How to get my decking looking flawless again?

[Fitter Windows]

Our decking is looking really tired. Half is under cover and doesn't look too bad, but the area that gets rain and leaves from the trees fall onto it looks really worn out and grubby.

I was going to jet wash it, but this seemed to be damaging the wood.
What is the best way to clean your decking so I can buy a new stain to coat and protect it, get it looking like new again?

 

[stem]

I asked a similar question a few years back. But in my case I had already cleaned and stained it. It looked fantastic for the first summer, but in the long term the stain made things worse. You can read the thread and see a photo here.

In the end I cleaned it carefully every couple of months over a two year period with a jet wash to finally get rid of the flaky stain. (There are still one or two small traces now, 5 years later where the knots are) But as you have realised, you do need to be careful. Hold the nozzle too close and it removes the surface of the boards.

Now I clean it annually with a proprietary cleaner to get rid of any green mould, and then jet wash it carefully, and apply nothing, it is now a uniform grey, it doesn't look as nice as when the stain was first applied, but I shan't be going down that route again!

As you fortunately haven't applied any stain yet a clean should be all you need.

 

[Fitter Windows]

OMG, the photo you originally posted looks EXACTLY like our decking!
Thanks for the advice! Will avoid the stain then and just keep cleaning it on the regular.

 

[Nige F]

Thanks stem, my son was thinking of staining his decking and I wasn't sure - now I know. We've got plastic composite

 

[drpepe]

definitely don't stain - you'll have to keep doing it!

I struggled with poor results and damage from jetwashing. This year I used moss killer which I scrubbed in with a broom, then waited 3 weeks before careful jetwashing. Brings it up brand new.