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Preamble: I am lucky enough to finally reach a point in my life where I’ve been able to achieve a dream. I’ve always wanted a getaway and am now in the completion stages of a cabin on an island in Lake Champlain Vt. There is no bridge or other services to the island so there were very few choices for a contractor who could handle the logistics, and they had built a few other examples on the island and did good work.
The cabin is built from rough cut Hemlock from a local mill and since it’s really meant for just 1 to 2 seasons there are no interior walls and therefore all the wood is exposed.
Problem: Unfortunately my passion for this dream was not shared by the contractor and I seemed to be the last on his list time and time again to progress on the cabin construction. I live far away and wasn’t able to dog or police the contractor. Most of it was cut and assembled during the winter of ’01 and stored outdoors, first under tarps and then due to “some” mildew the tarps were removed. Then around July the walls were moved on site and left again until early November. I now have a mixure of clean fresh, silvered, and mildew stain wood throughout the cabin and the way I see it I have 4 choices:
1.) Refuse to pay the last installment until the remedy the situation
2.) Use some mecahnical method (grinding/sanding) to get a uniformed clean look
3.) Use a chemical method (wood bleach, deck restorer…) and apply
4.) Take the contractor to court.
Question: I’d like to get some advice on potential methods to clean up the appearence of the wood and get a uniform look. It’s all Hemlock so the wood is porous.
Best Regards
Troubled Dreamer
Replies
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Preamble: I am lucky enough to finally reach a point in my life where I've been able to achieve a dream. I've always wanted a getaway and am now in the completion stages of a cabin on an island in Lake Champlain Vt. There is no bridge or other services to the island so there were very few choices for a contractor who could handle the logistics, and they had built a few other examples on the island and did good work.
The cabin is built from rough cut Hemlock from a local mill and since it's really meant for just 1 to 2 seasons there are no interior walls and therefore all the wood is exposed.
Problem: Unfortunately my passion for this dream was not shared by the contractor and I seemed to be the last on his list time and time again to progress on the cabin construction. I live far away and wasn't able to dog or police the contractor. Most of it was cut and assembled during the winter of '01 and stored outdoors, first under tarps and then due to "some" mildew the tarps were removed. Then around July the walls were moved on site and left again until early November. I now have a mixure of clean fresh, silvered, and mildew stain wood throughout the cabin and the way I see it I have 4 choices:
1.) Refuse to pay the last installment until the remedy the situation
2.) Use some mecahnical method (grinding/sanding) to get a uniformed clean look
3.) Use a chemical method (wood bleach, deck restorer...) and apply
4.) Take the contractor to court.
Question: I'd like to get some advice on potential methods to clean up the appearence of the wood and get a uniform look. It's all Hemlock so the wood is porous.
Best Regards
Troubled Dreamer