One of the questions that I am asked quite often is what can I clean my deck with that is safe for my Undercover System. The answer depends on the type of decking material used on your deck.
First I want to say that you should never use Chlorinated Bleach. Chlorinated Bleach is harmful to plants, not good for metals (painted and unpainted), and unsafe for the environment. Not to mention that continued use of Chlorinated Bleach can cause damage to fasteners, some of which attach your deck to your home. I know that it is easy to pour a little bleach in a bucket, dilute with water and proceed to bleach away, but the long term effects are not worth it.
Natural Wood Decks – Sodium Percarbonate is good choice for excellent cleaning properties, safe for plants, humans and the environment. Oxyclean is this type of product but the sodium percarbonate content is not great enough in some instances to properly clean a wooden deck. Sodium Percarbonate cleaners are available on-line, Click Here or at a commercial paint supplier. Usually the Big Box Home Stores do not carry this product. They stock deck cleaners that have Chlorinated Bleach as one of the ingredients.
Synthetic Decks – We have submitted our metals used on our Undercover Systems to a company called Corte Clean. This product is safe for fasteners, the environment and does a good job of cleaning decks and has had no effect on the test samples that we sent them for trial.
Their website is corteclean.com. Tell them that we referred you and they will be very familiar with our company and product.
The exposed metal ceiling surface rarely needs to be cleaned but it becomes dirty, spray with a water hose or low pressure, pressure washer to dampen and remove the debris. If additional cleaning is required, use dish washing detergent and a sponge mop to remove any spots. Rinse after done and dry with towels or blow dry with a leaf blower.
One last thing, if you use a pressure washer in conjunction with any of the above, use low pressure so that you do not raise the grain and damage your deck.
Rain will usually keep debris washed out of the ceiling. If you notice a drop off of water exiting the downspouts during a rain, the front gutter may have a build-up. To check this, push the ceiling panel up that is directly over the downspout location and reach in to clear any debris. After the downspouts are cleared, place a hose in the center of the front gutter, between the ceiling and gutter and allow water to flow and clear the rest of the gutter.
If you have any questions or require further instructions, please call your local dealer or email undercvr@bellsouth.net”
