Treating external wood

[Seaty63]

I have just moved into a 1750 property and the external wood frames, beams etc need some attention what should I use to treat them, they seemed to be coated with a mixture of paint and 'resin' or something

 

[Moo]

May I be the first to welcome you to the forum and to suggest that a picture or two (or three...) would be a great help.

 

[88v8]

Bump!

Welcome to the forum.

Presumably the external timber is oak? Or perhaps elm?
Originally, the timber frame and the panels between would all have been lime-washed, either white or coloured. This would have been refreshed every few years.
In the Victorian era it became fashionable to black the timbers, which looks nice but traps moisture in the wood and leads to rot. Once that has set in, it may have been 'repaired' with resin and heaven knows what applications of paint, which may all need stripping off, easier said than done if the timber is weathered.

Two things... if you edit your profile to show your approx location, it will help in recommending specialists in your area for this or other issues, and it would help in this case if you could put up a pic of the timberwork - via Photobucket or whichever photo-sharing site you use.

Ivor

 

[Seaty63]

Try this, I live in North Warwickshire

http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/Seaty63/library/External%20wood

Andrew

 

[Penners]

This is a very difficult question to answer - particularly without photographs of the exterior of the property.

Timber-frame structures that are externally exposed may never have been intended to have such uncompromising exposure to the weather. When the property was first built, it's quite possible that the frame was completely covered with external rendering.

As 88v8 has said above, the Victorians were the principal exponents of the "chocolate boxey" look, with black beams against white walls externally and internally. They often uncovered the frame externally to achieve this look, without consideration of the long-term effect of this on the timber. Oak is remarkably robust and damp-resistant, but even it will slowly deteriorate when constantly exposed to weather.

Having said that, some very high-class buildings were specifically designed to show their frames externally (Google "Lavenham Guildhall" for a truly wonderful example). I presume, however, that the oak used for this work was of the very highest quality, and thus as weather-resistant as it's possible for oak to be.

So (and I apologise for taking a long time to get around to your specific question!) in order to give your timberwork the best possible protection it may be that the perfect solution to your problem would actually re-render the whole building in lime, timber and all (having first stripped all finishes off the timber).

In the absence of the budget or willingness to do this, however, I imagine that stripping the timber, making good any cracks or gaps and then applying several coats of limewash would probably be the next-best solution.

Photos please!

 

[Seaty63]

Thank you for your replies, I thought I had posted some photos so will try again

http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/Seaty63/library/External%20wood

I live in North Warwickshire

Andrew

 

[Penners]

Hmmm... some fairly ropey-looking surface wood there. However, sometimes oak can look like that on the surface, but still be hard and sound a few millimetres in.

If you dig a penknife blade into it, how far in does it go?