5 Easy Steps to Prep Your Deck by Memorial Day
Posted 27 April 2017 3:49 PM by Jase DeBoer
With Memorial Day right around the corner, it’s time to spring clean your outdoor living space. Your deck is the center of summer activity – from grilling and eating outdoors to play and entertaining.
1. Clean Your Deck
It is important to keep leaves and other materials that can stain off your deck year-round. Sweep off your deck boards and make sure to clean out the spaces between the boards. We recommend using soap or detergent mixed with water to remove any marks or dirt from your deck boards. Power washers can be used to clean deck boards; however, a fan-tip nozzle should be used and should be set on the lowest setting.
2. Freshen Up Your Railing
After adding furniture, a grill and other items to your deck, the railing is the most visible part of the deck. Take time to clean your balusters and railing to remove dust, leaves or water marks left over from the winter and spring. Soap or detergent and water will help remove surface dirt. We recommend testing the cleaner in a small area prior to applying it to the entire railing system.
For additional step-by-step cleaning instructions, we've put together a few quick videos:
3. Assess the Understructure
Most of your summer will be spent on top of your deck, but you should be proactive with the state of your deck’s understructure. Depending on your weather conditions, there could be buildup of leaves, water or other materials that should be cleared out before the heat of summer. Fifty percent of your deck’s cost is in the understructure, so you’ll want to take care of upkeep and maintenance every year. We recommend using ProWood® professional grade treated lumber when building the understructure for your deck. ProWood pressure-treated lumber is made for ground-contact and backed by a lifetime limited warranty against termite infestation and rot.
4. Test Your Lighting
Deck lighting allows you to use your outdoor living space at night. Before summer begins, test any lighting, outlets, connectors or junction boxes you plan to use this year.
What do you do if your lights won’t turn on? Try some of these trouble-shooting tips:
- Make sure all transformers are plugged into a functioning outlet. If there are any electrical switches that control the outlet, make sure they are switched to the “on” position.
- Check to see if there is a loose connection at the transformer pressure plates.
- Trace the cable from the transformer to the lighting fixture to ensure the cable has not been cut.
5. Add Some Final Touches
After cleaning and prepping your current deck, it’s time to look at pieces you can easily add to your deck before Memorial Day weekend. A couple of options are:
- New post caps – quick additions to your deck that range from solar to a myriad of colors
- Deck board railing – adding a deck board on top of your railing will add a little extra space to make it entertainment-ready!
Follow these five easy steps to prep your deck by Memorial Day weekend to ensure a summer full of memories on the deck.
For other frequently asked questions, visit Deckorators.com.
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