When you are going to maintain or renovate your outdoor wood (decking, cladding, garden furniture), you will probably clean the wood with cleaning, decontaminating or degreasing products. You can use a high-pressure cleaner to apply them. However, the use of this accessory requires some precautions in order to use it properly on wood. In this article, we give you some advice on how to clean outdoor wood (terraces, cladding, garden furniture). We will also give you some tips on how to protect your wood after cleaning.

USING A HIGH-PRESSURE CLEANER ON YOUR OUTDOOR WOODWORK: PRECAUTIONS TO TAKE

outdoor wood pressure washer

When using a pressure washer on wood, some species are more suitable than others :

  • Hardwoods such as exotic woods (teak, ipe, etc.) are very suitable for use with a high pressure cleaner. We recommend that you always leave enough space between the jet and the wood (about 50 cm) so as not to damage the wood fibres.

  • Softwoods such as Douglas fir, larch or autoclave-treated pine are quite fragile. We recommend cleaning with a broom instead.

Before cleaning your entire surface with a pressure washer, we recommend that you always test a small area to ensure that the cleaner does not damage your wood.

Avoid cleaning in direct sunlight or dry weather to avoid evaporation of the cleaning agents.

 

WHAT PRODUCTS SHOULD I USE TO CLEAN MY EXTERIOR WOOD ?

In general, two phenomena affect exterior wood :

  • Greying of the wood due to UV radiation. In this case, we recommend Degreaser DG105 which can be sprayed on with a high-pressure cleaner depending on the type of wood.

  • Blackening of the wood (black marks and dots, non-mould). In this case, use Wood Cleaner N100 or the Concentrated Wood Cleaner N140 to degrease the wood thoroughly.

Note : N100 Cleaner and N140 Cleaner can be used to remove old, non-film-forming finishes such as oil on exterior wood. For more information, see this article on renovating an oiled wood deck

 

WHAT TO DO AFTER CLEANING YOUR OUTDOOR WOODS ?

Simply cleaning your exterior wood is not enough to protect it. If you do not apply a protective product, your wood will remain exposed to UV light and will quickly turn grey. To combat the greying of wood, we recommend applying a wood saturator after cleaning your surface.

 

PRODUCTS FOR CLEANING EXTERIOR WOOD WITH A HIGH PRESSURE CLEANER

Degreaser DG105

Degreaser DG105

Wood Cleaner N100

Wood Cleaner N100

N140

Concentrated Wood Cleaner N140

Concentrated Wood Cleaner N140

Back to top