Washed the Deck, Now its Hairy!

[Alan L.]

I used my new pressure washer on the cedar deck today, boy was it dirty. But when it dried, many of the boards had hair! Very light colored and not very pretty. I put Thompson water seal on there but after it soaked in, the light fuzz was still there. Any solutions?

 

[beenthere]

The UV (ultra violet) rays cause the wood to deteriorate (weather) and your washing technique just blasted away some of the wood that remains, and wasn't weathered.
One could sand it down, but I would just let it go and enjoy the 'softness' while it lasts. Likely it will wear off in time. Scraping with a sharp scraper might work too.

A technique for washing that would be less rigorous to the wood, IMO, would be to just scrub with a brush and a bleach solution (or one of the deck cleaners) and rinse with water. That will get rid of the dark color which is mold, and causes wood to turn grey to black.

Power washing isn't very good for wood surfaces as the wood (especially cedar) doesn't have the strength to resist being ripped apart.

 

[Alan L.]

Looks like I'll have to live with it. Maybe 3000 psi was too much? Actually it looks like most of the "hairs" can be rubbed off. Hopefull it will wear off at some point.

 

[JDgreen227]

3000 psi...??? That's somewhat extreme pressure for just cleaning off a deck. I've tried numerous commercial cleaners such as Olympic and they don't do as good a job of cleaning as the bleach-and-water solution does. IMO for cleaning pressure treated wood the bleach solution applied with a roller and then rinsed off using about 1400 psi from a power washer works well.

 

[btolle]

I think beenthere has the right idea. I have used a pressure washer and it does leave the boards a little fuzzy.

About 1 part bleach to 2 parts water seems to be about right for getting rid of mildew (my painter recommended that mixture), which we have plenty of in East Texas. I have to bleach the house at least once a year or the white trim starts looking like black trim. I have to do the driveway and sidewalks too, or they turn black.

I'm not sure you even need to scrub it, just spray the deck with the bleach solution when it is dry, let it set for about 15 minutes and rinse off with the water hose.

Bill Tolle

 

[thcri]

I do use my pressure sprayer but I use one of the softer nozzles. Hylex/water mixture rubbed on with a brush, soak ten to fifteen minutes and then pressure off.

murph

 

[JJT]

I use a 50/50 mix of cheap bleach and water, (I have a 2 gallon sprayer). 10 - 15 minutes and hose it off. If there are any spots that didn't come clean, I'll hit them again and take a brush to it.

I've heard horror stories about pressure washers and cedar.

 

[Ozarker]

You had the pressure too high and damaged the wood fibers. The only fix is to sand the boards. I have a 1200 PSI sprayer and adjust the nozzle so that the pressure is reduced to about 3/4 of max. .

Let the chemicals do the work. I use a pump sprayer to apply a 50/50 mix of bleach and water. Let sit for about 30 minutes. Brush any bad spots and then pressure spray the entire surface.