Reviving and Finishing Western Red Cedar Deck

[Damian30]

Hi,

I am coming under a bit of pressure from the good lady to complete the decking project I started last year!

I started putting down some Wester Red Cedar decking last year and it has been left untreated over the winter and weathered accordingly with the UV, etc. She would like it cleaned up and the 'original' colour revived as much as possible and then oiled to give it some partial protection for the next 12 months.

Does anyone have any good practical advice and suggestions on the above, particularly on recommended products and techniques. Appreciate that you will never totally defeat nature but it would be nice to get back to a clean natural looking cedar deck if possible (and save me some grief in the meantime). There appears to be a minefield of products out there (the OSMO range seems interesting as I've used these indoors previously) but any words of wisdom would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance,

Damian

 

[Thermo]

is it flat or grooved boarding?

 

[Damian30]

Flat Thermo

 

[Thermo]

a light sanding will give the best result. pressure washer will leave marks.

then oil it.

 

[Damian30]

Hi Thermo,

Thanks for the advice.

Before considering sanding, rightly or wrongly I've tried a deck cleaner (Osmo Wood Reviver) which is an oxalic acid based product.

I've done just over half the deck twice with a diluted mixture of this product and it has started to clean things up as you can hopefully see in the attached picture.

Untitled

• Damian30
• 6 Jul 2010
• 1

I haven't been able to get back the individual tones of the different timbers and it is still not fully cleaned but I'm undecided whether to just get an oil on it now (this should bring back some colour in itself) and do a major clean up next year; or whether it is worth investing the time now on a light sanding (100 grit orbital sander).

Any further thoughts? As you can see, I've still got a bit of work left to complete in the garden so I'm trying to balance how much more to put in the deck before I finish off the rest before Autumn!

Thanks again for the advice,

Damian

 

[Omaha Lado]

Hi damian.


Did you Have any success restoring the color of the ceder. Got the same problem here...Any help welcome


Cheers