GREENBOO BAMBOO PRODUCTS
CLEANING & MAINTENANCE INSTRUCTION

Bamboo will be the preferred and popular material in the near future. Not only is beautiful, it is also stable, durable, natural and easy to work with. All exterior materials require some degraded of maintenance and cleaning, Greenboo exterior products are no exception. Most stains or mold/mildew are caused naturally or environmentally and do not constitute a manufacturing defect. Just like any other wood products, bamboo decking, dimension lumber, post and wall siding etc. are not impervious to grease, mud or stains resulting from normal use and environmental conditions. Mold /Mildew are the number one enemy for any decking no matter bamboo or wood. Careful maintenance and using the correct cleaning products are very important.

How to improve your decking or other products with longer life…?

1. To help prevent mould and mildew, sweep Greenboo bamboo deck or our other product’s surface regularly to keep gaps between planks free from debris, especially when pollen is heavy (typically spring and late summer).
2. Pitch the deck properly away from the house for drainage.
3. Keep your gutters clean. Overflow from a leaf-clogged gutter above Greenboo product is a potential source of food from mould and mildew growth.
4. Keep the under Greenboo deck area well ventilated and free of materials that retain moisture, avoid the use of bark mulch around.
5. Plants should be placed in large flower pot or planter and sweep beneath periodically to prevent mould or mildew from soil runoff and trapped moisture.
6. Avoid the use of lawn or plant fertilizer on the deck or others.
7. If snow or ice on the surface, plastic shovel may be used to remove them, but never use a metal snow shovel for the Greenboo product, it may scratch the surface. Use Calcium Chloride or rock salt to melt the snow and ice from the surface.
8. To help prevent cooking stains, we suggest that grills be placed on a large mat to reduce the deck’s exposure to staining. All food spills should be removed as soon as possible.
9. Scuffs and abrasions can fade or disappear naturally color after 12-16 weeks of weathering. But never use acetone or other solvents on Greenboo bamboo product to maintain the beauty of the surface.
10. Before application of sealers, brush and clean the surface to remove dirt and dust then High quality mildew/mold killer application on the board surface is recommended. There is high quality Mold –Mildew & Stain remover in the market which is especially designed to destroy mold-mildew fungus, dirt, pollutants and pollen.
11. You can greatly reduce the Graying by applying good oil bases sealer.

All of the above factors can contribute to a mildew/mold problem and should be corrected before further action is taken.

How to clean your deck or our other products?
This cleaning and maintenance instruction tell you how to remove stains of mold, mildew, odor causing bacteria, berry stains, bird droppings, food (grease – oils), pet feces / urine, rust and many other stains.

For a lifetime of enjoyment please read entire pages before you using mold-mildew or stains remover or killer.

Do It Yourself items required:
One 2 - 5 gallon pail, one soft and one medium-bristled scrub brush with long pole handles. For maximum protection, wear safety goggles, rubber gloves, non-slip shoes and use outdoors only. A hand-type pump sprayer improves liquid mix coverage.

Caution:  Power Washers, Chlorine bleach or heavy fungicides may cause surface damage, kill flowers, bushes, shrubs and harm the environment.

1. PREPARING TO CLEAN: 
“Sweep or blow off” deck, fence or other removing any loose dirt or particles. If there are flowers, bushes, or shrubs near the deck, spray them off before, during (if spattering occurs onto plants) and immediately after cleaning to remove any cleaner mix that may have been splashed from brushing or spraying deck. 

2. MIXING FIRST-TIME CLEANING:
To remove heavy MOLD, MILDEW and STAINS or remove WINTER DIRT / GRIME, pour one gallon of mold-mildew or stain remover or Oxygen bleach into a 2 - 5 gallon pail with one gallon of water (1:1 mix) to clean approximately 400 square feet. MAINTENANCE CLEANING:  If Mold- Mildew and STAINS are NOT an issue and you simply want to clean and brighten your deck, fence or BAMBOO furniture, add three gallons of water to one gallon of remover (3:1 mix) to clean 1,200 square feet.  To clean light mold or mildew problems, a (10:1) mix cleans 4,000 square feet.   

3. DO IT YOURSELF CLEANING ITEMS NEEDED: 

1. To spread liquid mix, use a soft-bristle scrub brush and long pole handle. A hand-pump sprayer can also be used to spread the mix. 
2. To clean your deck or others, a medium-coarse bristled scrub brush works well to agitate the bubbles deep into cracks, crevasses and grooves of decks, fences or other bamboo products. Using long pole handles allows you to easily spread and agitate the mix into bubbles without straining. 
3. A 2 - 5 gallon pail.  
4. A squeegee for wiping off excess water drops preventing sun spots (sun drying bubbles of water creates small, dark circle spots)

CAUTION:POWER WASHERS will feather, scuff or damage BAMBOO surfaces. We do not recommend use the high-pressure washer, since the streams of the water will erode the sun-damaged bamboo decks. The ultraviolet rays of the sun break down sealers and they start to blast apart the bamboo fibers of the decking. These weakened fibers are easily damaged by pressure washers. It will actually not only splinter the decking but also the pressured water can inject deep into the board and bring back with it some of the mildew acids which we injected into for anti-mildew treatments.
If you must use the pressure water, insert the 35-degree tip and just use the machine to do the final rinse.

4. CLEANING:  Clean a pattern area (Example: 5’ x 5’ or 8’ x 8’)

1. Railings should be done first. 
2. Using a soft-bristled scrub brush or hand-pump style sprayer spread the mix evenly over a pattern area. After creating a thick layer of bubbles, change to the medium-course brush to agitate the bubbles down and into the cracks, crevasses and grooves of bamboo surface(s). There is NO reason to scrub hard for of killing the Mold-Mildew and removing stains.  
3. Let bubbles sit for 10-15 minutes, keep moist, do not let bubbles dry on area you are cleaning. Rinse bubbles off well using a hose and proceed to another area. Repeat process until finished.   

CAUTION: You can also use a solution of oxygen bleach to clean the outdoor bamboo decking or our other product’s surface. Oxygen bleach is not chlorine bleach. Chlorine bleach is toxic to plants and vegetation, can remove the natural color from the bamboo, and also accelerate the corrosion of deck nails, bolts and framing connectors.
Oxygen bleach is a non-toxic powder that dissolves in water. It is not harsh as is chlorine bleach; it does not kill surrounding vegetation, does not remove the color from bamboo either. Once you mix the oxygen bleach with water, it creates a solution with billions of oxygen ions. These ions can rapidly clean mildew and oxidized decking sealers.

5. EFFECT: 
Mold-Mildew and Stain Remover KILLS the spores and fungus that feed Mold and Mildew. It DISSOLVES and LIFTS OUT oils, dirt and grime and BRIGHTENS as it cleans. The first application usually does the job. When scrubbing, if colored bubbles (Brown from dirt, Green from mildew or Black from mold or oil stains) appear, it means you are cleaning a heavy traffic, mold–mildew or deep stain area. This area may require a 2nd cleaning before proceeding. Please repeat above step 4. B & C 

6. FINISH: 
Wipe off excess droplets with a squeegee to prevent SUN SPOTS (sun dried water droplets).

How to sand your decking or other product?
Before use the power-sanding machines, be sure to countersink all nails, and then start to sand the decking or other product’s surface with coarse sandpaper, and then medium. Be sure to remove all dust before you apply the sealer.

How to seal your decking or other product?
Since bamboo fiber structure is harder than the wood, we suggest you use water-based epoxy sealer with synthetic resin. This resin has a smaller molecular can penetrate the dense of bamboo fiber. Also this synthetic resin has no oil to feed the growth of mildew and can slow down the color changing procedure (generally change to grey).
This kind of sealer need to be applied very thin and they always need two coating s, with a small amount of drying time between each coating, also please read the sealer factory’s instruct ion carefully.