How to treat beams???

[discobarry]

In our house we have some big old beams which are very dark and need another coat of something but i'm not sure what, i've heard of casein distemper but i'm not sure why this would be good to use? we won't be stripping the beams, maybe sanding them the best we can but some sections are so rough i won't be able to get into them with sanding.

So what am i best doing? some of them have some splashed on plaster from recent plaster work which is in the rough sections of the beams which i cannot get into, this should just paint over though right? but what with?

Thanks. AR.

 

[skier-hughes]

Casein distemper would be fine, also lime wash, but first trial some, as the previous coatings may make it impossible to paint properly.

I wouldn't recommend sanding them, you'll lose all those lovely features.

Can you not scrape off the plaster with a paint scraper or something similar?

Depending on what type of plaster it is, Lime would be fine with both paints, but gypsum would be better with the distemper.

 

[Sonyaclegg]

Good wire brush will allow you to get the plaster off the old wood. We have the same issue with very old beams and a slapdash plasterer. It's comes off with the wire brush so maybe you don't need to paint them if you get the plaster off?

 

[discobarry]

I have wire brushes at work, i'll have a go lightly but i don't want to go too mad with the wire brush.

What is casein distemper?