Woodrich Citralic Wood Brightener & Neutralizer (10 lb)

Description

Product Overview

This listing includes our 10 pound Citralic Wood Brightener & Neutralizer, which covers up to 3,000 square feet of wood. Citralic is a citric acid-based powder concentrate that brightens weathered wood back to its natural color and neutralizes pH after cleaning or stripping. It is step two of Woodrich Brand’s three-step restoration system: clean or strip, brighten and neutralize, then stain and seal. Citralic is biodegradable, eco-safe, and works on all exterior wood species. Mix with water, apply with a pump sprayer, and rinse for a surface that’s ready to take stain evenly and hold it longer.

Product Includes

• 10 lb pail Woodrich Brand Citralic Wood Brightener & Neutralizer

Why You Need a Brightener Before Staining

After cleaning or stripping a deck, fence, or wood siding, the wood’s pH is thrown off. Alkaline cleaners and strippers raise the pH and darken the wood’s appearance, leaving tannins pulled to the surface. If you stain over that, the finish won’t bond properly, the color will be uneven, and it won’t last as long as it should.

A brightener corrects this. It brings the pH back to neutral, restores the wood’s natural tone, and opens the grain so stain can penetrate evenly. Skipping this step is one of the most common reasons a stain job underperforms.

How Citralic Works

Citralic is a citric acid-based wood brightener and neutralizer. Most brighteners on the market rely on oxalic acid, which is faster-acting but more toxic and aggressive. Citralic uses citric acid instead, which brightens and neutralizes the wood without bleaching it or damaging the fibers. It restores a fresh-cut appearance while conditioning the surface for finishing.

Woodrich Brand developed Citralic as step two of a three-step wood restoration system: clean or strip first, brighten and neutralize second, then stain and seal third. It is designed to follow either EFC-38 Wood Cleaner (for general cleaning and light stripping) or HD-80 Heavy Duty Stripper (for removing heavier finishes like solid stain, polyurethane, or paint). After applying Citralic, allow the wood to dry completely before staining. In dry weather, that typically takes 24 to 48 hours. Wood moisture content should be below 12% for optimal stain results.

What Citralic Does

Citralic neutralizes the alkaline residue left by cleaners and strippers, bringing the wood back to a pH level where stain will properly bond and cure. It also brightens the wood back to its natural color, which is especially effective on high-tannin species like cedar and redwood where tannin bleed can darken the surface significantly after cleaning.

Beyond deck and fence prep, Citralic removes rust and mineral stains from concrete. For severe concrete stains, you can wet the surface and work dry Citralic powder into a thin paste, let it dry, then rinse and repeat as needed.

Coverage and Mixing

The 10 lb pail covers up to 3,000 square feet of wood surface. Mix approximately ⅔ cup of powder per gallon of water. At this ratio, 10 lbs makes roughly 20 gallons of solution at full strength.

For reference, a standard 12×20 ft deck is 240 square feet. A 10 lb pail will handle a large deck, a long fence run, full-perimeter siding, or a combination of surfaces on a single property. If your project is 750 square feet or less, the 2 lb Citralic is the right size.

How to Apply

Apply Citralic with a pump sprayer to the cleaned or stripped wood surface. The wood can be damp (no standing puddles) or dry. Allow a minimum of 5 minutes of dwell time, then rinse thoroughly with clean water. No scrubbing is required.

Citralic works on all wood species, including cedar, pressure-treated pine, cypress, redwood, ipe, teak, mahogany, and other tropical hardwoods.

Safe for Pets, Plants, and Surrounding Landscaping

Citralic is biodegradable and eco-safe. Unlike oxalic acid-based brighteners that require more careful handling around vegetation and carry stronger toxicity warnings, Citralic’s citric acid formula is safer for surrounding landscaping, pets, and the people applying it.

Bundled Kits That Include Citralic

If you need both the cleaner and brightener, Woodrich offers matched kits that save about 10% compared to buying each product separately:

• EFC-38 + Citralic Restoration Kit (3,000 sq ft) for cleaning weathered or lightly finished wood
• HD-80 + Citralic Stripping Kit (3,000 sq ft) for removing heavier finishes

Full restoration kits that add stain to the cleaner and brightener are also available for both softwood and hardwood projects.

If you want to test the prep process on a small area before committing, the Wood Prep Sample Kit ($10) includes sample sizes of all three prep products: EFC-38, HD-80, and Citralic. Each sample covers about 9 square feet and comes with a QR code to video tutorials.

Product Specs

Need Help Figuring Out What You Need?

Text a photo of your project to the Woodrich Brand Project Support Hotline at (636) 288-8512. You’ll get a personalized recommendation on products and quantities from a wood restoration professional with decades of hands-on experience. Same number takes calls and texts. You can also email support@woodrichbrand.com.