Time to Clean Your Deck around Your Sunroom
Since we have had beautiful weather this summer, I am sure most homeowners are using their sunrooms and decks to entertain. With this in mind, does your deck around your sunroom have stains from food and drinks or footprints from muddy shoes? Before using your power washer, here is some advice from Flat Andy’s structural engineer, Craig Joss, PE.
Meta Silicate and Sodium Hydroxide are commonly used to power wash decks, but these chemicals can be harmful to your sunroom. When power washing your deck, DO NOT use these chemicals, since they can soften the factory-applied coating and attack the mill finish aluminum at cut edges and screw holes.
So what materials are safe to use on pre-painted metal surfaces used for sunrooms? According to Nichols Aluminum Company, plain water is best. However, a basic detergent cleaning solution is ½ cups of detergent (Tide or equivalent) dissolved in one gallon of water.
If mildew is apparent, modify as follow:
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½ cup of detergent (Tide or equivalent)
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2/3 cups of tri-sodium phosphate (Soilex or equivalent)
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1 quart of 5% sodium hypochlorite solution (Clorox or equivalent)
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3 quarts of water
After using either solution, ALWAYS rinse thoroughly with clean water! For other possible solutions to clean your deck around your sunroom, consult maintenance professionals and the manufacture’s manual.