How to totally cleanse and refinish your deck or terrace in no time

Admit it....you've sat looking out of your windows onto your garden across the Winter and dreaded the arrival of Spring and the demand from the Mrs to get the garden sorted ready to use. Trimming the hedges and slinging another bag of bark onto the beds isn't to much of an issue....but refreshing that tired, algae-stained, dirt ingrained deck just doesn't do much to fire up your enthusiasm!

Fear not...I felt exactly the same last week. My deck was a mess due to the wet Winter and the general grime from overgrown shrubbery and fallen leaves (and not to mention bird shit!). The social-distancing enforced by the Covid-19 pandemic meant I couldn't use the excuse of going to the match or dropping into the pub to avoid getting started.

So, how did I lessen the impending burden and make the job almost enjoyable? Simple....I bought myself some Exterior Wood Cleaner from those masters of professional wood cosmetics, Bormawachs of Italy. Wow! What a simple and effective product it is.....I simply wet the deck down with the hosepipe to allow the Exterior Wood Cleaner to penetrate the deck quicker, then applied it to the deck boards with a soft synthetic-bristled sweeping brush and left it 25-30 mins whilst I dreamt about that pint of Craft IPA I was missing. I donned my old boots and waterproof leggings and fired up the tired, old, under-powered Karcher expecting a weekend-long battle to commence. It didn't happen. The last 4 years worth of annual dark grey deck coatings just lifted away with one pass of the jet-wash and the deck timbers natural colour replaced it. Sure, there were some deep stain marks around the knots and a couple of boards that didn't quite clean as easily as the majority, but another brushing of the Exterior Wood Cleaner, a 10 minute wait and a blast with the Karcher sorted that. All told it took me just short of 3 hours to do an area of approximately 45 square metres.

I'll leave it probably a week and then its coating application time.....and following such a positive experience with the Bormawachs Exterior Wood Cleaner I'll be using Bormawachs water-based Naturaqua Decking Oil. Watch this space for an update on the results!