I have a new company established in April of this year. Things are going great and our word of mouth referrals are picking up. One of which is a cedar deck the customer wants restored. I do not have much experience with this. My first thought was to reach out to a local company that specializes in this work, give them the job, and only ask that I work with them on it to learn. That will probably be how I go about it. With that said, I took some photos I wanted to share. It seems benjamin Moore has a couple products that would at least get this deck in shape for restaining. I think they are called “Restore” and “Brighten”.
I really do not know how to price it yet, I will look around more for ideas on that. I do want to learn and even specialize in this, I think it is in demand in my area.
After looking at the photos what are some concerns you guys see with a job like this? Is giving this job to a more establish deck restoration company the best way to go here?
We’ve done quite a few wooden decks that were in rough shape like that and have had great success with them. We use Sodium Percarbonate to clean the wood and Oxalic Acid to brighten it up. I’d also throw in some EBC to see if you can loosen up some of those grease stains.
Pre-wet the deck
Apply Sodium Percarbonate with pump sprayer
Let dwell 10min and use deck brush to agitate
Pressure wash off using 1000psi
Apply Oxalic with pump sprayer (wear mask and gloves) to wet deck
Hose off the Oxalic
The deck will come out looking great. For a deck that size you will want to clean in sections
I was JUST reading about those chemicals. I would really like to do this myself but keep thinking it would be best to work alongside someone more experienced this go around.
The deck itself is about 560 sq ft. with 14 steps, and an additional landing. This doesn’t include the spindles etc…
How should I go about pricing? If I can make the deck look almost new again, pricing it upwards of 1000 dollars doesn’t seem like a hard sell to me considering what it would cost to replace.
As a newer business, we shoot for somewhere between 130 to 150 dollars per hour worth of work. If I can get similar numbers for deck cleaning and prepping I would REALLY like to get into it more. I think the end results are amazing and there seems to be a ton of demand in the area.
Wow 3 hours? I was definitely thinking 8 hours for the entire deck. Then again, this would be my first cedar deck. I have done several trex decks by using similar solution to our housewash mix.
I guess if I broke it down to 3 sections, not including the posts underneath, I guess 3-4 hours isn’t unreasonable.
Greater Philadelphia PA. I’m always hesitant to post on the forum. Lots of great information here, almost too much at times. A lot of frequent posters seem to get annoyed when posts pop up that may have been covered in the past. Though I read a lot of posts from 2013… well, it’s 2018 now. Maybe it is time to make some new posts or update the info.
APW2 has given you a good overview of the process. The biggest thing I can tell you about this type of project is to make sure you set the proper expectations!!! That is a badly neglected deck.The mold, UV damage and dirt are excellent camouflage for other problems. You may find rotten wood, bad boards etc. when you clean it, they need to know that there may be repair costs associated with that. Charge accordingly if there are, repairs are a huge time suck. You asked about pricing, 3.00 (usually 4.00) per sq ft and up for the deck, 4.00 per linear ft for the railing. Some may think that is high, part of that is opportunity cost. I can clean and stain 4 fence jobs in the 12-1500.00 range in the amount of time that deck will take. I am starting a deck project next week that will be over 7500.00 at a golf course. I bid it based on what I described above and they took it. Now it will be well worth my time. All that said if this one is too big or in too bad shape for your comfort zone bid it out and learn the process. Good luck!
Listen to Mark. He knows his wood. I think the $4 per ft he’s talking includes the staining. I think the $1000 is good for just cleaning. You’re going to be there all day if you’re doing handrail and pickets. Remember when you’re doing the pressure part of your rinse need to make continuous pass or you’ll leave marks.
As bad as that part is next to house I’d use a 2% SH mix, (with some degreaser not a bad idea) and see what happens. May need slightly stronger on parts of it or add in a little Hydroxide. The part that’s not so bad can use the Sodium Perc or drop down to 1%ish. The handrails look like they might have some older stain on them. With all the handrail, pickets, steps and landing going to be a PITA job. Good luck - Let us know how it goes.
I’d hit it with 2% SH with 10 min dwell and rinse. 2% SH with 10 min dwell and rinse. Then Ox acid at 1c/gallon and follow with a good rinse. I think percarb will be less than stellar results compared to SH. Percarb might be a little easier on the wood but I think the sh will require less pressure to wash it clean and a better end result. Especially when followed with ox acid and rinse. Ive done several this way and they come out fantastic looking
I think I will just bid it high, around 1200, manage the customer’s expectations and do a test board before doing the entire job to show the customer the results to expect. There is a decent amount of concrete patio that needs cleaning so I think I can sell it but explaining how this will take us two days to complete. I’ll keep you posted!
