Deck maintenance, by material.

Mild dish soap and warm water cover 90% of cleaning jobs. For tougher stains or mould/mildew, use a non-butyl, non-solvent cleaner formulated for capped composite — TUDS SUDS Deck Cleaner is our house brand and works on Trex, Eva-Last, Fiberon, and Deckorators caps. Avoid: oil-based cleaners (will stain the cap), strong solvents (can craze cap polymers), bleach over 10% concentration (can fade the colour). For mould or mildew specifically, a 1:4 white-vinegar-and-water mix scrubbed in works on most cap technologies.

Yes, with rules. Stay 12 inches off the board. Use a 25-degree fan tip (never a 0-degree pencil tip). Keep PSI below 1500. Move with the grain. This applies equally to composite, PVC, cedar, hardwood, and pressure-treated. What kills any deck surface is a high-PSI pencil tip held 2 inches off the board — that'll lift composite cap, raise wood grain into splinters, and force water under the boards. If you don't have a pressure washer, soapy water + a soft-bristle brush + a garden hose gets you 95% of the way there in 30 extra minutes.

Cedar with a film-forming stain: every 1–3 years (and you'll be sanding off failed stain regularly). Cedar with a penetrating oil like Cutek Extreme: every 12–18 months on the Prairies. South-facing decks land closer to 12 months. Shaded decks 18+ months. Cutek doesn't peel because it's a penetrating oil, not a film — when it's time to refresh, you clean with Cutek Quick-Clean, let dry, and re-coat. No sanding, no stripping. Full Cutek guide.

Most deck "stains" are film-forming — they sit on top of the wood as a coating. They look great new, but on the Prairies the freeze-thaw cycle pulls moisture in and out of the wood every winter, and a film coating eventually cracks, peels, and flakes. Then you're sanding it off. Cutek Extreme is a penetrating oil-based wood stabilizer — it diffuses INTO the wood fibre and protects from inside out. There's no film to fail. When you refresh it, you clean and re-coat — no sanding required. That's the Cutek pitch in one paragraph, and it's why TUDS sells it for cedar and hardwood. Full Cutek guide.

Five-step fall checklist for any Saskatchewan deck: (1) Sweep all leaves and pine needles before snow flies — leaf tannins under snow will stain composite and rot wood. (2) Clear water from low spots so it can't pool and freeze. (3) On wood (cedar, hardwood, PT): apply a fresh coat of finish in late August or September if the schedule's due — it preps the wood for freeze-thaw. (4) Stage your snow tools: plastic shovel only, corn-broom for the last inch, NO ice-melt salt. (5) Inspect once more — pop-up screws are easier to fix in October than in March.

Plastic, always. A metal shovel will scratch the cap on composite (Trex, Eva-Last, Fiberon, Deckorators) and the surface on PVC. Scratches in the cap are the most common warranty rejection — manufacturers will void coverage if the damage is mechanical. On wood, metal can gouge softer cedar and PT. Use a flat-edge plastic shovel, lift snow rather than push, and finish with a corn-broom for the last inch. And no salt. Most composite warranties exclude ice-melt salt damage. Sand or non-corrosive ice melter (calcium magnesium acetate) only.

Mould on composite is almost always a cleanliness issue, not a board issue — leaf debris, pollen, or organic matter sitting wet feeds the mould. The cure is a clean: scrub with a 1:4 white-vinegar-and-water mix, or a non-butyl cleaner like TUDS SUDS, with a soft-bristle brush. Rinse thoroughly. Avoid bleach concentrations over 10% — strong bleach will fade the cap. Once clean, get the deck on a twice-a-year wash cadence and the mould won't come back. If a specific board has persistent mould around a knot or fastener despite cleaning, contact the brand for a warranty claim — most caps include a mould-resistance clause.

Fix first — replace if the wood underneath is cracked. A popped face-screw is usually just a screw that's backed out of the joist as the wood seasonal-cycles. Drive it back down, or pull and replace with the next-size-up structural screw. On hidden-fastener composite, slide a putty knife along the gap and reseat any clip that has crept upward. If the joist itself is cracked or the screw spins (no bite), that's a board-replacement situation — the joist needs sistering or replacement before the new fastener will hold. Pop-up fasteners are the #1 spring service call we get; most are fixable in five minutes per board.

Repair when: a single fastener has popped, an end-cap has chipped, a small surface scratch exists, or a cap composite has a localized colour fade from a heat source. Replace when: a wood board is splintered along the length, a wood board is rotted at the end-grain, a composite board has cap delamination (cap separating from core), or any structural framing member (joist, beam, post) is rotted or cracked. Composite boards mid-deck are replaceable using hidden-fastener access — you don't need to dismantle the whole deck. Match new boards to old: composite stays the same colour for 25+ years; wood will weather, so install new boards proud and let them weather in for one season.