Renovate and expose old/cracked wood posts, rafters and ties General decorating topics, questions and answers. find help, tips and advice on completing your decorating projects

[selectstar]

I am planning on exposing three wood posts/rafters in our living room. At the moment, these have been covered by wood panels and plasterboard. I have started looking behind and realised that the posts present various cracks and look very coarse.

Wood: I am not expecting to have a perfectly smooth result, but I would like to smooth out the splinters, smooth the cracks and apply a stain, oil or varnish. See pictures attached.

Ties: Between one of the beams and rafters, there are two metal tension rods that have been bolted on to tie them: one towards the top and one towards the bottom (see red lines in attached pic). Right now, they are covered by plasterboard which I would remove, but I can see that these rods are not suitable for being exposed as the metal has sharp edges and they have been installed at a clumsy angle. They would have to be replaced.

Questions

1. What type of cleaning techniques for the wood would you suggest? E.g. wire brush, orbital sanding
2. What type of filler could be used to fill the cracks and finishing layer? E.g. Epoxy?
3. As an alternative to the metal rods (wife does not like metal to be visible), could wood be used for the ties? Though, there would be an aesthetical issue of wood colours would not match

[stoneyboy]

Hi selectstar.
Use a wire brush then sandpaper to remove surface roughness. Do not try filling with anything it will look awful.
Replace the ties with wrought iron ones (you’ll have to get them made specially) fit the new ones and tension them before you remove the old ones. Wood will not be adequate to act as ties.
Regards S