A customer contacted me and is concerned about cleaning her deck. They spent a bunch of money and the care and maintenance says only use Timber Tech Deck Cleaner. Has anyone had experience with this decking?
Timber Tech is basically the same as Trex- composite “lumber”. TT is a little higher in quality.
I have cleaned both brands of decking: use HW mix, dwell and gentle fan to remove dirt, dust, pollen and any organics. Cleaned both dark and light colors- never an issue. Cleans up perfect every time.
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As long as it’s not the first gen stuff then housewash mix and 1500 psi or less should be fine.
They say no bleach because they want to sell you expensive cleaner. I had a house was last year and they had just installed that stuff. They wanted me to skip the whole back of the house so I wouldn’t get any hw mix on it. They said the warranty would be void if any other cleaner was used on it. Not sure I believe that, but whatever. I took a scrap piece left laying there and put 6% on it and as expected, it didn’t do anything to it. I showed him, but he still didn’t want me to wash the back of the house.
Had a fun composite deck yesterday. 1% mix and about 10 minute dwell. Then needed 2500 at a safe distance to get all the lichen off. Then hit it again with about a 2% mix to fade the remaining stains away.
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That looks like first generation trex. That stuff takes so long to clean if it’s really dirty.
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I had a similar situation. Customer had the deck covered with a tarp. I told him it’d be safer for me to pre rinse and post rinse rather than take the chance of stuff getting under the tarp and just sitting there. Thankfully he listened.
These companies using scare tactics is really annoying and unprofessional.
Yeah, I believe it is first gen. It’s really soft, you have to be careful with it. I tried using my normal 1000psi at first, but I would have been there forever with that. It took about an hour, not terrible. The 2% post treat really did great fading the stains away. This one I did a couple years ago took a 6% mix in some spots to remove the staining.
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Then I would just use that cleaner to keep the warranty intact. Apply, brush, rinse.
Early Trex definitely breaks down, as stated it gets very textured and “soft” same process to clean it though - just a little more care and setting proper expectations.
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On that note, anybody dealt with a sun room that has vinyl windows that can’t be cleaned with bleach or you’ll void the warranty? The windows I mean. I have a house I do every year and it’s been easy enough to avoid the windows as requested by the customer since the windows are not that large. But I gave a quote the other day to someone who has essentially floor to ceiling vinyl windows on three sides that can raise up, lower down, and even be removed from their tracks but they once again have some paper from the manufacturer claiming not to use bleach. I quoted with the idea that the customer would remove the panels of windows so that I can wash both the inside and outside of the sunroom without any problems, but there of course are two triangle shaped windows in the peak that cannot be removed and I plan on taping them off best as I’m able to. Wasn’t sure if anyone else had any experience with these or not?
Looking really nice.
Yeah, it’s crazy on the first gen stuff how high % you have to go sometimes.
@PPWofLexSC I’m not sure if this is what you’re talking about but read Steve’s reply and then look at the first post.
I have one customer with a screened porch with these windows and thankfully they told me to avoid them which I did.
Manufacturer says to only use a soft towel and Murphys Oil Soap to clean them. Anything else will spot them permanently.
I had seen that post when I first came across this situation about 4-5 years ago, but I appreciate you sharing it again!
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I’m actually doing the job tomorrow - it was scheduled for last week but we had a bit of a tropical depression that took over most of the state for the whole week. When I went out to quote it the customer showed me what the manufacturer had recommend but I cannot remember exactly what it was. But it was something along the lines of using a 409 or Simple Green type product out of a standard spray bottle and using a paper towel to wipe it all down if I recall correctly. While out there tomorrow, I’ll see if I can track down the manufacturer suggestions again and share them here.
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