Hitting the deck

My animosity toward decking is well-documented. So it's only right that the garden gods have bestowed upon me a large patch of the stuff in my new garden.

In fact I shouldn't grace the surface with the title of decking, as it's not easy as swish as that - just a lot of wooden planks really. As my daughter and I discovered the other day while walking about on it, it's devilishly slippery when wet. She could hardly keep her Peppa Pig wellies from shooting out beneath her, and I fared only a little better. We rapidly retreated inside before we were, quite literally, decked.

I shouldn't moan about my new garden, as it's got a lot going for it. It's about 70ft (so the estate agent's bumph claimed) and has the aforementioned lush plum and pear trees. There's a tumbledown garage alongside the decking that we're hoping to turn into a useful building, with a garden office at one end, with my potting shed domain at the other. The rest is mainly lawn and a weird gravel bed at the back with a few sad looking shrubs. But it's got oodles of potential and I am looking forward to licking it into shape. Very slowly, probably - but first things first, the decking has to go. I am thinking of slate paving, or maybe Yorkstone or brick, broken up with some railway-sleeper raised beds for some veg and so forth.

It'll take a while to get this organised, as I think the garage renovation will need to go hand-in-hand with the new patio. So, in the meantime, anyone got cunning tips for saving a little girl and her mum from slippery wood surfaces every time it rains?

Comments

[Woody Wilbury]

Well, there's the obvious but unhelpful approach of staying indoors! But that's a bit unadventurous and you may instead want to try a pressure washer on it. Give it a good blasting and it'll get rid of the all the slippery slimy muck and make it safe again (and it's great fun too) But don't do what a friend of mine did - pressure washing in flip-flops is definitely not a good idea; she almost lost a toe.

[The Garden Monkey]

As a short term fix throw dry sand on it.

Just a light dusting should give enough grip to stop skidding.

Or let the wee-un have a field day and throw masses of the stuff around. Mind you - it will get stomped into the house

"Pe-ppa-Pig!"

Oink

[Kat]

Paint mixed with sand works well and lasts. If you can't commit to one shade of paint stencil a colorful garden path.

[jane Perrone]

Kat, you win the kudos for the best idea so far. This could look quite funky, and I happen to have been left half a bag of sharp sand in the garage. Along with a potentially collectible (I think) piece of art glass, which I am hoping I can take along to The Antiques Roadshow and make thousands from.

[Molly]

I have wooden steps leading up to my house and when they get slippery it's my cue to re-seal the wood. The latex-based deck treatment I use keeps the water from soaking into the wood and makes for a non-skid surface. I pressure wash first, and then brush on the sealant while the wood is still damp.

[Natalie El-Barrawi]

top tip for skiddy wood-when you brush on the sealant stuff/varnish chuck sand on it while its tacky to give you some grip when it dries.

salty sand and a stiff broom should help to clean off the slippery stuff initially.

[Woody Wilbury]

Burgon and Ball (a well-established Sheffield firm) have brooms with wire ends, specially designed and marketed for cleaning decking (about £20 in a local garden centre). Try them and keep a good Sheffield business going!