August 31, 2016

DIY Barnwood [Looking] Cedar Wall


Oh man, we are driving back from Virginia Beach right now. We just had the best weekend- a romantic getaway before our month long trip to NYC. We got a good day and a half of beach time in    The beach is totally my happy place. It doesn't matter how stressed I feel, when I get to the beach I feel like I can breathe. I wish we had a chance to godown to the board walk though. Since we had our yorkies with us we stuck to North VB where pups are allowed. I think with the Fixer Upper craze and the crazy trend of Barnwood and industrial styling, this project will be perfect.  


Materials

  • Weatherwood Stain's Salvage Stain
  • Red Cedar- this is just fence boards from Home Depot. Determine the square footage of your space to determine what to buy. 
  • Gravity Sprayer 
  • Nail Gun & Nails: stainless steel, high tensile strength aluminum, or galvanized. 
  • Crow Bar

Directions

1. Wood: With a rough saw cedar like this project, you don't have to prepare the wood in any way. But if your wood is smooth dimensional lumber, then you should sand with 80 grit or spray the wood with denatured alcohol to open up the wood grain.



2. Stain: The fastest way to stain a large project is a gravity sprayer. You should strain the stain and then apply a moderate coat of stain with several passes of the spray gun. See example above.



3.  Dry: Since red cedar is a soft wood, it could take up to a hour to dry. You can see the time lapse of how raw wood turns into barnwood in the video above. 

4. Wall Prep: Remove the trim around your windows and the base moldings using a crow bar. Remove any outlet covers and light switches. 

With a s4s wood like this fence wood, you are not going to get a perfect wood wall. You have to purchase either shiplap or tongue and groove paneling for that. That specially milled lumber is intentioned to create wood walls and ceilings and makes hiding the nails really simple. These wood planks will still create a really pretty effect, a bit imperfect which may add charm. 

Here's the before and after of the space:


5. Nails: In horizontal application, start at the bottom and work up, with the groove edges facing downwards. Leave a gap .5” at each wall to allow for expansion and contraction. Planks up to 6 inches wide can be blind nailed with one siding nail per bearing toe-nailed through the base of each tongue. You want to use a nail gun to really speed the process. Nails should be installed at an angle so they cannot work their way back out of the wood. Nails should be applied with enough force that they must penetrate 1-1/4 inches into solid wood and are flush with the wood.


6. Planks: Butt the second board against the first and work across the wall, until the final piece of the first row. Make any necessary cuts for the last piece and install. Check every few rows that you are still parallel with the first row or the wall. To fill the wall exactly, it may be necessary to fit a board or two together loosely.



This is one of the most popular uses for my stain line. I'd say furniture tops, wood walls, and barn doors comprimis the majority of barnwood-looking DIY projects. This one was very inexpensive, the whole wall was completed with one quart of Salvage stain and some cheap wood! 

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