Finish on ceiling decking

[Denise Ohio]

Okay, bear with me on this. We haven't decided to absolutely do this, but...

We had a bandsaw rough saw a bunch of 1x maple from trees we took down. Those boards (and some cedar) are at the kiln being dried for use inside the house we're going to start building this spring. This includes some hardwood flooring, built-ins, cabinets, etc.

The interior side of the exterior walls of the house will be handplastered white stucco. We have some old-growth western red cedar for trim, window seats, etc. The tones of that wood range from salmon pink to neapolitan ice cream brown.

I've seen quite a bit of cedar used on ceilings (Lindahl Cedar homes, etc.), but it can get pretty dark. We're thinking of using the maple we're drying in some areas as the ceiling decking.

1. Is this use of the maple stupid?

2. Even if it is stupid, what would be a good finish that wouldn't change the color of the maple? Since no one will be walking on it, will beeswax alone protect it?

TIA.

[Joe Chritz]

Sorry for the delay. I just happened to notice you didn't get any responses yet.

Waterbased finishes generally are less amber tone than other kinds.

Two sprayed coats of zinseer sealcoat would be plenty for protection and would give the maple a nice look. It will have a slight tone change but it really doesn't have that amber look you would see from oil based polyurethance.

It's your house run with it. Maple isn't normally used because it is expensive but a friend just did his whole house in maple trim because he got a killer deal (no more than oak).

Joe

[jeremy levine]

....
Waterbased finishes generally are less amber tone than other kinds.

Two sprayed coats of zinseer sealcoat would be plenty for protection and would give the maple a nice look. It will have a slight tone change but it really doesn't have that amber look you would see from oil based polyurethance.
..Joe

Just to be clear Zinsser is not Water based, but it will probably look great.

I don't think wax will do it.

SInce it will be largely untouched, may finishes will probably work.

[Denise Ohio]

Thanks, fellows. I've used Zinsser products before.

We're a long way from having to make this decision, so I can test some samples.

[Joe Chritz]

Correct.

It doesn't look like it but my post is actually two seperate thought processes.

Shellac doesn't have an odor like many oil based finishes but it does have some.

Many times (many, many times) my brain and mouth, fingers in this case, are operating on seperate schedules.

Joe