My bathroom ceiling is wood cladding which has been stained then polyurethane varnished. It's a fairly dark pine colour. I want to lighten it and have some Bathroom quality emulsion for it. What would be a suitable base for this, after a light sanding of course,bearing in mind the colour change? Would ordinary primer/undercoat be suitable, or what?
Regards and thanks in advance
Syke
After buffing the cladding with a sanding machine, you might find a lovely light pine wood underneath the stain. A clear coat of yacht varnish looks great on new light pine, as it brings out the woods grain. Well, I think so, anyway. :-)
On a related note ... our kitchen/diner is lined with heavily varnished pine T&G type material - and yes it looks like a sauna. SWMBO quite likes it though, and it may hide a multitude of sins underneath. I'd quite like to sand it down and refinish, something like you suggest - but I wonder about the best way of getting at the 'valleys' between the boards. A wire brush in a drill? Nitromors? or something else??
Thanks J^n
You've said it: Nitromors and carefully "brushed out". A brass brush if you can get hold of one if the valley requires it.
Yep. I'd go with that approach too, Clot. Try just the brush on it first, to loosen and score the surface, before applying the nitromors. It might just help in getting the stripper right into the coating, rather than it struggling to break through a shiny skin.
Also, which I forgot to add, you need fire retardant varnish on these type ceilings. Especially in rooms with cooking appliances or where hot plates etc. may be use. So make sure you're safe as well as refurbished.
Intumescent varnish. You can get a nice permanently light finish on pine by painting and immediately wiping the paint off, then add your varnish when dry. The result is whitish but you can still see the grain.
NT
To be honest, I would be tempted to clean it, maybe roughen a little by hand with some medium grit paper, then paint it with a bathroom emulsion and see what happens. Emulsion is pretty tenacious in my experience. Having sanded a number of exposed ceiling joists myself, I suggest that you might choose to avoid using any kind of sanding machine overhead for a prolonged period, unless you have strong arms! There's also the mess. Using Nitromors overhead sounds like a truly horrible idea.
Regards Richard
Intumescent varnish. You can get a nice permanently light finish on pine by painting and immediately wiping the paint off, then add your varnish when dry. The result is whitish but you can still see the grain.
NT
That sounds nice.
OK, ta. I won't look forwards to doing that on the ceiling ...
Cheers J^n
It isn't fun. I've spent years doing similar in awkward positions on wooden boats.
Good luck.
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