Most of California relies heavily on its wet winter months to avoid drought conditions. While this is great news for refreshing the area’s vegetation and refilling water supplies, it’s not always ideal for your outdoor deck. To ensure it stays in tip-top condition regardless of how much rain and snow your area receives, here are a few key things that you may want to do.
Why Is Pre-Winter Maintenance Important?
During the fall, you likely have a lot of different maintenance tasks to do for your home to prepare it for winter. While it could be easy to ignore your deck, that’s not the best idea. When your deck undergoes prolonged exposure to moisture, it can lead to splitting, rotting, and warping, which can all affect the structural integrity of your deck. Also, when your desk experiences a combination of excessive moisture and sunshine, it can lead to mold and mildew growth alongside unsightly fading.
Winter Deck Maintenance Checklist
Remove Items
It can be tempting to leave potted plants and outdoor furniture on your deck over the winter, especially when it comes to enjoying those sunny days. However, that’s not the best idea. Make it a habit to store your outdoor furniture, grill, potted plants, and anything else you have situated on your deck somewhere else. Leaving these items on your deck over the winter can allow them to unnecessarily trap moisture, which can lead to premature rotting as well as mold and mildew growth. You may even notice discoloration of your decking material.
Check for Damage
After removing items, check your deck for any damage. It isn’t uncommon for furniture to hide potential damage like rotting from your sight. It’s important to look over all the visible components of your deck. Walk over all the boards, especially around the edges, to see if there is any instability.
Pay mind to any loose nails, nail pops, wood splits, and even warping. Be sure to add some water to your deck and see if there are any divots that are allowing pooling to occur. Any of these issues should be properly addressed before you do anything else to prepare your deck for the winter season. It’s never a good idea to let problems go until next year, as they will only get worse with time.
Trim Back Shrubbery
Don’t allow your deck to come into direct contact with shrubbery. It attracts moisture and leads to premature rotting. Instead, be sure to trim back all your shrubbery to give a good distance between it and your deck. If any branches are hanging over your deck, it’s a good idea to trim them back. No matter how healthy a tree may be, it’s susceptible to breaking under strong wind gusts and heavy snow. Plus, trimming back branches comes with the added benefit of not having leaves and twigs accumulating on your deck’s surface.
Do a Thorough Washing
Over the year, your deck accumulates a lot of debris. Some of it can get stuck in the various grains of the wood. It’s best to give your deck a thorough washing to prevent any permanent debris from adhering to it. You can use a pressure washer on a low setting to help remove stuck-on debris. Using a mild soap mixed with water will work for most wooden decks. If your deck has mildew growth that won’t come off with mild soap, there are specific mildew cleaners designed for wooden decking that can be a good backup choice.
Apply New Sealant
Your deck needs a sealant to naturally repel water. Without this sealant, water can be absorbed into the wood and cause unwanted expansion as well as premature deterioration. Before applying any sealant to your deck, it’s a good idea to give it a light sanding. This not only helps to remove any extra dirt that’s trapped in the wood fibers but also allows a sealant to better penetrate the wood. Be sure to vacuum up the dust so it doesn’t get trapped inside the sealant.
Consider Tarping
If you don’t use your deck much in winter, you may want to consider tarping it off. This will go a long way in helping to prevent damage to the floorboards, as no water or snow will come in contact with them. It’s important to secure the tarp so that it doesn’t go anywhere during bouts of strong wind gusts. Additionally, make sure that your deck is completely dry when you apply the tarp, as you don’t want to trap moisture underneath it. It’s necessary to remove the tarp on nice days to allow any moisture that makes its way under the tarp to dry out.
Remove Snow Regularly
While it’s great to know that your deck is properly ready to take on the winter months, your maintenance doesn’t stop there. Whenever you get a notable amount of snow, you need to remove it from your deck. This helps to take it a step further and protect your deck from damage and fading. It’s ideal to use a snowblower to safely remove the snow. If you don’t have one, be sure to use your snow shovel in the same direction that your decking planks flow. This will go a long way in preventing unwanted scarring of your wood by your snow shovel.
Avoid Salting
If you live in a region of California that experiences freezing temperatures during the winter, you may be tempted to throw salt on your deck. While salt can be a great way to prevent black ice, it’s not an ideal material to have in contact with your wood deck. In fact, salt will not only work to deteriorate the protective sealant but can also end up causing corrosion of the metal fasteners that hold your deck together. Unfortunately, when your deck’s fasteners corrode, you may not notice until you go to use your deck.
Consider Upgrading to Composite Decking
Wood is one of the most prominent decking materials thanks to its fast availability and easy installation process. However, wood decking requires consistent upkeep to prevent damage during the winter. If you don’t want to perform this upkeep each year, consider upgrading to composite decking material.
Composite is better suited for winter weather. It’s not only highly durable but also requires much less maintenance than wood decking does. You can even get it in a variety of different colors and designs to match the overall aesthetics of your home. Composite decking is moisture-resistant, too, so you never have to worry about issues like mold or mildew growth. Even better, composite deck boards won’t warp, rot, split, crack, or even fade.
Reliable Deck Maintenance Service
Taylor Made Construction offers reliable deck maintenance service for homeowners throughout the Shingle Springs, CA community. Our technicians can assist with all your siding, decking, window, door, fence, patio, dry rot repair, and kitchen and bathroom remodeling needs.
Contact us at Taylor Made Construction today to schedule a service consultation.
