Cleaning Santa Cruz

If you have a wood deck in Santa Cruz County, it is highly recommended  to have your deck maintained annually.  If there was one question that was asked more than other question as it pertains to maintenance, it is whether or not the rails need to be maintained annually.  I usually answer that by saying NO, however the top 2×6 that caps the railing should definitely be maintained as often as the deck itself.  Basically, if the board sits horizontally, it weathers much, much quicker than any vertical board.  This picture of a railing in Pasatiempo best exemplifies that.  We came back to this deck after two years, and all the vertical posts were still handling stain quite well, yet the top piece was obviously in need of a cleaning and some more Biowash Natural Deck Oil.

Many Santa Cruz County residents have turned to Ipe’ outdoor wood decking. Biowash Natural Deck Oil works fabulous on it too. The days of thinking Penofin or some other nasty mixture would work best on this very dense hardwood, are long gone. I maintain my share of Ipe’ decks throughout Santa Cruz, especially Aptos and Scotts Valley, and and I will tell you that although Ipe’ is supposed to last like 50 years untreated or something crazy like that, I wouldn’t take that route because its beauty and simplicity make this Brazilian Hardwood like no other. I highly suggest taking pretty good care of it. Because it’s so hard, you can easily get away with maintaining it every 3 or 4 years or so..but just like everything else in life, it all depends on how bad-ass you want your Ipe’ deck to be.

To beat the sun, I had to begin staining this five year old deck very early in the a.m. I didn’t stain the rails this year as they didn’t need it and typically don’t. This year I just stained the top piece of the rail and all the flooring. This deck was still drying when I had to leave, but you get the idea. I really think Ipe’ is a super wood to be used for outdoor decking, and highly recommend it. Ipe’ deck project in Corralitos, California.

This deck is just eight months old. It was built in November 2007. In a decks life, it’s as good as new. To ensure this deck remained better than new,(that’s right..I said better than new) I insisted this guy wait (a full winter and half a summer) for the wood to open up a bit before staining in early August 2008. Every newly constructed deck will present a little different situation with possibly a different maintenance approach, but this is good stuff right here amigo!

East Side Santa Cruz

These stained boards up against the house are dry. As always, Biowash Natural Deck Oil. The color is a private blend of X % Redwood, Y % Natural, Z % Cedar.

These boards were stained the day prior to this picture. This particular back deck is about six years old and is located in Aptos California off Clubhouse Dr. I think it’s about 10am with flat light. Gorgeous right??

This was a gutter AND a deck project in the Seascape area of Santa Cruz. These are before and after the cleaning only. I like these pictures because they showcase a situation that I see quite frequently which is damage that occurs to wood boards when pots or wood piles or small trees, or the like are left directly on the deck over time. It turns into sow bug and termite central.  Not good!

The moral to the story is to keep things UP off the deck, AND also move things around from time to time…especially big potted plants that get watered often. As you can see from the square marks on each side of the foot of this bench, this was a potential disaster waiting to happen to this beautiful deck. Luckily it was caught in time. I suggested putting their boxed lemon trees on sturdy rollers, and for a year or so..moving them to a different place on the deck.