How do you keep under your decking 'clean'?

[OhioOhioOhio]

Following on from the thread where the poster said she got a rat because of her neighbours decking...

I have substantial decking. It was expensive to build and necessary to make the garden safe for the kids.

Every now and again pour bleach underneath and hose it down.

Any other tips?

Diluted Jeyes fluid.. disinfects and also kills mould, moss and other slimey green stuff.

Thanks. Do you scrub it with a brush or is it enough just to pour it over there?

I thought this was going to be a euphemism

thought this was going to be a euphemism blush

Same. No idea about an actual decking however.... (Had one when I was a teen and the amount of times I nearly broke my neck... No thank you.)

Use a firm hard bristled broom or similar and brush it in and leave ; then brush again a day or so later with warm water. Rinse and repeat....

Noooo! We have hedgehogs under our decking, I wouldn't dream of pouring anything down there.

Rats under a decking will be because of rubbish in the area, but if they are nesting under there, bleach won't stop them burrowing 😕

No wonder this planet is completely fucked. A bit of bleach in the loo when you clean it if you must. Don’t pour it round the fucking garden.

Oh my god don't pour bleach in a garden, there will be wildlife under there too aside from the fact you're polluting the soil.

Just leave it to the rats...

It's absolute solid concrete under the decking. Thick ugly solid concrete.

So where do you think all the chemicals will end up? They have to run off to somewhere, unless it's a fully enclosed concrete pit with no drainage in which case you're creating a chemical slurry pit, whoch would be bonkers / dangerous / vapour filled.

Jeyes fluid poisonous to cats...probably not exactly a benefit to any wildlife.

Curious as to what you had in your garden that needed decking to make it safe for kids

People clean under their decking? Is this actually a thing? I have had decking in three of my last houses and have never ever even thought to do this.

Pressure washer.

Why do you need to clean under your decking? Please don’t put bleach down there.

we have frogs under our decking. i would never put chemicals down. we jet wash with water about once a year which removes any growing slipperiness.

Jeyes Fluid stinks and it takes a long time for the smell to go away. I only used it to clean a bin and the bin still smells 8months later

I don’t clean under it. I’ve got 3 hedgehogs under it and rabbits under my hut so I wouldn’t put any chemicals down.

We just pressure wash and then use decking protecter once a year. Ours never goes slimey.

use decking protecter once a year

What do you use, I've never found one that works

Why would you clean under it?

The OP who says she rats because of the neighbours decking is wrong. They may live under there, but they wouldnt be there if theres nothing for them. Theres obviously food available for them nearby. If there is food they would make a nest somewhere else, but close by. The decking isnt the issue.

Mils garden backs on to a park. A rat comes in all the time. The dog chases, the rat comes back. The dog chases it and on it goes. Mil wouldn't expect the council to rip out the trees and bushes, getting rid of the rest of the wildlife homes because of a rat.

And yes we had hedgehogs under our decking. Pouring bleach etc is awful.

We just clean the top of ours with pressure washer and the dp paints it every year.

Block entrance holes so they can’t get in. They can get into very tiny spaces so we’ve blocked every possible gap with sticks and logs and stones. Don’t poor bleach into the ground, that’s terrible.

Just block it off. You don't need to keep it 'clean'.

Do you actually have rats under there? Unfortunately decking does attract rats, had them next door for years under their decking, they refused to get the rat man out, laid rat traps (which I think is illegal outside) and I had to go round one night to kill one stuck in the trap.

Don’t eat on the decking so no crumbs going through, if you get rats get the rat man out. Buy a terrier.