Here's what I do (and I skipped last year, so may take a little longer to wash/prep this time)
- Get a pressure washer deck attachment; has a spinning brush that really cleans quickly and well
- Give it a quick once-over if dirty; if it's new wood, skip this
- Oxiclean-mop the deck; whatever the box mixture concentration says; skip the HomeDepot/Lowes deck cleaners like Olympic that are literally overpriced bleach and are very bad for your wood
- Do a quick pressure clean or just hose off
- If you want, mix up Home Depot deck brightener (oxalic acid - but check the MSDS to make sure they didn't revert back to bleach) and mop that on; Home Depot's deck brighter works well, but you can get this in a powder I think
- Pressure wash the deck clean
- Let dry a day or two
- Roller on some Armstrong-Clark stain. I've used this a few years now, and can go 2 yrs before restaining. If the dog didn't scuff up his OmiGod-I-Gotta-Get-Off-The-Deck-To-Chase-A-Tennis-Ball-or-Squirrel path, it'd be more like 3 yrs.
- If it soaks in fast, add another quick coat; it dries in an hour
https://www.armstrongclarkstain.com/wood-and-decking-stains
Last shipment I ordered from them showed up FedEx, and at the last minute the truck drove off and listed an "exception". They had dropped the bucket on its lid and it leaked, so A-C shipped me a whole new 5 gallon bucket. A week later, FedEx delivered the bagged and taped up damaged bucket, which was mostly just dented and still had nearly all the stain in it.
I have two decks (15x20 and 20x20) and a front porch, and I think they used around 3 or 4 gallons for coverage overall the first time. Later coats take less.
Yes, wood is more work. But I like the wood, particularly barefoot in the summer.
Not a big deal if your deck gets afternoon shade, but if you have afternoon sun, you won't be walking barefoot on Trex, IMO.
The 'moving shit around' takes the longest. Washing the decks and mopping stuff on is literally 15 minutes or so. Staining maybe an hour for each deck, if only doing the foot-surfaces.