Deck & patio cleaning cost
What deck & patio cleaning costs across the US — by home size and surface, with a fair low/average/high range.
Cost by home size
| Home size | Range | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Small (under 1,500 sq ft) | $95–$400 | $200 |
| Medium (1,500–2,500) | $120–$500 | $250 |
| Large (2,500–4,000) | $155–$650 | $325 |
| Very large (4,000+) | $205–$850 | $425 |
What affects the price
- Size & surface area — the biggest driver; most jobs are priced from a per-square-foot rate.
- Condition — heavy algae, mildew, oil, or salt film needs more solution and dwell time.
- Access & height — second stories, steep roofs, and tight landscaping add labor.
- Method — soft washing (siding, roofs) uses cleaning solution and costs a bit more per foot than a plain concrete blast.
How much does deck power washing cost?
Most deck cleaning jobs land between $120 and $500, with about $250 the common middle. A typical 300–400 sq ft deck with railings is usually $150–$250. The spread is driven by three things: the deck’s footprint, how much railing it has, and whether you are buying a clean or the start of a restoration — which are different jobs at different prices, and the single most common place a deck quote gets misread.
A naming note first, because the popular search term names the wrong method. People look up “deck power washing”, but wood is the one surface on this whole site where high pressure is actively destructive rather than merely unnecessary. The correct job is a cleaning solution doing the work at low pressure with a wide fan tip. A crew that literally power-washes your boards will get them clean and leave them furred, and that damage does not wash off.
| Deck | Typical price | What is actually driving it |
|---|---|---|
| Small, ~200 sq ft, few rails | $120 – $180 | Footprint alone. One crew, under an hour of actual cleaning |
| Typical, 300–400 sq ft with railings | $150 – $250 | The railings. See below — they are the labour and they are not in the square footage |
| Large or wraparound, 500–700 sq ft | $225 – $375 | Footprint and a longer rail run together |
| Multi-level, stairs, heavy balusters or lattice | $350 – $500+ | Detail work. Every baluster is hand-passed on both faces |
| Any size, grey and previously sealed | Quote separately | This is restoration, not cleaning — see below. Different job, not a surcharge |
Per square foot that is roughly $0.20–$0.45 of deck area. If you run that maths on your own deck you will get a number below the quotes above, and the gap is the point: square footage measures the floor, but most of the labour is vertical. Railings, balusters, stair stringers and lattice skirting have several times the surface area of the decking they surround, they cannot be done with a surface cleaner, and they are hand-passed on both faces. Two decks with identical footprints can differ by $150 on rails alone. When you compare quotes, check they measured the same deck — ask whether railings and stairs are in the price.
Why pressure is the wrong tool on wood
Softwood decking — pressure-treated pine most of all — is soft enough that a narrow tip held close will carve visible tracks into it in a single pass, and will raise and tear the grain even when it does not. The result is called furring: a fuzzy, splintery surface that looks clean while wet and looks worse than before once it dries. It also drinks stain unevenly afterwards, so it costs you again at the sealing stage. The fix is sanding, which is a restoration-priced job.
The working trade practice is a wide fan tip, held well back, at the low end of the machine’s range — with a percarbonate or hypochlorite deck cleaner given dwell time to do the actual work. On composite boards, go by the board manufacturer’s own care sheet rather than a crew’s habit: composites have a printed maximum pressure and using it is a warranty condition. Ask which cleaner and what pressure before booking. “We turn it down for wood” is the answer you want; a crew that talks only about PSI is telling you how they think about the job.
What the deck is made of changes the price
| Surface | Relative cost | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Pressure-treated pine | Baseline | The softest and the easiest to damage. Also the most likely to need brightening after cleaning |
| Cedar or redwood | Baseline to +15% | Soft, and prone to blotching if the cleaner is left to dry on it. Needs a careful rinse, not a fast one |
| Tropical hardwood (ipe and similar) | +15–30% | Dense and forgiving of cleaning, but it greys fast and owners usually want it brightened, which is extra |
| Composite / PVC decking | Baseline to −10% | Cheaper to clean, easy to ruin. Mould sits in the embossed grain, so it needs dwell time rather than force |
| Concrete patio | −20–40% | The cheap half of this page. Flat, hard, and the one part a surface cleaner belongs on |
| Brick or paver patio | +25–50% over concrete | Joint sand is lifted by cleaning and has to be replaced — and masonry has its own pre-wet and rinse rules |
On the patio half, clay brick follows the same masonry logic the Brick Industry Association sets out in Technical Note 20: saturate the surface first so the cleaner cannot be drawn deep into it, keep the pressure down, and rinse thoroughly rather than letting residue dry in place. A paver patio priced identically to poured concrete is a quote with the re-sanding left out.
Cleaning is not restoration, and the difference is most of the money
This is where deck quotes diverge, and where an owner expecting one thing gets priced for another. There are four separate steps, and a “deck cleaning” price usually buys only the first.
| Step | Typical cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Clean | $120 – $500 | Removes the mildew, algae and grey surface film. This is what this page prices |
| Brighten | +$50 – $150 | An oxalic-acid rinse that neutralises the cleaner and pulls the colour back. Skipping it is why a cleaned deck can look washed-out |
| Sand | +$150 – $400 | Only if the boards are furred, splintering, or previously over-pressured. Labour, and it is a separate day |
| Stain or seal | $1.50 – $4.00 / sq ft | A different trade in most markets. Needs genuinely dry wood — typically a return visit days later, not the same afternoon |
Two practical consequences. First, if your deck is grey and tired rather than dirty, cleaning alone will not give you the result in your head — ask for clean-and-brighten as a line item. Second, be sceptical of a same-day seal. Wood soaked an hour earlier still holds water, and sealing over it traps the moisture in the board, which is the failure mode the EPA’s guidance on moisture and mould describes in a house and which behaves no differently in a deck plank. A crew offering to wash and seal in one visit is offering you a finish that will peel.
Why the shaded end goes green first
Mildew, algae and moss are a moisture-and-light problem before they are a cleaning problem, which is why the north side, the stretch under the tree, and the boards nearest the lawn always foul first and always come back first. Oregon State’s extension service makes the point plainly in its guidance on controlling moss: killing the growth does not change the conditions that grew it. On a deck the conditions you can actually change are drainage and airflow — clearing the leaf litter that sits in the board gaps and holds water, cutting back what overhangs it, and keeping the gaps themselves clear so the deck dries from both faces. Do that and a deck in a humid climate holds its clean for a year or more; leave it and you are re-booking in a season.
Where the wash water goes
A deck clean puts cleaner-laden water straight into whatever is underneath, which on most properties is planting beds and lawn. Competent crews pre-wet and post-rinse the plants around a deck for exactly that reason, and it is a fair question to ask. At the kerb it becomes a stormwater question rather than a garden one — wash water reaching a storm drain is an unpermitted discharge in most jurisdictions, which is the framework the EPA sets out in its NPDES stormwater program and its best-management-practice menu. A crew with an answer to “where does the runoff go?” is a crew that has thought about the job.
Red flags in a deck quote
- Priced from square footage with no mention of railings. The rails are the labour. A footprint-only price means either a surprise on the day or rails that get a token pass.
- PSI quoted as a selling point. On wood, high pressure is the damage, not the service.
- “Wash and seal, same day.” The boards cannot be dry. You are paying for a finish that will lift.
- No brightening step offered on a grey deck. The deck will be clean and still look grey, and you will not know why.
- A paver patio priced as poured concrete. The joint sand replacement has been left out of the scope.
- Sanding folded silently into a cleaning price. Either it is not really happening, or the cleaning was going to fur the boards and they know it.
Deck work rewards asking two questions before booking — what pressure, and is brightening included — because both answers are free and both change the result you get. In the Lowcountry, where shade and humidity green a deck faster than almost anywhere we cover, we point readers to the Charleston crew we recommend for wood-safe deck and patio work. Elsewhere, the metro list at the foot of this page covers the rest of our coverage area.
How to get a fair quote
Send a couple of photos and ask for a flat price by the job, not an hourly meter. Confirm the crew soft-washes anything delicate. Our estimator turns your size and service into a range before you call, and the per-square-foot guide shows the underlying rates.
Frequently asked
How much does deck & patio cleaning cost?
Is deck & patio cleaning priced by the job or by the hour?
How much does it cost to power wash a deck?
Can you pressure wash a wood deck without damaging it?
What is the difference between deck cleaning and deck restoration?
Do composite decks cost less to clean than wood?
Should the deck be sealed or stained at the same time as the cleaning?
Sources & standards
The trade and government guidance behind the method notes on this page. We link them so you can check us.
- EPA — Mold and moistureMildew on wood is a moisture problem; drying matters as much as cleaning.
- EPA — Stormwater BMP menuThe same best-practice menu — the principle is keeping pollutants out of the storm drain in the first place.
- Oregon State Extension — controlling mossWhy the shaded side greens up first, and why killing the moss is not the same as fixing the conditions.
- Brick Industry Association — Technical Note 20, Cleaning BrickworkThe masonry rules that apply to the patio half: pre-wet, limit pressure, rinse thoroughly.
- EPA — NPDES stormwater programWhy wash water carrying deck cleaner is a discharge question, not just a tidiness one.
