The Medway Handyman]

As I said, I've used normal bleach no problem. I asked a on USA based woodwork group "how do you clean your decks" & got half a dozen replies saying 'bleach'.

I've never heard of "synthetic epoxy resin water repellent". (surely epoxy resin must be synthetic?).

I'd steer clear of anything that forms a coating on the surface, hard to maintain & generally looks awful.

I'd suggest;

Clean it with a pressure wasure or bleach or decking cleaner (in that order).

Treat it with Ronseal decking oil, you can get pine or cedar flavour.

Don't expect perfection, its a deck :-)

[Stuart Noble]

Oxygen bleach is a powder sold as "laundry bleach". Ecover is the brand name that springs to mind and you should find it, or an equivalent, in the bigger supermarkets.

Interesting snippet here

, followed by

I'd agree with TMH. Don't