Introduction - It was whilst renovating my cottage in Yorkshire that I accidentally became a bit of an expert on not only restoring old beams but also crafting new pieces of timber into old looking historic beams! I'll share my painstakingly acquired experience to save you all the heartache I went through.
It genuinely is extremely difficult to meet new people who share this knowledge so it's a pleasure to give you some tips which will hopefully save you an inordinate amount of time! 1.
Sandblasting - this is the only option you have in many cases when wishing to remove layers of the thick black tar like paint which covers so many beams in today's houses.
It was extremely popular in the 1980s to try and recreate a tudor look to any old beams.
Unfortunately this can be very gloomy to live with unless you happen to be the proprietor of a particularly old pub! I personally favour the oaky look.
I love seeing the grain of the wood and exposing it's natural beauty.
For 2 years (believe it or not!) I persisted with Nitromors and a paint scraper, defiantly attempting to scratch away every nick of paint on my beams.
I can tell you now, this is a laborious task and the results are not always satisfactory.
The only way to eradicate the pits of black tar like paint effectively is to sand blast them.
Take care to ensure you hire a reputable sandblaster with experience of old beams.
Ask them what bar of pressure they will be using as you don't want to damage the wood beneath the paint.
2.
Creating Old Looking Beams - with a little effort it's possible to craft old looking beams from almost any type of timber that may be lurking about- particularly useful when exposing a roof in a modern extension of a period property.
For this example I will describe the modern extension to my cottage.
After ripping down the loft space in my hallway, I discovered a terrible shock.
The beams that were supporting the roof were in fact pieces of cheap timber that the previous builder had acquired in order to save money.
I could have chosen to plaster board over them but instead here's what I did.
I first used an electric planer to remove as much dirt and debris off the timber joists, I then bleached any green tanalised timber to raise it colour to a driftwood tone.
I I filled any cracks with wood filler.
I then used an axe to roughly sliced along the edges to mimick the effect of an old saw.
I finally sanded the beams and waxed them using bri-wax medium brown.
Summary With a little care and attention you can restore your period home to it's former glory.
Don't give up and take care with it.
It genuinely is extremely difficult to meet new people who share this knowledge so it's a pleasure to give you some tips which will hopefully save you an inordinate amount of time! 1.
Sandblasting - this is the only option you have in many cases when wishing to remove layers of the thick black tar like paint which covers so many beams in today's houses.
It was extremely popular in the 1980s to try and recreate a tudor look to any old beams.
Unfortunately this can be very gloomy to live with unless you happen to be the proprietor of a particularly old pub! I personally favour the oaky look.
I love seeing the grain of the wood and exposing it's natural beauty.
For 2 years (believe it or not!) I persisted with Nitromors and a paint scraper, defiantly attempting to scratch away every nick of paint on my beams.
I can tell you now, this is a laborious task and the results are not always satisfactory.
The only way to eradicate the pits of black tar like paint effectively is to sand blast them.
Take care to ensure you hire a reputable sandblaster with experience of old beams.
Ask them what bar of pressure they will be using as you don't want to damage the wood beneath the paint.
2.
Creating Old Looking Beams - with a little effort it's possible to craft old looking beams from almost any type of timber that may be lurking about- particularly useful when exposing a roof in a modern extension of a period property.
For this example I will describe the modern extension to my cottage.
After ripping down the loft space in my hallway, I discovered a terrible shock.
The beams that were supporting the roof were in fact pieces of cheap timber that the previous builder had acquired in order to save money.
I could have chosen to plaster board over them but instead here's what I did.
I first used an electric planer to remove as much dirt and debris off the timber joists, I then bleached any green tanalised timber to raise it colour to a driftwood tone.
I I filled any cracks with wood filler.
I then used an axe to roughly sliced along the edges to mimick the effect of an old saw.
I finally sanded the beams and waxed them using bri-wax medium brown.
Summary With a little care and attention you can restore your period home to it's former glory.
Don't give up and take care with it.