You have a wooden terrace and you find that its colour is lightening, that its tint is less bright than in the early days. It is likely that your deck is undergoing a natural ageing process, also known as wood greying. This phenomenon is perfectly normal, but it can quickly become disturbing if you like the original colour of your wooden deck. Other alterations may also appear, such as the blackening of the wood. These two phenomena only modify the aesthetic appearance of wooden decks, the strength and durability of the wood remains preserved.
Grey wood decks and blackened wood decks have their own characteristics and are not maintained in the same way, which is why it is very important to recognise the phenomenon that alters the aesthetic appearance of your wood and how to treat it.
HOW DO I KNOW IF A WOODEN DECK NEEDS TO BE DE-GREASED ?
HOW TO RECOGNISE A GREY WOODEN TERRACE ?
As we have said, there are two natural wood weathering phenomena: greying and blackening of wooden decks. Your wooden deck should only be degreased if it has turned grey over time. But then how can you recognise a greying wooden deck ?
A grey wooden terrace is characterised by a dulling of the natural colour of the wood due to repeated exposure to UV and weathering. This looks like a grey veil on the surface of the wood. Greying is a phenomenon that affects all woods (exotic or European). A grey wooden deck will not have black marks or black dots on the surface of the wood. If your wooden deck is only greyed, you can degrease the wooden deck. We advise you to use a wood degreasing product such as Degreaser DG105. This product can be applied on tarnished wood and helps to combat the greying of the wood.
HOW TO RECOGNISE A BLACKENED WOODEN TERRACE ?
Conversely, a blackened terrace is characterised by numerous black spots, dots or marks on the surface of the wood. These are generally surface moulds that go away by scratching with a nail. These moulds cause an aesthetic alteration of your wood and not a technical alteration (they are not lignivorous). You do not need to carry out a fungicide treatment. In this case, you do not need to degrease the wood immediately. You must clean the blackened wooden deck with a wood degreasing product such as Wood Cleaner N100 or its concentrated version Concentrated Wood Cleaner N140. Once you have applied this product, the application of a deck degreaser is useful if the colour of your deck remains dull. In some cases, when the wooden deck has been poorly maintained in the past, the joint action of Wood Cleaner N100 (or Concentrated Wood Cleaner N140) may be required.
Be aware that when you want to "recover" a grey or blackened terrace, you are renovating a wooden terrace.
IS IT NECESSARY TO APPLY A SATURATOR AFTER CLEANING THE WOODEN DECK ?
Once you have restored your grey or blackened deck, you need to apply a wood deck saturator. Indeed, when your deck is grey or blackened, the products recommended above are not intended to enhance the original colour of the wood. They will eliminate the greying or blackening of the wood but will not restore the original colour of the wood. For this purpose, saturator is the ideal product. For a European wood terrace, we can recommend the Terrace Wood Saturator ST600. If you have an exotic wood, prefer the Exotic Wood Saturator SBE600. A wood deck saturator is very easy to apply in layers.
To renovate your wooden deck, we advise you to choose a stained saturator to recover the original colour of the wood you have lost. In addition to restoring the almost original colour of your wooden deck, the saturator will protect it from UV rays and bad weather. This is very important to prevent it from turning grey or black again.
Regular protection of your wood deck with a wood saturator will maintain the colour of the substrate and save you from having to renovate your wood deck by applying wood degreasers or cleaners. Once the saturator has been applied, simply apply a new coat as soon as you find your wood dull.
