I have recently had a new merbau deck installed by my brother as he has built several in the past without any problems. Structurally the deck is superb and I cannot fault his workmanship - the main problem I seem to have is with the surface of the merbau.

The deck itself was finished on Wednesday (8th) and on the same day the Cabot's Deck Clean was applied. On Thursday and Friday, two coats of Cabot's Decking Oil was applied over the merbau.

Fast forward to Sunday, I was out in the garden with my partner working on the side garden bed next to the decking, and throughout the day we had dust and dirt on the top of the decking. I rinsed and cleaned this with water from the hose and brushed any excess water with a household broom.

This left small bubbles of water on the surface (due to the oil), but once dried... it would leave a white/grey residue on top of the decking. I again cleaned the deck yesterday (Monday 13th), again soaking the deck with water and then using a scrubbing deck broom to clean these marks off the deck.

The deck is now free of these water marks, but I am now left with areas on the deck that appear rough in appearance and also rough and coarse to touch. Is this a direct result of how I have been cleaning the deck over the last few days?

Is it also due to the amount of water placed on top of the deck? And should I be getting a professional in to sand back the surface so it is all smooth and then re-apply the decking oil?

Are these "rough" areas on the merbau part of the natural wood, or caused by my excessive cleaning?

I am unsure where to go next - hence why I am here - there are dirt patches on the deck today (as we have a labrador dog who roams around our dirt-patched backyard) and he has left dirty prints over the deck surface.

Is there a more efficient and harmless way or cleaning dirt from the surface of the merbau? I have tried to brush it off - but it seems like it's baked on!

Hopefully some of you can take the time to reply - please refer to the photos below for the "roughness" on the deck that I am speaking of. Thank you for reading and I look forward to some replies soon!

Regards, Shaun (sticks1977)
















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