beam treatment

[lou]

Next question to all you experts out there then. All the beams have been painted in thick black gloss paint (see pic). Someone told me that you could sandblast them in an afternoon but when I repeated this to someone else, possibly of a more sensitive nature, they were apoplectic. So is it going to be a matter of me spending endless weeks with chemicals and sandpaper to return them to their natural state?

 

[Gareth Hughes]

You could just paint them a nicer colour. Why look at naked timber?

 

[lou]

I'm really fond of naked timber. And this is one of the less heavily painted ones. Is your response because you prefer the look of painted beams or because the gunk required to get off paint is damaging to the wood?

 

[Gareth Hughes]

I'm not a wild fan of naked timber, I must admit. And I've seen a lot of timber turred to something like sponge by inappropriate blasting. The right gunk probably does little real harm but the end result isn't to my taste, nor, in most cases (major public buildings aside), does usually it represent an authentic earlier stage in the building's history. But from the window visible in your photo, I'm assuming it's not a listed building, so it's up to you.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Lou - suggest you search this site for "beams stripping" or similar.

Also strongly suggest you do not do anything abrasive to them (sandblast or sandpaper) unless you want the bleached driftwood look.

We had loads of beams in a similar condition (including paint, varnish, plaster and unidentifiable gunk). You need to visit Strippers of Sudbury's website and get something like Klingstrip (a poultice that works like magic). You then need hours of time, arm muscles like Popeye that work upside down for hours on end, a heck of a lot of water and endless elbow grease. We used synthetic sponge scouring pads (not the ones that leach green dye).

It takes a long time, but the eventual effect is great (assuming you like expose wood, which some like Gareth don't!).

Please post lots more pics - we PPUKers have a soft spot for lots of PPUK Porn!

 

[Jon Maine]

No shotblasting, watch out for potential lead,arsenic or other potential poisonous content of old paints.

Poultice sounds like a good method as F W said.

More period pictures of the house please.........

 

[MdB]

I posted about this once before as we currently have zebra beams. Half are matt black and half are brand new and unpainted. Stripping would be nice but there are too many other jobs to do and some of the old beams are burnt so would still end up black anyway. We have decided to paint the whole lot white in a water soluble paint so that it will be potentially possible to remove it in the future if we want (read never....).

(don't sand blast...)

 

[biffvernon]

Beam looks great as it is, but that lightbulb...?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Yes Biff - an incandescent bulb!! :shock:

Surely it should be a huge CFL eco-lightbulb? At least that way Lou wouldn't be able to see the beam :wink:

 

[biffvernon]

She'd see even less with a nice period tallow candle or rushlight.

 

[mivec]

Your beam looks very similar to ours before we stripped them. Ours turned out to be covered in a few layers of dark stained varnish.
We used 'Stripper NB-510' from http://www.stripperspaintremovers.com. It was hard work but well worth the effort.

You can just see the beams, before and after, in the photos half way down this page...
http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10164&start=15

 

[lou]

Grrr. I keep losing my posts when I browse pics. Anyway, apologies if you get this twice. It is listed G2 so will ask CO for views on naked beams or not. Love the look of Mivecs and thanks for stripping advice, ahem. I have lots of good pics of the 'unusual' decor - Llewelyn Bowen on acid - but most are too big to attach.
If I don't crash it this time, here's a small selection of the uploadable ones.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

I hope that rather nice little cast-iron fireplace is going to win the battle with the inglenook?

 

[Moo]

Wanna bet?

 

[biffvernon]

I hope the vernacular colour scheme will be conserved.

 

[Moo]

Especially that striking electric blue.

 

[lou]

Hmm. It's cute but very undecided about fireplace. I think I prefer the tudor look - am told window is about 1650 and the chimney was also added at that time. Anyone have ideas about what would look good instead? (Think I will get rid of the blue gloss paint though).

 

[biffvernon]

But from the window visible in your photo, I'm assuming it's not a listed building, so it's up to you.

Oh, I see, you mean the little cute one. Yes that could well be 1650.

 

[Penners]

Lou - sandblasting can be terribly destructive to beams. It can eat away the softer lines of grain and erode the clean edges off any mouldings or arrises. It's really not worth risking. I add my voice to those who recommend Klingstrip, from Strippers of Sudbury. Just be sure to follow the instructions carefully, and it'll do a super job.

 

[Moo]

Listen to them all, Lou:

Don't, whatever you do, sandblast those beams.