Cedar Fence Pickets for wall covering

Started by astidham, August 10, 2010, 09:46:22 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

astidham

I was thinking about using 1x6 cedar pickets to cover my vaulted ceiling.
Anyone here ever use these? is there a reason not to use pickets?
if i used them would i need to drywall the ceiling first?

Thanks Todd
"Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice"
— Henry Ford

NM_Shooter

they tend to be a bit soft, and will sag over time.  Keep in mind that they will expand and contract with moisture a lot.  Whatever wood you use for the ceiling, you'll need some sort of way to seal the top in order to prevent loss of warm air through the roof.  My rough cut roof deck has 30# felt over the top, and it still tends to leak air.  Starting with a sheetrock ceiling and then doing some sort of decorative treatment is not a bad way to go. 
"Officium Vacuus Auctorita"


MikeT

FWIW, I am doing exactly this.  Or I should say I am planning on it.  I will have 1/2 high density sheetrock attached to the rafters and firetaped.  The cedar I am using is salvaged from old fences and run through a planer.  I am also thinking that I will cut each side at a 45 so that any shrinking/expanding will not show the sheetrock underneath.

I hope to begin this part of the project in September.

mt

NM_Shooter

I did just notice that you said "wall" covering.  Are you considering running them vertically or horizontally? 

Getting a router table and putting T&G edges would help somewhat, however you can purchase pine or aspen 1X6 for just a little more and forgo the extra work. 
"Officium Vacuus Auctorita"

rick91351

There was a guy here that made furniture out of used lumber. Mostly barn / out buildings that the sun had pretty well worked over.   This was very high dollar designer stuff.  I got to know him very well and hung out in his shop a little a few times.  His formula was pressure was the boards.  Then he sanded them through a drum sander or belt sander.  Never a planer because the knives never were able to hold up to the dirt and grit that still remained behind; no matter how clean he tried to get them.  His furniture was far from barn lumber looking.  But it had the coolest colors and hues from being sun baked.   

Old ceder like that would have a very interesting look.  However I would be very cautious as to the amount of time one could budget to a project like that over 'store bought.'  Old cedar like that is not the easiest to work with it is very soft and splintery.

Lots of luck.
Proverbs 24:3-5 Through wisdom is an house builded; an by understanding it is established.  4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.  5 A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.


MikeT

Rick, 
Thanks for your comments.  For me on my project, I am as interested in seeing what I can scrounge and save as anything.  If it were all about efficiency, I wouldn't have embarked on this project at all.  I get an awful lot of pleasure out of reusing something, much more than driving to the store and buying it.  If I have bad experiences with what I am doing, I am not too proud to change mid stream.  What I will gain is learning.


rmcewen

I did exactly this in a small (8x12) cabin I built last year.  I used the cedar fence pickets for all four walls and the ceiling.  I planed both sides smooth, cut a rabbit in each edge with a dado blade on the table saw so they would overlap, and cut off the tops where the corners were angled.

The end result turned out really well.  Pictures on my blog: http://blog.flgator.com/2010/01/building-a-mini-cabin-part-7-%E2%80%93-interior-siding/ and http://blog.flgator.com/2010/01/building-a-mini-cabin-part-8-%E2%80%93-interior/

The things I learned are:

1. The boards definitely tend to shrink.  I had to expand the size of my dado after the first batch so I could overlap them more.  Probably about 3/8" per edge.

2. My boards were only 6' long which means a) it takes a lot to cover any area, and b) there are a lot of joins.

3. It's a tremendous amount of work to plane, rabbit, and cut that many boards.  I think I used 230 boards total.  I used up one set of planer blades and had to empty my dust collector bag four times.

So I'm glad I did it considering I have a nice looking cedar interior for < $300 (I paid about $1 a board) but I wouldn't do it again.

rmcewen

I should also mention that I did originally try using the drum sander to smooth the boards rather than the planer and the results were good but it was extremely slow and tended to leave large amounts of dust on the boards as they passed through.  The planer worked much, much better, even though I did ruin a set of blades.