Oak Beams

[cwells2]

Hi,

We recently moved into a c15 property with many exposed oak beams. The beams have all been treated.

On the ground floor, they all have a dark (walnut?) Satin finish.

In the bathroom, one beam was above a shower (shower now removed) and was impregnated with soap. This was not easily removed and I resorted to using a steamer to clean the beam. Some of the colour then wiped off and we're left with a light patch. Any ideas on how to rectify this would be appreciated (linseed oil, beeswax, coloured wax, etc).

In one of the bedrooms, the beams are all plain oak and dry. What would best best to use on these?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards
Chris

 

[88v8]

Hello and welcome.

In this thread there was some discussion on the topic of staining & finishing.
http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15357

As regards your untreated beams, I would inclined to think yourself very fortunate that they have not been tampered with in 500 years, and enjoy them just as they are.

Ivor

 

[MikeG]

......In one of the bedrooms, the beams are all plain oak and dry. What would best best to use on these?.......

Nothing. Nothing at all. Anything you add will be the modern equivalent of the nasty thick black shiny gloss paint that the Victorians slathered all over every piece of exposed oak they could find.

Oh, and do you mean "beams"? Beams are horizontal. If they're vertical they're posts or studs.

 

[cwells2]

Thanks to you both for the responses.
As you can probably gather, I'm new to this period property stuff!

We have vertical, horizontal and some diagonal pieces of old oak in the property. My first job is to blend in the patch in the bathroom that I steamed. I'm now thinking linseed oil?

Does the plain stuff need something to protect against drying?

Thanks again.

 

[Kearn]

Does the plain stuff need something to protect against drying?

As said above - no! They've happily been that way for hundreds of years, there's no need to tamper with them and and a potentially impermeable coating. Enjoy the fact that you have beautiful, naked oak! I had to go through lots of painstaking removal to get mine back to bare wood.

 

[Flyfisher]

Thanks to you both for the responses.
As you can probably gather, I'm new to this period property stuff!

While I personally agree with the above advice to 'do nothing', I'd say this is more about personal preference or modern fashion that being a definitively 'right thing'.

As Kearn has pointed out (among many others here) stripping old paint from oak studs and beams is a very difficult, intensive and messy business, yet it is a very popular choice these days. But why should it be any more correct than the Victorian penchant for covering up such beams with 'nasty black paint'? Indeed, is it 'correct' to so callously strip off all that decoration so lovingly (presumably) applied about 150 years ago? The fact is that fashions change, which is why we have so many different period styles in the first place.

Our c16 G2* close-studded timber frame house today looks more Georgian than Tudor because of fashionable alterations carried out a few hundred years ago (including destruction of parts of the oak frame to insert 'inappropriate' sash windows and covering over the original oak mullion windows). Alterations that would never be granted consent today. Much of the oak frame has been covered, both inside and out, and what remains visible has been variously limewashed, painted black, stained or left untreated, depending on the previous occupants' decorative choices. So what would be 'right' in such circumstances?

What I do know, from our oak studs and beams that have been exposed to the elements for around 450 years and remain rock hard (if a little gnarled), is that they don't NEED any form of treatment for their survival, other than ensuring adequate ventilation or only covering with breathable materials (less important indoors of course where painting is unlikely to do much harm).

So, based on all this, I'd say the choice of how to treat your beams is basically yours - which may not be terribly helpful

 

[middi]

I agree totally with FF comments and observations.

Ultimately the silvery grey appearance of oak is a natural process of ageing and if kept ventilated it will extend it's life as opposed to covering it with some inappropriate water proof covering that may , eventually, surface crack and allows water or moisture to be trapped speeding up the decay process.

The reality is that many of us humans do not like "old" silvery grey look and we prefer ( perhaps ?) a golden look,the golden coloured look of a kitchen table.

Over the centuries we have applied all sorts of coverings to natural oak and apart from a limewash cover or a pure melted beeswax covering we have tempered with the ability for future historians to "dendrocronogically" date the correct age of the timber.

That is us " humans". We make things to look the way it pleases our vision. Most of the time it has nothing to do with conservation.

Middi