Large deck mildew/mold/residue removal ideas?

[bobmct]

I have a large deck (18 x 36') that is constructed of cedar and finished with Cabot semi-solid stain. It was washed and stained this past May.

We also have a few very large oak trees that drop their acorns on it all summer long. Over the past month or two ugly black areas have appeared in blotches which combined cover a good part of the deck.

Today, on my hands and knees, I used some HD Baer deck cleaner for mildew/mold removal, some scrub brushes and a number of Mr. Clean Magic Sponges and lots of clear water to scrub most of this residue off the deck. While not perfect it sure looks a lot better but not all of the blackness is gone.

I do have two questions about this. 1) does anyone have a better, faster, easier way to remove this black residue? and 2) has anyone used any product to successfully prevent this from happening repeatedly?

I watched a segment recently on Ask TOH where Tom Silva used a product called Bora-care with Mold-care which he stated will aid in the resistance to mildew/mold. As this product is not cheap, before I order some, I would like to hear from anyone who has used it before and what your impressions are.

Any/all advice on these two questions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[ransley]

I have a place in shade and get mold everywhere in a few months. Get a good garden sprayer and just spray plain old laundry bleach every few months. A cheap electric powerwasher will clean it good after a powerwashing. Just spraying bleach every few months might keep you clean after that for one year. HD and maybe othe stores have an outdoor grade Clorox bleach in a green bottle. I havnt tried it or read the specs yet but it probably has a higher concentrationn of Sodium Hypochlorate, that is the main ingrediant of bleach and all deck cleaners. I usualy dont dilute. Oxalic acid is usualy the other main ingrediant of deck cleaners and can be bought seperatly but isnt needed to kill mold which is what Bleach does by removing the plants Oxygen. The acid removes grey. A soap like Crud Cutter can be added to you home made deck cleaner to further help. Karcher makes or used to make a quality electric power washer, mine is made in Italy and is maybe 10 yrs old, my friend who uses his on his farm nearly daily is over 12 yrs old. Once you get used to a routine of every 1-6 months its easy to take care of mold. I have mold everywhere, if you have it on the deck your concrete likely has it, that is where I notice the difference of full strength regular bleach. Keeping a garden sprayer just for bleach ready is handy, just wear junk clothes and keep the pets off for a day. Bleach when dried turn to salt in a day, so often I just spray and leave it to dry instead of rinsing and killing plants.

[jamesgangnc]

Bleach

[vjp2.at]

Dumb question (for discussion not advice): how would quicklime aka whitewash work here? I used to take lawn lime and mineral oil with water and paint my dog's house because he chewed on it and I figured it was less harmful than paint (in Greece lime use used to preserve certain fruits, but here lime is dolomitic - it includes magnesium).

Also, there are some paints called Killz which kill mildew. And I think one vendor makes an add-on chemical which you can add to stains and other paints.

- = - Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist

---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}--- [Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards] [Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]

[ransley]

kils doesnt kill mildew its "kills" stains, blocks them.