!: DIY Deck Cleaning, Coating, and Conditioning Considered

When is the best time to clean, coat, and refurbish you the deck, gazebo, or wood patio at your home? Well, you may not like this answer, but it really depends. Depends on what you ask? Well, seasonal temperatures, and how much you are using your deck are the first consideration.

If you are not using your deck, no need to coat and treat it in the dead of winter, plus it's hard to get the coatings to dry anyway with the chance of snow, rain, sleet, or freezing - which can make your Do-it-Yourself project a total mess and disaster.

In the Winter the wood takes a beating and often the coatings can peel or come apart. Most of the deck coatings you buy in the home improvement stores last 2-5 years, and thus, you should buy the best you can, premium quality stuff. But rest assured the secret is all in the pre-prepping of the deck or gazebo, as the coating is fairly cut and dry (wet). How would I know?

Well, you see before retirement I ran a franchising company and one of our franchise modules was Deck Cleaning. Yes, it was a seasonal business, you see, early to Mid April is pretty much when the services are most desired below the Mason Dixon Line, so March issue makes sense, and above the Mason Dixon Line, I'd say that late April, early May is the busiest.

Folks start thinking about such things as the temperatures start heading up about 70-degrees average during the day. This industry gets NUTS, literally controlled chaos in Spring, by fall and winter, it's a trickle, and thus, our crews seek other work. I'd like you to also consider this famous question; "when did Noah build the ark?" Before the storm right, yep, and so you need that wood treated and coated before winter so it doesn't rot out. Indeed, I hope you will please consider all this.