Daunted by Deck Cleaning? Don’t be. Deck Brighten-Up Part 1 – Wood. It's Real.

Home improvement—and maybe life improvement—tricks to make projects easier.

By WIR Contributor Mark Clement

Deck cleaning is an unromantic title to a project that I often find rewarding, not that hard, and once I’m into it, enjoyable. I love brightening a deck and bringing the wood out from under who-knows-how-much dirt and whatever.

But deck brighten ups are one of those jobs that I like to give what I call a “long runway.” That’s because there are lots of little preparations that—if you try to do them all at once—can be frustrating or lead to roadblocks. Add to this dynamic that deck cleaning isn’t something we do every day so we need to pay extra attention to getting the ducks lined up in their row.

And, not to be too dweeby, but I think this long runway approach works for lots of things with disparate parts that need to be wrangled. Given enough time and enough attention, breaking big problems and challenges into smaller parts usually helps solve them. Taken alone, small things are easier to manage and understand. And it’s in understanding that life problems get solved.

>Mark gets off soapbox, keeps typing