Specialised Cleaning in Cairns

A deck is the easiest surface in the yard to ruin

Timber is not uniform. Every growth ring has soft early wood and harder late wood, and a pressure washer removes the soft part faster. Push a lance across a spotted gum or merbau deck and what you get is a furrowed, fuzzy washboard: the grain stands up, the board holds water in the new grooves, and it greys off faster than it did before you started. It looks clean for a fortnight and then looks worse than it ever did.

The right approach on timber is chemical. Sodium percarbonate lifts the grey oxidised layer and the mould in the grain without touching the wood fibre, then an oxalic acid brightener neutralises it and pulls back the tannin darkening around fixings and along the joints. Rinse pressure stays low, running with the boards rather than across them.

Chlorine has no place on bare timber. It darkens the wood, it corrodes screws and nail heads from the surface down, and it leaves a residue that will interfere with an oil or stain going on afterwards. If a deck is being recoated, the finish depends almost entirely on what was done at this stage.

Fences, timber and Colorbond

A hardwood fence gets the same treatment as a deck, with the added detail that both faces need doing. Cleaning the side you look at and leaving the neighbour’s face untouched means the growth simply walks back through the palings.

Colorbond fencing is the opposite job. The steel takes a wash easily, but the panels are thin, so a hard lance will dent them and drive water into the bottom rail where it sits and rusts. A low pressure application with a suitable mix handles it, and the orange biological staining that people mistake for rust usually comes off completely.

Pool surrounds, retaining walls and the rest

Around a pool the surface dictates the method. Travertine and sandstone are soft and will scour, so they get chemistry and low pressure. Stamped or stencilled concrete has colour in a thin topping and gets tested first. Plain concrete pool surrounds and block retaining walls are hard enough to take real pressure and come up well.

One practical note: chlorine based solutions and pool water do not belong together in quantity, so the pool gets covered or the run off diverted, and the balance gets checked before we finish. It is a small thing that saves you a chemistry problem the next day.

When to leave it alone

Not every deck is worth cleaning. If boards are cupping badly, if a screwdriver sinks into the timber at the bearer line, or if the surface is splintering along its length, you are looking at replacement timber and a wash just buys a cleaner version of the same problem. Fence palings that have gone grey through their full thickness rather than just on the surface are the same story.

We will say so on the quote rather than after the job. Call 07 4028 4268 or send photos through the form, including a close up of the timber, and you will get a straight answer on what is worth doing.