So if you've read my facebook status this evening, you already know that I am totally miffed that our barely two years old deck is not wearing as well as we anticipated it would. We bought Veranda composite decking in a beautiful light cedar color from Home Depot in 2008. I am not an impulsive person, actually quite the opposite, when it comes to large purchases, so please know that we spent months researching the best decking for our tri-level deck (that my husband designed).
The deck boards looked great when my husband first screwed them down (which was a process in itself - I probably cannot count on one hand how many drill bits were stripped!), but toward the end of that summer it started to get little black spots everywhere. Every few days I would get down to work with a toothbrush and a mild dish detergent/water mixture to remove the pesky spots. I know it sounds anal, but the decking wasn't cheap!! Rewind for a second to the moments before purchasing the decking. More than one Home Depot employee, along with the Veranda website, stated that the composite decking was virtually maintenance free but that it might need to be sprayed off with a regular garden hose at the beginning of spring each year. So we sprayed it off last year, and again this year. But that didn't remove or prevent green algae-like stains and black mildew(???) spots from covering the deck boards.
A few weeks ago I went to Home Depot to announce my grievance and get some advice, and I was told to buy this rather expensive composite deck cleaner that you have to apply with a mild to rough brush. Did I mention our deck is 500 square feet? But the directions clearly state that one must scrub, let sit for 15 minutes, but NOT allow the product to dry on the deck. Um, hello, it's SUMMER!!! So late this afternoon when the sun hid behind our pine tree I whipped up a mixture of cleanser and water and went to town on a set of stairs. While it removed most of the green algae stains, it did not really remove the black mildew stains. In my opinion it should look better than it does, but I guess I'll take it! My husband built this deck from scratch and I know he wants it to look perfect, or at least close. A lot of blood, sweat, and swears went into that deck, so we want it to look good for a long time! Here's to hoping Veranda gets back to me soon regarding the email I sent today :)
I guess my question for the night is: What is the point of buying the "best" product if it doesn't live up to its promise? Or is this just another example of the Walmart/warehouse effect?
awww. that really stinks. i hope you hear from them soon. and not that you should have to do anything to a "low/no maintenance" deck, but what would happen if you tried a pressure washer? i know you can rent them at some stores, like Home Depot and such, maybe just another way for them to make money off of the consumer. :( I would be really disappointed, you take pride in your home, work to make it the way you want it and in the end you still get screwed. i hope you hear back from them, and they actually DO SOMETHING about it!! that is crazy. good luck!!
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