Last year I installed my own ipe deck. I oiled all 4 sides of the boards and installed them with ipe clips. I knew this year the deck would need washed and reoiled to keep it from graying out. I used rustolium restore deck cleaner and our power washer to clean it. After letting it dry from the cleaning it looks terrible. Few of the boards look like new, and most of the deck looks almost white washed and feels almost slick. I tried oiling a small part to see if it changed it and it's almost like the white areas don't want to accept the oil. I broke out the ROS with 80 grit to see if I could get back to normal and sure enough, with a little elbow grease it's right back to being beautiful. So what did I do to cause this? I have about 800 sqft of decking and it's going to take forever to sand it and I don't ever want to have to do it again.
Here's a side by side of the whitewash and freshly sanded.
Thanks Bill