We wanted to stain our pergola, but before we could, we needed to clean the wood pergola. Here’s how we cleaned ours.
Build a wood pergola: Check.
Maintain a wood pergola: NOT check.
Come with me on this journey as I make almost every mistake possible bringing this un-cared for pergola back from the depths of dingy. However, this story has a happy ending. I learned a lot and want to share it with you.
The main challenge through every phase of this cleaning project was extremes in body position. It seems that either the piece I needed to work on was far away and required working with a long handle (both inefficient and difficult), or it’s right above me and the long-handled tool is in the way.
The key, which I’ll show you below, is to be smarter than the pergola is confusing. In the end, I did clean the wood pergola.
One thing I didn’t have to do three times was protect the ceiling fan. Deck stripper and detergent would do a number on the finish, so I removed the blades and encapsulated the housing in a contractor trash bag.
Bag it up and make extra sure the bag is sealed. I used Gorilla Tape for a solid lock.
This mistake is commonly made in many DIY projects. I didn’t read the product label carefully enough and chose the wrong product for my application. I’ve literally done videos on this topic and it still snuck by me.
I thought the product I chose would strip the finish, but that’s not what it’s made for. Instead of a deck stripper, I used a detergent/wood brightener, Thompson’s WaterSeal 3-in-1 Wood Cleaner. That’s sort of like washing your car with a dry rag. Funny thing is, I have lots of pictures of me applying and pressure washing this off.
Well, funny if you’re not the guy who spent a whole day doing it.
To remove an existing coating, you need a stripping product. This one works well. I have used different strippers on this same stain for other jobs and they do not break down the finish as well as this Thompson’s WaterSeal Maximum Strength Deck Stripper did. I can’t prove that, but I saw it happen with my own eyes.
Also, the face shield. This job is un-doable without it. More on that later.
Applying the stripper is the first step in bringing this pergie (see how to build a wood pergola) back to like-new vibrance. I found using a thick nap foam roller and an extension want was the fastest way to do this job—until later when I figured out a better way, which I’ll show you below.
This also points up why the face shield is vital—eye and skin protection. Applying this material overhead requires extra care because it’s liquid, meant to strip paint, and drips are inevitable because of this thing called gravity.
I applied with the roller doing each side of three rafters at a time. I then re-wet it with a garden sprayer, then I scrubbed it with a deck brush, then rinsed with a pressure washer.
This is an actual photo of me doing this the least efficient way possible.
Deck strippers work best when you let them chemically break down the stain, then—while still wet—you hit it with a stiff bristle brush. This is easy enough on a deck. But a wood pergola, not so much. You’re either too far away to work efficiently or you’re too close to use the tool at the proper angle. Which led me to…
This worked, but it was not fun. I have, however, used Quickie brushes like this on deck spindles and it is a thing of beauty.
Wait, what? This stuff works great. Maybe I can pull this off after all. Note, however, the library of ladders.
Note the ladder. The Thompson’s WaterSeal Maximum Strength Deck Stripper has worked and now I’m on to the Thompson’s WaterSeal 3-in-1 Wood Cleaner. I’m finally doing things in the correct order—but I’m still up and down a ladder a million times and moving stuff around like crazy.
The light has not gone off yet for how to do this better. But, I’ve moved from being seriously bummed out to surviving. Next stop: Thriving.
And, I have pretty much locked on to something else I think is helpful. Having help is great for a job like this. There are lots of things to do—re-wetting surfaces, moving things around, filling the pressure washer with gas, enjoying a lovely day outdoors with someone you love—that two people can do better than one lone wolf.
With the stripping and cleaning vision quest behind me, I move on to our compost bin and grill platform. There’s something enticing about seeing dirt and grime that took so many years to accumulate you can barely see it being washed away in minutes.
Applied with a garden sprayer to weathered wood with no finish on it was—as internet memes say—incredibly satisfying. The wood emerged from seasons of schmutz with near zero effort.
Now that the clean the wood pergola job is finished, it’s time to apply the stain.
