we used and exposed parts of the original timber and hewn round logs frame inside old house..they are old.. some small sections have old white wash remains…some are just really dirty literally hundreds of years.
These are going to be exposed in living room and other areas. They are installed. We are just starting rough in mechanicals but before we get too far along wondered if we could sand blast or must powerwash these old (some bark) beams. We could almost powerwash but would rather not. IF sandblast, is there a special type of sand? Any ideas appreciated.
Thank You
(I have pics but have never posted pics. I might post them in a bit if I could just get off the phone).
Replies
I did on exposed post and angle brace with an orbital sander/vac attached. It turned out very nice. Passed the hand paper over to the homowner for the nooks and crannies of the hand hewn (s).
Know of some folks that used a cob blaster to do the loft area of a barn. That worked well.
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If you need to remove whitewash/paint, sometimes sandblasting is the only realistic way. You can blast with less intense materials than sand, though.
How much do you have to do? The ideal thing is a Makita wheel sander with a wire brush wheel, but they cost about $500 and are impossible to find. Also, not as good of a solution if you need to work on already installed pieces.
Bring some scraps to a sandblaster and have him to do some samples.
I've always blasted with walnut shells in that situation. Not the cheapest material but doesn't dig into the wood and is easier to clean up than sand.
I used wire cup wheel on an angle grinder. Light passes removes the white wash and leaves the details.
I do both on old beams... powerwash and sandblast.... but i do it as early on as i can... both make a huge mess... blasting i use "black beauty" it's left over from burn'n coal & old tires...
water has never hurt any wood i power washed (big beam) and it looks good after... use a fan type tip and you'll be fine... i washed 12000sf of the btm side of rood deck and 2 joist and beams for same... took 2 guys 5 days and there was over 4 55gal drums of trash & dirt that washed of...
I'd powerwash
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and I will suggest a hose (bibb pressure), a bucket of soapy water, and a scrub brush (maybe 2-3 brushes of differing shapes) -
vacuum the frame, get as much dust out of/off of any horizontal surfaces/cracks as possible, wet the surface with the hose, slop soapy water on with the brush, scrub as necessary, rinse - repeat if necessary - cheap, easy, and you can control the removal of the aged patina - I'd suggest you want it clean, but leaving the appearance of age -
if it's truely 'whitewash', it'll melt right off -
very likely that will clean it up acceptably -
let dry, remove any splinters and fuzz - then oil -
if not, the more aggressive methods (high pressure wash - media blasting) can be tried -