Redwood

[Blown Away]

Stupid question, but you know the only stupid question is the one that is not asked. I have to clean a redwood deck, can I treat it the same way I would a cedar deck, cleaner , brightener and so forth?

 

[Mike Hughes]

Amen.

Yes, you should be able to use the same process as you would on cedar, but go easy on it...........use only as much chemical as you need, and use minimal pressure.

Some brands of stain/sealers have a special formula for redwood. Look into that before you seal it like you normally would. I know Ready Seal has a redwood only formula.

 

[Blown Away]

Thanks, I kind of figured but wanted to make sure. This client owns a department store in the area and wants to supply all of my material. Fine whatever makes him happy. Seems dead set in his ways. He wants to seal this redwood deck with CWF. After research I will advise him to use a seal that is preferred for redwood.

 

[Mike Hughes]

I wouldnt want my worst ememy to seal their deck with CWF. Especially redwood! Talk him out of it....... On the flip side, more money for you.........charge him double next year to strip it all off and do it right.......

 

[Blown Away]

He is probably going to be a tough sell considering that he has CWF in stock at his store. I e-mailed ready seal to see what kind of sales pitch that I could give this guy regarding thier redwood product. Waiting for a reply, any information I could use to change this guys mind and lead him towards the better would be greatly appreciatted.

 

[charlie]

Stop. Only use Oxalic acid to clean the deck anything else will darken the wood. As for treatment only use a redwood deck treatment on it.

Charlie

 

[Mike Hughes]

If you want to sell him on Ready Seal, you can tell him that it will not need to be stripped off the next time you go to reseal the deck. You can give it a light cleaning and reapply. If you tried that with CWF, you'd end up with quite a mess in a few years.

The Ready Seal is penetrating, so it soaks into the wood. When you go to do the deck again, you clean it, reapply, and the RS will soak in some more. You can do this probably two times before the deck will have to be stripped. A huge advantage over CWF and the like.

 

[Blown Away]

Thanks for the help! Did the job with sodium hydroxide and oxalic acid. Followed the advice of past posts and this post. Started figuring while I was doing the deck and looking around. House was done partially with redwood siding and fence was also redwood. Deck came out great and owner saw deck come out looking good and did not like the way the house and fence looked compared to deck. Got the house and the deck. Also talked him out of using CWF and waiting on infor from Ready Seal. This site is a great help be SOL without it.

Thanks Again.

Steve
Blown Away