Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - re-varnish after paint removal?
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jubilant_one
08-16-06, 07:46 AM
Hi,
I have an older home that has a beautiful beadboard ceiling on the front porch. Other homes in my neighborhood have the ceiling varinished and it looks beautiful. I removed 4 layers of paint from my beadboard and have half of the ceiling sanded down to what looks like the bare wood. This has been a really hard job, not used to working over my head for hours. I was telling my dad what I was doing with the porch ceiling and he advised me to stop killing myself and slap on some primer and paint it white. He told me that no matter how clean I get the wood I will never get all the paint out of the beadboard and I won't be happy with the finish product. Is this true? It looks as it the paint is out of the grain where I have sanded. I hope I have not wasted all of this effort. Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer my question.
Susan
I have an older home that has a beautiful beadboard ceiling on the front porch. Other homes in my neighborhood have the ceiling varinished and it looks beautiful. I removed 4 layers of paint from my beadboard and have half of the ceiling sanded down to what looks like the bare wood. This has been a really hard job, not used to working over my head for hours. I was telling my dad what I was doing with the porch ceiling and he advised me to stop killing myself and slap on some primer and paint it white. He told me that no matter how clean I get the wood I will never get all the paint out of the beadboard and I won't be happy with the finish product. Is this true? It looks as it the paint is out of the grain where I have sanded. I hope I have not wasted all of this effort. Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer my question.
Susan
marksr
08-16-06, 09:22 AM
Welcome to the forums Susan
Not saying it can't be done but it will be very difficult to get the paint out of the grooves. I agree that the bead board ceilings really look great when stained/varnished.
You might want to varnish/poly a small area to get an idea of whether or not you will be satisfied with the results. Priming and painting is a whole lot easier.
Not saying it can't be done but it will be very difficult to get the paint out of the grooves. I agree that the bead board ceilings really look great when stained/varnished.
You might want to varnish/poly a small area to get an idea of whether or not you will be satisfied with the results. Priming and painting is a whole lot easier.
jubilant_one
08-17-06, 05:04 AM
Thanks Marksr,
I will try a small section when I have the ceiling ready to go. Fortunately the paint was on the beadboard so thick that it seems to be coming out of most of the grooves with a putty knife and a little pressure. My dad was referring to the grain of the wood...I am using a palm sander with a 60 grit sandpaper to solve that problem. It seems to be working. I must admit I have never varnished and I know nothing about it. Most of the porch ceilings in my neighborhood are a dark brown color with a reddish hue. Will I need to first stain the boards to bring them back to this color and then varnish them? And I have heard that I will need about 5 very light coats of varnish to do it right. Any advice? I am confidnet that I can get this ceiling back to how it probably was many years ago with patience.
Thanks again, Susan
I will try a small section when I have the ceiling ready to go. Fortunately the paint was on the beadboard so thick that it seems to be coming out of most of the grooves with a putty knife and a little pressure. My dad was referring to the grain of the wood...I am using a palm sander with a 60 grit sandpaper to solve that problem. It seems to be working. I must admit I have never varnished and I know nothing about it. Most of the porch ceilings in my neighborhood are a dark brown color with a reddish hue. Will I need to first stain the boards to bring them back to this color and then varnish them? And I have heard that I will need about 5 very light coats of varnish to do it right. Any advice? I am confidnet that I can get this ceiling back to how it probably was many years ago with patience.
Thanks again, Susan
marksr
08-17-06, 06:17 AM
Stain is hard to touch up so be carefull with a test spot, if at all possible completetly stain a whole [little] section. Poly/varnish over the stain will prevent it from taking more stain but be carefull not to get any varnish on the unstained wood or it won't take stain.
I usually apply varnish straight out of the bucket or thin sparingly. 3 coats of varnish will normally do a good job.
You don't have to stain the wood unless you want to alter the color. Either way it should look nice. I don't envy the work you will be going thru but hopefully the results will be well worth the effort!
I usually apply varnish straight out of the bucket or thin sparingly. 3 coats of varnish will normally do a good job.
You don't have to stain the wood unless you want to alter the color. Either way it should look nice. I don't envy the work you will be going thru but hopefully the results will be well worth the effort!