Cleaning Old Wood Beams

Give it a scrub or sand down.

Cleaning old wood beams.

Cleaning up beams and posts in your old barn more aggressive approach greater risks. I used minwax polycrylic water based protective finish in clear satin you guys this stuff is amazing. Fill a spray bottle with 2 cups water and 1 cup vinegar. Spray the solution.

The most important lesson i ve learned with reclaimed wood is when to lightly clean it vs. And unfortunately i learned this the hard way. The vinegar is a natural cleaning and disinfectant that. Avoid using wire brushes as this can damage the timber s appearance.

Therefore the first thing to do is give the salvaged wood a thorough cleaning. There are two other possible techniques both of which ought to be approached. I ve lived in this civil war farmhouse since 1975 and in all this time i ve only cleaned the ceiling beams with a vacuum cleaner. Beware the little mouse.

Vacuum the beams when you notice dust accumulation. No matter what you do take some basic precautions when working around animal droppings. Beam clean restore use a soda blasting and low pressure chemical free blasting method to safely effectively remove and strip paint varnish smoke damage graffiti and grime from timber oak beams. How to clean wood beams step 1.

If your oak beams are stained or blackened you can make use of chemical free blasting or soda blasting but be careful of the chemicals used to treat the wood. Soda blasting and low pressure chemical free blasting are non harmful processes to clean and strip wooden beams and timbers. Years ago when i started cleaning reclaimed wood i would sand it down with a hand sander which would get rid of that beautiful patina and some of the character. The easiest way to dislodge the dirt is to use a pressure washer.

But i noticed recently the living room beams seem spotted with mildew or some kind of mold at least that s what it looks like to me so i got out a step stool and. Soda blasting uses sodium bicarbonate and as baking soda is an extremely friable material it completely fragments on impact cleaning and stripping the timbers and beams. Make sure not to use too much. Once the wood was dry from its cleaning i used a regular paint brush and sparingly applied the minwax finish.

To clean your oak beams you can simply brush them down with a soft brush so you can remove dirt and dust. Just be sure to turn the tool down to its lowest. If you want to go for a more natural way of cleaning your wooden beams you can create a vinegar and water solution by mixing two parts water and one part vinegar. The last step to clean and refinish your reclaimed wood is to properly seal the wood.