Cleaning an untreated wood ceiling
I have been scouring the internet for advice on how to clean untreated wood, and I've come up dry. I found articles about cleaning wooden furniture, routine cleaning of wood floors (almost all of which have some kind of finish), and washing outdoor decks. None of them seemed suited to my problem -- an untreated, semi-post-and-beam ceiling with about 40 years worth of woodsmoke, pollen, and general household dust built up on its surface.
Last fall, I washed it with a wood cleaner, diluted in water and mixed with bleach as directed on the bottle. I slopped it on with a rag, scrubbed it with a stiff plastic scrub brush, and wiped it down with another damp rag. It looked a bit cleaner, but it wasn't significantly brighter, and now, after a winter of construction dust, you can't tell the difference.
I read that oxygen bleach is the active ingredient in most wood cleaners, so I decided to try an experiment. I found some of my sister-in-law's oxygen bleach near the laundry machine here, mixed up a cup of it, and cleaned a spot. Just above it, I gave the wood a quick whack with 120-grit on a power sander. Here are the results:
The top part is sanded, the bottom part is bleached.
....
I began writing this post over a month ago, and now the project is mostly done. After messing around with wood cleaners, I found sanding to be faster, easier, and more effective, although it was also noisier and dustier. I drafted my husband to sand the living room ceiling. I had painted the kitchen ceiling after only lightly cleaning the wood, and it took 4 coats of paint to attain a decent shade of white. The parts of the living room ceiling which were sanded, wiped down, and painted looked better than the kitchen ceiling after only 3 coats of paint.
Conclusion: If you can sand it, that is totally the way to go to revive and brighten old, darkened wood. Otherwise (as in the case of rough-cut pine), oxygen bleach or wood cleaner does an OK job.
Last fall, I washed it with a wood cleaner, diluted in water and mixed with bleach as directed on the bottle. I slopped it on with a rag, scrubbed it with a stiff plastic scrub brush, and wiped it down with another damp rag. It looked a bit cleaner, but it wasn't significantly brighter, and now, after a winter of construction dust, you can't tell the difference.
I read that oxygen bleach is the active ingredient in most wood cleaners, so I decided to try an experiment. I found some of my sister-in-law's oxygen bleach near the laundry machine here, mixed up a cup of it, and cleaned a spot. Just above it, I gave the wood a quick whack with 120-grit on a power sander. Here are the results:
The top part is sanded, the bottom part is bleached.
....
I began writing this post over a month ago, and now the project is mostly done. After messing around with wood cleaners, I found sanding to be faster, easier, and more effective, although it was also noisier and dustier. I drafted my husband to sand the living room ceiling. I had painted the kitchen ceiling after only lightly cleaning the wood, and it took 4 coats of paint to attain a decent shade of white. The parts of the living room ceiling which were sanded, wiped down, and painted looked better than the kitchen ceiling after only 3 coats of paint.
Conclusion: If you can sand it, that is totally the way to go to revive and brighten old, darkened wood. Otherwise (as in the case of rough-cut pine), oxygen bleach or wood cleaner does an OK job.
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