Cleaning up of interior cedar and knotty pine
We’re fixing up an old long neglected dining hall at a small Boy Scout camping grounds. The interior is finished off with old individual T&G cedar planks. The ceiling is vinished off with old 4×8 knotty pine paneling with a shellac like finish. All of the cedar and knotty pine are 1/2″ or 3/4″ thick.
We decided to keep these as opposed to taking out and replacing with drywall and wainscotting. What is the best approach to take of the years of dirt and grime? It seems that lightly sanding is a possibility and then refinishing with a nother stain. Another option is to just wash it all down and see how it looks. Is there a way ot lighten up the finish?
Any suggestions would be helpful.
Replies
You won't really know what to do until you wash it.
Wash a wall first to see how it turns out, may be all you need. Mix a cup or so of automatic dishwasher detergent in a 5 gallon bucket until it's all mixed in. Add a couple of tablespoons of liquid dish detergent and stir it in. Now pour a pump sprayer full and have at it. Start at the top of the wall and work you way down. You can let it do its magic by itself or help it along with a brush. Whatever you do make sure to let it soak for 10 minutes or so. Rinse with the pump sprayer full of clean water or with a sponge. If it's a typical wall the grunge will run off like brown paint. Obviously you can modify my instructions anyway you like, do it all with a bucket and sponge but make sure to wear rubber gloves.
Don't let dirty wash water run down onto not-yet-wetted surfaces and "stand" there for more than a few seconds -- do an entire vertical slice at once, or wet from bottom to top. Otherwise you can get some nastyy staining where the dirty water runs down.
Old wives tale. You can let all the dirty water you want run down the wall as long as you wet the whole wall and it won't stain anything. I've washed in excess of 10,000 houses in the last 35 years, no stains on any of them and all done this way.
Like you said "as long as you
Like you said "as long as you wet the whole wall". If the dirty water runs down on a dry wall it CAN stain.
Stain is the wrong word. What may happen is that it leaves an unwashed, steaked section below the clean part but it's not a stain, It comes right off with another application of soap and water. There is no permanent damage.
Don't "Start at the top of the wall and work you way down. "
>>Start at the top of the wall and work you way down.
NO!
As the dirty waterruns down the dry wood below, it is likely to stain it
>>Old wives tale. You can let all the dirty water you want run down the wall as long as you wet the whole wall and it won't stain anything.
But he didn't say to wet it.
If the staining is an old wives' tale, then there are a lot of sadder but wiser old wives out there.
Thank you all. With all you indicating to wash first, that has to be the direction to go.