Soap or oil for decking—what should you choose?
Sara IdenforsIf you want a deck with a light, warm-gray finish and an environmentally friendly treatment, an overfatted soap is an excellent choice. The soap gently cleans and cares for the wood, and you avoid the darker shades that oil often produces over time.
Oil and soap have different properties, and the choice depends on the final result you want. An oiled deck often darkens over the years, while a deck treated with an overfatted soap such as Soapa retains its light, natural tone for longer.
If you want a deck with a light, warm-gray finish and an environmentally friendly treatment, an overfatted soap is an excellent choice. The soap gently cleans and cares for the wood, and you avoid the darker shades that oil often produces over time.
Here, we have oiled half of the deck and treated the other half with soap for comparison.
One major advantage of using soap is that the surface is easy to keep clean. Pollen, dust, and other debris do not stick to the deck but come off easily. You can keep the deck clean after scrubbing it with soap using a simple broom.
Scrub with warm water and an overfatted soap such as Soapa. Once you have scrubbed away all the dirt, growth, algae, lichen, and so on, scrub again with cold water and soap.
The more often you scrub, the more the wood becomes saturated with the excess fat in the soap, giving you that traditional scrubbed-floor feel. This method of treating wooden floors has worked well for several hundred years. Another advantage is that it removes organic growth, leaving the deck clean and beautiful.
Above: Close-up of a soaped deck.
Above: Close-up of the same deck (the other half), which was not scrubbed with soap but only oiled.
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Questions and answers
1. Does soap make the deck shiny?
No, soap always gives a matte finish.
Scrubbed floors are a well-known tradition, and this method has been used for several hundred years.
3. Which is easier to keep clean, a soaped or oiled deck?
A soaped deck is easier to keep clean.