Woman pleads gardeners not to make decking mistake after following viral trend

There are many things you can do to make your garden decking look fresh and stylish, but one woman has urged people not to follow in her footsteps after making the 'number one mistake'

There are many ways to make your garden decking look fabulous for summer, but there's one particular trend a woman is urging others to avoid.

If you spend a lot of time in your garden over the warmer months, you most likely want your outdoor space looking great. From adding colourful garden furniture, to fairy lights, there are many things you can do to spruce the space up. But if you're tempted to paint your decking to make it look stylish - you might want to reconsider.

Caz, who regularly uploads videos to TikTok, recently issued a warning to her 16.5k followers, after making "the number one mistake a couple of years back". She decided to cover her wooden decking with dark grey paint - and now she is having to re-do it every year because it keeps flaking off.

In the recent video, Caz filmed herself stripping the paint off with a pressure washer, and explained: "Please, please, please, please, please, if you're thinking of doing it this year and you've never done it before and you've got fresh deck, don't do it. Take my advice, please don't do it. I'm stuck with it now because once you painted, you've buggered your decking, quite frankly."

The content creator then filmed the decking, which is now discoloured and stained. She said: "You can see here I stripped back as much as I'm gonna get back." Caz went on to explain that she's now caught in a vicious circle, as she keeps having to re-do the paint to stop it looking so awful. She added: "Now I'm I gonna have to do this year, on year, on year."

The content creator also said the mess was "ridiculous," and once again warned: "So if you're thinking of painting your decking, don't do it, just don't do it."

Hundreds of people commented on Caz's video, with one person advising: "Stain it instead of using paint," to which she replied: "Yes, that's exactly what we should have done in the beginning." Someone else advised: "Bang some composite down," however Caz replied: "Would love to but it's so expensive and it's a big space."

But it seems Caz wasn't alone in making the mistake, with one person sharing: "Mine is exactly the same... every year..." and another wrote: "I made the same mistake... total nightmare."

According to B&Q, if your decking is "newly laid, we recommend leaving it to weather naturally for about six months before being stained or oiled," adding: "This helps to make sure that any existing treatment has eroded, allowing the new paint or stain to properly sink in and to stick to the deck".

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