Tips to keep your composite decking looking its sparkling best

February 20, 2024

Composite Decking Care Guide

Because of its aesthetic appeal and resiliency, composite wood has enjoyed its reputation as a popular decking material. As an additional feature, it requires minimal maintenance compared to other similar products in the market.

Like other wood varieties, composite decking is quite absorbent. Meaning to say, composite decks are prone to a wide range of outdoor elements like mold and mildew, black spots, sap, grease, oil, food spills, pet strains, hard water, grass stains, ground-in dirt and rust stains. When cleaning, it is best to use oxygenated cleaner that will penetrate deep into the material to clean both its inner and outer surface.

As a caution, never use chlorine-based deck cleaner because it has corrosive property that will eventually result to the damage and discoloration of your deck boards. In addition, it is also not safe to use such materials specially if the surface is near to plants and within the areas frequently used by children or pets when playing. Always remember, if a cleaning product contains Sodium Hypochlorite, it contains bleach.

To preserve the beauty of the surface of the composite deck, you may sweep it or use a leaf blower to get rid of dirt and debris at least twice a week. For routine cleaning at least twice a year, follow the succeeding directions.

Routine Cleaning

We strongly recommend a regular cleaning of your decking every three to six months to clear away accumulated dirt, mud, stains and soil over the course of time.

• For a general clean- we recommend for you to use warm-soapy water on the surface of the boards. You may also use soft-bristled brush.

• For a deeper clean- you may choose to utilize a jet wash with a PSI not greater than 3100 in clearing surface debris from your deck. Using the fan attachment, ensure that it is not applied any closer than 250mm away from the surface of the board. By following these tips, you can surely preserve the long-term finish of the deck boards.

Whichever cleaning options you prefer, make sure to clean along the lengths of the boards to avoid accumulation of materials that can interfere with the drainage system.


Stubborn Spot Stains

For stubborn stains like oil and grease marks, we highly recommend that you use the same techniques given in the routine cleaning section. You may also follow the recommendations below:

• Treat/clean the affected area within the first seven days.

• Use a water-based composite cleaner which is specifically designed to remove oil and grease on composite decks.

• To remove the surface layer of the board and remove the stain, you may sand the stained surface slightly. Initially after the procedure, the surface deck board will appear lighter than the rest but this difference in color tone will be balanced as the board lightens up over time. 

However, please take note that our product has protective shell technology feature which gives the benefit of being highly stain-resistant but must not be sanded-up heavily under any circumstances


Water Staining

We assure you that great care is exercised by our highly skilled workers in manufacturing our product. However, residual oils can remain present in it. Sometimes, it becomes visible in the form of white streaks in the surface of the deck boards. Although these stains will gradually disappear within the period of six to eight weeks when the boards are exposed to rainwater, you may follow the following simple steps just in case you want to speed up the process of removing such stains:

• Use warm-soapy water to completely clean the surface. You may also opt to use a jet wash on the affected area to make the process of removing the stains easier;

• To make the process faster, you may also sue a composite decking brightener because this solution is specifically made to remove residual oil present on the decking surface.


Surface Mildew and Mould Growth

Our composite deck boards are highly resistant to the damaging effects of mould and mildew but still, these types of growth can typically occur to almost all outdoor surface. This in turn can result to the accumulation of stains on the board over time. As such, we strongly recommend that you follow the simple steps given above when doing your routine cleaning to help in avoiding excessive build-up of mould and mildews. 

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