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How do you make a decking non slip?

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  • You can buy anti slip decking stain or paint which should help - Cuprinol does one and some other big brands
  • glasgowdanglasgowdan Posts: 632
    edited December 2019
    Obelixx said:
    If it's a hard wood deck it will be fine with a power washer but the cheaper softwood ones get splintery very quickly when power washed.   Happened to someone I know.  Especially not good for children or pets and looks awful.

    In Belgium there's a decent rainfall each year so the biocide treatment doesn't last long and can't be good for other microbes in nearby soil.   Even treated railway sleeper steps grow green stuff so short of some serious tar type paint, chicken wire is cheap, effective and unobtrusive.  Just need some help to stretch it out and a staple gun to pin it down.

    I've power washed a great many decks, and I use a 4000psi commercial washer. The idea is to hold the nozzle back so just the right force touches the wood. Biocides act on organic matter, which breaks them down. And the weather in Scotland is probably at least twice as wet as Belgium; it's the best way to keep them clear of algae and non-slippy. I wouldn't ever use chicken wire as it looks really horrid and messy and you just end up looking at the filth and algae/mould. 
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Glasgow's average annual rainfall equates to my local town's when I lived in Belgium.

    As I understand it, you are a professional gardener so used to handling a pressure washer and I expect you do it rather well.   Most of us aren't and I've seen some horrendous results when people use the wrong head at the wrong angle and the wrong distance.  

    I really don't think decking and damp climates go well together.   Mind you, last year we had an unusually wet November and even our concrete terrace grew algae and got slippery.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Obelixx said:
    Glasgow's average annual rainfall equates to my local town's when I lived in Belgium.

    As I understand it, you are a professional gardener so used to handling a pressure washer and I expect you do it rather well.   Most of us aren't and I've seen some horrendous results when people use the wrong head at the wrong angle and the wrong distance.  

    I really don't think decking and damp climates go well together.   Mind you, last year we had an unusually wet November and even our concrete terrace grew algae and got slippery.

    I do hate decking and can't wait until it goes out of fashion!
  • 👍 
    There are very few places where it’s used well. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Andy19Andy19 Posts: 671
    The new composite decking is the way to go a great product daughter got new house last year and I done an area 5mt x3mt. Was up doing her garden yesterday and not a bit of green on it and was wet and but not slippery in any way.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Well - I had a deck in a previous garden round the corner from this one, and I loved it.  :)

    South facing [the most suitable aspect ] and it got a wee wash with a stiff broom and some fairy liquid each spring [bordered some planting so no problem with runoff] and was used regularly by myself and my children, and friends and family. 
    We had French doors leading out to it, and I tended to use that instead of the back door. On warm days it was lovely to walk on with bare feet.

    The only time it was slippy was at this time of year, understandably. It was perfect for us as the garden was a very odd shape and sloped in every direction, and the house was elevated.

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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