Finishing interior wood walls and ceilings.

Started by mherrmann2, June 23, 2016, 01:54:05 AM

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mherrmann2

I'm going to use 1x6 and 1x8 T & G pine from a local sawmill on my interior walls and ceilings.  I plan to seal it with some type of brush on polyethylene satin finish.  I'm concerned about the wood shrinking after it's sealed and showing gaps where the wood is unfinished.  I don't want to pre-finish the wood before I put it up.  The sawmill guy said the wood won't shrink much but it's not kiln dried so I would think it would dry out during the winter months especially with a wood stove going most of the time.  Anyone have any experience or knowledge about this?  Also looking for recommendations on brands for sealing the wood.  Thanks for your help.

MushCreek

Pine will move quite a bit, regardless if it's dried or not. Seasonal swelling and shrinking is just a fact of life with natural wood products. Why don't you want to pre-finish? I did that with my porch ceiling, and it was much easier than trying to work overhead and protect the porch floor from drips. I bought some of those cheap metal sawhorse brackets, and made a pair of 8' sawhorses. I used those giant sawhorses for a lot of things building my house, from cutting up 4X8 panels of plywood to pre-painting my siding and porch ceiling. I used a 'spar' polyurethane with a UV inhibitor to slow the tendency of pine to darken over time.
Jay

I'm not poor- I'm financially underpowered.


Don_P

Yes it will move as it dries. Pine shrinks less than hardwoods but it is still enough to show the tongues and I have seen it shrink enough to "detongue". Get it dry,  I've got 125 boards in the barn attic now getting ready to head to the job for a sky blue paint job for porch ceiling. Do prefinish, all sides, start with the back then flip and hit edges and then face. My wife likes watco, I prefer waterlox for oil finishes, water based poly is quicker.

One thing the kiln does is "set the pitch" to whatever temperature the kiln was run at, typically for pine 160-180*F. Air dried can bleed pitch when it sees a new high temp, this can be nothing to small beads to runny sap all depending on how much pitch is in the wood, especially in knots.

Redoverfarm

I put up a lot of T&G and always prefinish.  Especially true if you are going to stain.  The joint will open and reveal a portion of the Tounge.  As for interior poly I have switched over the years to Minwax Polycrylic for ease of application and cleanup.  It dries extremely fast for recoating.  Generally I would coat twice, sand and recoat with the final application on the face that is exposed.  It also doesn't appear to yellow like the original oil based poly's. 

Yes it seems like a job to prefinish but given the alternative of trying to finish it after installed it is well worth the extra time. 

Here is a link to the that product.  It comes in gloss or satin finishes.  A little costly in comparison but money well spent IMO.

http://www.minwax.com/wood-products/clear-protective-finishes/interior/minwax-polycrylic-protective-finish


glenn kangiser

I have had occasion to put up damp pine in my cabin with saw cut shiplaps.  I found I had to cut a 3/4" shiplap lapped tight to have it still lapped 1/8" at a time of 1 year later.... so from that I came up with a rule of thumb of about 5/8 inch shrinkage per 10 to 12 inches of width.    That could vary some.  :)
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

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Dave Sparks

If you are staining pine, a sealer first will make it much easier/better in the end. Trying to get a light stain color on pine is much easier if you seal it first.
We have inexpensive pine baseboards and window trim that look like beautiful hardwood.
"we go where the power lines don't"

jimvandyke

I used the minwax poly shades all my pine. The directions say to use a sealer, but I found it was not necessary with this product. It did take about 3 coats to really look good though. Having used pre conditioning sealers in  the past, they tend to prevent the stain from soaking in very well.

One other note about wood that is not kiln dried. Kiln drying also kills the insects and larva in the wood.  A friend did something similar, put pine floors down from wood that was not heat treated. 2 Years later an inspector discovered evidence of the worms in the wood. To remedy this problem they had to sand off all of the varnish and have the wood treated with a pesticide. That said I have built several pieces of funiture from air dried wood and have not personally had any problems.


Jim