as some of you may know from my shed thread, ive just built a ‘shezebo’ with decking flooring.

ive got a tin of bog-standard decking oil in my garage, but our other decking area gets really slippy when its wet, so im thinking about ‘homebrew’ non-slip decking oil. is it a viable option to mix a bit of sand in the oil and paint it on? or paint it then sprinkle something on top? or…… just buy some new anti-slip decking oil?

anyone done something similar?

thanks

Mines under a wall, facing north, never gets sun, hardly walked on as its access to the canoe racks.
I nearly put these on yesterday to put the kayak back.

I’ve found that ours gets grippier when it’s been oiled. It;s when the oil is old and starting to get the green sheen on top of it that it’s lethal.

You can buy little wedges covered in grippy stuff that you hammer into the grooves, they’re expensive though.

Chicken wire. Doesn’t look great mind you.

Ours only gets sloppy when it’s dirty.

Jet wash + re-oil every couple of years keeps it ok.

Cured my slippery decking problem by ripping it up, burning it and replacing it with flags. 😆

Slightly different approach – http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/products/algon/organic-path-and-patio-cleaner/

Chicken wire. Doesn’t look great mind you.

ive heard of this before. it will NOT be happening on my luvverly decking!! 😀

Regular cleaning. Mine gets done every spring.

Along with the flags which are usually as greasy as hell after a year of abuse.

You can buy a tape that has sand papers/emery paper surface….. not sure where from though.

thanks all. wont be putting anything like wire or emery on it, i want it to look exactly like it does now, just dont want anyone to slip on it tho.

are you all saying that its only the algae thats slippy, and clean, wet decking isnt slippy then?

is there no love for the ‘sand and oil mix’ idea?

The oil will just soak in and leave oily sand on the surface, ready to get washed away the first time it rains heavily.

The wood will remain slippy when wet for a couple of years, depending on how often it gets used/gets rained on/gets cleaned.

Decks round here are in use almost continually from when the weather improves (Late May) until it turns (Late September). We’ll be out there every dry evening of the week. And most of the weekend. So they are only usually slippy for the first year.

Liberon deck oil, my garden is north facing. Do it every spring, it’s never slippy.

Have you got your decking the right way around?

I just did a job for an agency, wanted to clear the decking and paint some anti slip coating down, keeping the cost down, this was outside a small block of flats so high traffic, Within a week the two coats had worn away,

Used this stuff

Expensive but does the trick very very well.
Easy to put down, very durable comes with really nice screws too!

Also note that sand in the oil won’t last at all…
You’ll need a rubber/silicon based grit, normally used on boats, but its bleeding expensive!

I’ve used Osmo Anti-Slip Decking Oil seems to work pretty well, not cheap though, and their coverage figure is optimistic as I ended using about 2.5l on 24 sq meters.

http://www.diy.com/departments/deckwright-anti-slip-decking-insert-kit/1355043_BQ.prd

looked at all your recommendations thanks, seems my sand mix idea is dead then, not viable.

so ill buy a decent algae cleaner, then use the decking oil ive got and then see how it fares. that osmo stuff is bluddy expensive, so that can be my final option if i have no luck.

just one more question, you reckon id be alright to put the oil down at this time of the year or does it need to be spring/summer?
the boards are tanalised anyway, so they should be fine through the first winter shouldnt they?

spose the same question for my tanalised shiplap sides, no real rush to treat it all? or should i still try and get it all done before winter really sets in?

Have you got your decking the right way around?

that intrigued me, was it a joke, or is there actually a right way? i just chose the side i liked the look of best 🙂

thanks a lot chaps

Paint with sand would work as it’s largely a surface coating. Oil with sand will not as oil is supposed to penetrate leaving the sand all on its lonesome with nowt to bind it.

Varnish and sand would work in theory but likely wear through in no time.

If you think about old ships, there was a reason they got them to scrub the decks so often (apart from brutal slavery practises)

Nah, there are (only) two ways of doing it. Groove side up seems to be popular here, yet Europe/USA seem to like it smooth side up.
Plenty of arguments for either way, but originally the grooves were put in to stop the boards warping and intended for groove side down.
I’ve put mine groove side down because I didn’t want the grooves to act like channels and hold water and slime etc. I wash and reproof them twice a year with some Cuprinol Deck Oil, been down 3 years and look nice and aged.

Your choice really, but you do have to look after the decking it’s not really a “fit and forget”.

Groove side up seems to be popular here,

I’ve put mine groove side down

the only decking ive seen has grooves both sides. either wide grooves or narrow grooves. ive gone wide grooves up.

Ahh, it’s cool.