My old wooden deck went from gray to golden brown in just a month

I used a $15 pump sprayer to apply a basic oxalic acid wood brightener, and it completely lifted the weathered gray layer. Has anyone else had good results with this method on pressure-treated pine?

3 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

3 Comments

lewis.diana6mo ago

Oxalic acid is a great cleaner, but it's not a wood brightener. That's a common mix-up. The real brightener is usually sodium percarbonate, the main part of oxygen bleach. Oxalic acid is better for removing dark stains like rust or tannin spots. It works well, but for turning gray wood back to brown, you likely used a different product.

2

spencer_ross6mo ago

Yeah, that stuff works like magic on my fence too.

1

noah_sullivan6mo ago

Magic is right, until you realize you've got the same bottle from three years ago and it's turned into a solid brick of goo in the garage. Stuff works great if you can actually get it out of the container. Feels like you need a chisel and some luck just to open it. Probably should have read the part about storing it somewhere warm, but who has time for that. Still beats watching the fence turn into gray dust though.

10