see my post ,i am having a real problem with my deck.

its turning awful dark with black all over it.

when i did my deck new year or so ago, it was BEAUTIFUL.

it then faded,i used ATO mahony flame on it,after using brightner.

wood grain did not show through as it did new,now, 2 months later, its a mess,black all over and you can hardly see grain.

so, check my post, maybe someone can suggest what to do now, step by step.

Suzy - you can do a light cleaning of the surface with a MILD bleach water (not the super outdoor stuff - plain bleach at 5:1 max with a smidgen of soap) - it does not take strong or large amounts of bleach to kill mildew. If applied carefully and evenly it should not affect the color.

For anyone joining this discussion - this is for SURFACE mildew, not mildewing under the coating.

Caroina I appreciate all your assistance on the wood restoration front.

I am not trying to hijack this thread, but I built an Ipe deck this summer and the portion of my deck that is in the shadow of a large Hackberry tree is turning a little black like some have described. I have not put any stain on it yet and was planning on doing that next year. I am a little curious though whether this is mildew from the lack of sun or something being dropped by the tree itself (spores or something). The deck I tore down before constructing this deck had a similar black area, although that was old PT. If it is mildew, I just want to make sure I select a surface prep and stain that will work well with this situation. If it something being dropped from the tree I guess there really isn't much that can be done except cut the tree unless regular cleaning would do the trick. Any thoughts?

Riles

Thanks Carolina prowash - this is exactly what I needed. I knew bleach would do it - I just wasn't sure whether it would screw up the finish, which is still pretty nice.

For Commanche - I feel your pain. I've read your other thread, but I don't think my problem is the same as yours. I've got a few mildew spots, mostly where the sun hits the deck last - not a completely blackened surface. I stripped my deck the beginning of this summer, then brightened it (before staining), and it was a LOT of work. For what it's worth, I switched from ATO to Woodtux this year, and I like it a lot better.

As for riles, well, you did hijack the thread, but I don't mind since I got my answer from Carolina. As for your blackness under the tree, I would try a mild bleach/water mixture on it. If it's mildew, the black spots will come off fairly easily. Just be sure you clean it very well next spring to get rid of any latent mildew before you stain. You'll probably have to put down a brightener as well, because by then, the ipe will have silvered some.

After 4 years with our gorgeous ipe deck, I will tell you that ipe is a lot of work unless you are ok with allowing it to go silver. Wish we could do that, but our house is a redwood color, and a grayish-silver deck just would not fly.

Unfortunately Rile, you have all of the makings of a maintenance unfriendly area! Don't know what Hackberry trees drop but anything biological landing is immediate potential mildew food and/or possible staining from the falling stuff. Lack of sun doesn't help to dry areas quickly which will not aid in the fight against mildew either. You definitely need to stain in the optimal circumstances to insure that your coating is allowed to cure without things falling in/on it. If you have mildew problems from underneath, no sealer is going to remedy that.

If your tree drops gunk regularly, you might want to consider a sun sail and let it catch the offending matter?

profsuzy,my deck is mess.

i stripped it today and 8 boards came out COAL BLACK.

all my screw heads,paint came off,thousands of shiny silver heads.

wood drying looks like mess,silver /greeny streacking with no grain or color like when the wood was new.

what a job to remove finish.

it seems that the ATO gets something under it or something is causing it to look bad after 1 year in sun or maybe its ATO breaking down under weather, i dont know but i never expected the ipe to look this bad after 1 year or less after looking so good the first time i sealed it.

Did you follow up the stripping with a neutralizer? Deck boards turning black means the product is working. And yes, stripping a failing stain is a big job.

ATO is notorious for breaking down early. Not sure why you expected your ipe to look good for a year.... I only know of one contractor that gets a year on hardwoods before maintenance - there are hundreds of threads on this forum alone that talk about 3-6 month only on longevity.