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I’ve almost completed building a post & beam building that I’m going to be using as an office upstairs and a wood shop (as long as I can keep my wife’s car out) downstairs. I built the frame with rough cut Hemlock timbers, most of the interior is plained, air dried, Hemlock boards and the floor on the second floor is the same. The outside of the barn is ship-lapped Hemlock, with the rough side out.
I’m now trying to decide what to use to finish the building. I don’t want to stain anything(except clear if necessary) and I’m not planning to paint anything but the outside trim. Do I need to put a finish on the timbers? Is there some relatively simple finish I might be able to spray, or have done for me, on the whole interior, just to protect the wood and stop it from graying? How about the exterior boards, a clear stain or nothing at all? How about the Hemlock floor, should I try to coat it for protection or just let it age and wear like many old barns I’ve seen in the area and replace it when needed?
Thanks in advance,
Dave Guild
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David,
For the inside surfaces I would suggest that you use shellac; it has a nice appearance, will penetrate and protect the wood when sprayed on, and has the small additional advantage of stopping or sealing any resinous secretions that hemlock can have. The rough surfaces preclude using water-based products as they don't have very good penetration, unless you want to backbrush while spraying.Oil-based products are going to require a couple of coats to get the surface sealed adaquately, will take longer because of the recoating, and will have a higher product cost. The office floor is your choice, any product for flooring would work. How do you want it to look? It seems to me that if you like the unfinished look, that would be fine, -it's just harder to sweep or dry mop. I can't imagine using a floor for office purposes that would ever wear out to the point of replacement. If it were mine, I think that I'd continue with the shellac onto the floor. You've already got it in the sprayer, just keep spraying :)
The exterior is somewhat outside my realm of expertise, but as far as I know, there is nothing that will keep the wood bright except for exterior spar varnishes with ultraviolet light inhibitors.(There are also a slew of catalyzed automotive and marine products available, but most are currently around $125-150 per gallon.) Even the varnish would be pretty pricey and will have to be renewed (particularly on the south and west sides) fairly regularly. Anything else will allow the wood to gray with time.
Clear stain? An oxymoron, ranks with Government Intelligence.
*Thanks for the quick response. I guess I didn't make myself clear on the requirements for outside. The siding on the outside has the rough cut side out. It was also air dried so it isn't bright. I did this on purpose to get the 'barn' look. All I guess I'm looking to do on the outside is protect the wood, if necessary.I like the idea of using shellac on the inside. Could you elaborate a little more on how I would handle the rough cut beams. Would I need to mask them and spray the rest? Or could I spray the whole thing and just brush more into the beams while I'm spraying the rest (I assume that's what backbrushing is).Also, is this something I should take on myself. I assume I could rent a sprayer, but am I just going to make a mess. I built the whole place, but I have no experience with finishing.Thanks,Dave Guild
*Pre-mixed shellac is usually sold in a ratio of 2 and a half to 3 pounds of shellac flakes disolved per gallon of alcohol. That would be considered a standard mix and will penetrate the rough beams with no backbrushing necessary. Sometimes shellac is sold as a thicker 5 or 6 pound cut. That would need diluting with equal parts of alcohol to "thin" it. No need to mask, spray everything at once.Shellac is also sold as orange (or amber) or white (or clear). I would sample a little of each to see which gives you a final color that you like best.I would suggest hiring someone to do the spraying if you're not familiar with the equipement and technique. After all the hours you have in this, you'd hate to end up with splotches, drips, etc. If you want to save a little, perhaps you could be responsible for the scaffolding, masking off areas not to be sprayed, getting things cleaned up, and other essential, but non-critical parts of the job.As far as the outside goes, I think you would join the ranks of people debating the joys and pains of Thompson's, Sikkens and other sealer type products that have been discussed on numerous other threads on this board. You should be able to do a search for them. Have fun!
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I've almost completed building a post & beam building that I'm going to be using as an office upstairs and a wood shop (as long as I can keep my wife's car out) downstairs. I built the frame with rough cut Hemlock timbers, most of the interior is plained, air dried, Hemlock boards and the floor on the second floor is the same. The outside of the barn is ship-lapped Hemlock, with the rough side out.
I'm now trying to decide what to use to finish the building. I don't want to stain anything(except clear if necessary) and I'm not planning to paint anything but the outside trim. Do I need to put a finish on the timbers? Is there some relatively simple finish I might be able to spray, or have done for me, on the whole interior, just to protect the wood and stop it from graying? How about the exterior boards, a clear stain or nothing at all? How about the Hemlock floor, should I try to coat it for protection or just let it age and wear like many old barns I've seen in the area and replace it when needed?
Thanks in advance,
Dave Guild