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View Full Version : Two questions for the price of one...



Denise Ohio
07-30-2007, 12:02 AM
1. Okey-doke, I got some old-growth clear T&G cedar (vertical and flat grain) removed from a house built in 1930. There is no finish on the material other than this cardboard stuff I can probably buzz off with a light pass through the planer.

But what's the best way to clean the material without planing? I'd like to get some of the accumulated crud off---there isn't very much.

I could lightly plane it, but if there's a gentler way, like a tack cloth, I'm all ears.

2. What's a good way to coat some clear old-growth cedar on the exterior of our new house? I don't want to paint this stuff---it's way too pretty. I'm willing to go around every year with a brush and container of Waterlox Marine Finish to touch up, but is there a better way? I would just let the cedar go without a finish, but the sun will wreak havoc on the material.

Again, suggestions welcome.

Steve Schoene
07-30-2007, 6:33 AM
"Cardboard stuff" doesn't ring a bell for me. Can you describe what this "accumulated crud" is exactly.

As far as the exterior cedar, can you describe it's location a bit better? Is this on a deck, or on walls. What direction does it face? Is it shaded any part of the day.

Denise Ohio
07-30-2007, 2:15 PM
The cardboard stuff is glued-on wallboard. The guy I got this from had scraped it off with a putty knife, but he missed a few.

The crud is mostly dust, a bit of cobweb-y dirt---this was on the walls of an old house, so it's been high and dry since it went up.

I was also wondering though, if this material has been around long enough that the pores have clogged up, like what happens to an old cedar chest. I wonder because the material smells like cedar, but not overwhelmingly so. (No smell of rot, mildew, or generally stinkiness, either, yippee.) I remember reading that a light pass with some fine sandpaper will open up the pores and let the scent out again.

I'd rather plane as I like the look of it better.

As far as the trim...the trim will be on windows all the way around the house. Our eaves on the lower roof extend 3' and on the upper roof extend 2'. There are windows in all directions and the house is maximized for passive solar.

The house is a rectangle---32'x64' with the bulk of the windows facing south. We're building a loadbearing strawbale house with a long cupola. Imagine the ridge beam of a hipped roof---now lift it up about 4' and spred it out about 8' and there you go.

In fact, I have to have my lunch and go outside to help sheath the roof of the cupola today.

Steve Schoene
07-30-2007, 3:53 PM
You can scrape off the wall board, but planing it off sounds like the easiest solution, and most likely to give a surface better suited to hold finish that an unknown glue residual.

As far as clear finish on exterior trim, particularly on southern exposure, I absolutely do not recommend it. There is no clear finish that wouldn't become a major project almost every year. The most likely to last two seasons would be marine spar varnish, applied with the manufacturers recommended six (6) brushed on coats. On the southern exposure you would most likely have to scuff sand and apply a fresh coat of brushed on varnish almost every year, and then after 6-8 years you would likely have to strip it to bare wood and start over. The wide eaves might help extend the life a bit, though the likely result is that the sills and bottom of the trim will fail much faster than the heads which see much less sun.

Thin wiped on varnishes such as the Waterlox marine won't do the job. With UV protection it's thickness that counts and the equivalent of 6 brushed on coats is about 18 wiped on coats.

I have a house under construction now, and my choice is Azak. On cedar I would recommend an opaque stain in a light color for longest life. Save the clear finished trim for interiors where behind double pane windows the UV has been reduced dramatically.

Loren Hedahl
07-30-2007, 6:40 PM
Any reason why pressure washing might not be a good way to clean it up?