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Wood Wallcovering Care and RepairBy Jim Sulski Summary:Wood is a beautiful choice for covering a wall, and maintenance and repair are easy do-it-yourself tasks. In the last few years, there's been a newfound appreciation of wood as a wallcovering.
Wood adds a certain elegant richness to a home, and is a very durable wallcovering. Wood shows up in homes as a wallcovering in a number of ways. At the turn of the century, wainscoting - large wood panels - was added to dining rooms and foyers to add a formal touch to a home. In the 1930s, knotty pine tongue-in-groove and beadboard paneling began covering walls in dens and sunrooms. In the 1970s and early 1980s, wood paneling - large four-by-eight-foot sheets - was a popular choice for the walls of family rooms and finished basements. As it ages, wood wallcoverings, however, can suffer from a number of maladies, from simply a dull and dark look to broken and missing pieces. As with any other wallcovering, wood requires a bit of care and repair of wood, something that is a fairly easy project for the do-it-yourselfer. CLEANING WALLCOVERINGS The first step in restoring a wood wallcovering is a good cleaning to see how much that perks up the wood. The cleaning will remove the dirt, smoke, dust and pollution that's attached itself to walls over the years. To clean the wood, pour a good quality wood furniture cleaner in a flat metal pan, and then moisten a sponge mop with the cleaner. Start at the top of the paneling and work your way down, rubbing the cleaner in one panel or wood strip at a time. Then take a broom, wrap a towel around it, and wipe down the wood. If the cleaning seems to restore the wood's luster, you can protect the finish with a coat of lemon oil. Unlike a wax protector, lemon oil does not produce a high gloss. Pour a very light coat of the lemon oil on a clean sponge mop and work it gently into the wood from top to bottom. If cleaning the wood does not bring it back to life, you'll need to refinish it by removing the existing shellac or varnish and putting on a new coat. TAKING CARE OF FLAWS If you plan on refinishing the wood, next repair any minor flaws following the cleaning. Small scratches and nicks can be touched up with common household materials: Shoe polish, Mercurochrome, iodine and or a wood stain that matches the wood. Always start with a lighter color and work your way up to a darker color, mixing colors if needed. Apply the color with a cotton applicator. Then use a dry cloth to buff off any excess coloring. Larger flaws, such as a chip or a gouge, can be filled in with a commercial wood putty. After it dries, cover the patch with a matching stain as described above. Next, loose pieces of trim or paneling should be nailed back in place with small finishing nails. Countersink the nails with a nail punch, cover the exposed heads with a dab of wood putty and stain the dried putty as described above. Tongue-in-groove or beadboard pieces may be a bit more difficult to get back into place. To get the piece to fit properly, remove it by pulling out any nails that are holding it down. Then shave the piece down with a utility knife or a plane (this may require removing the tongue or bead) and reinstall it. Use a piece of two-by-four to coax the loose piece back into its spot before nailing it in place. An old carpenter's trick is to vertically saw the piece down the middle if you have a table saw. Then glue the two pieces back together. The gap made by the saw usually removes enough wood to make it fit properly. Missing pieces of wood wallcovering can be remedied in a couple of ways. You can rob Peter to pay Paul by removing a board that's behind a piece of furniture or a bookcase. Or you can have a new piece fabricated by a millwork shop. REFINISHING The next step of the job is to refinish. The first step to refinishing is stripping: To strip a shellacked surface, apply alcohol to an extra fine piece of steel wool and choose an inconspicuous spot to begin. For varnished wood, use a chemical stripper and steel wool. Never apply the stripper directly to the wood. Work your way down from top to bottom, concentrating on a small area at a time and applying medium pressure. Follow the stripping with a very light sanding to remove any imperfections. Be careful not to sand too much with wood veneer. Then, apply a new sealer. If the wood has a "historical" feel to it, reseal it with shellac. If it's a less formal look, such as knotty pine, a polyurethane sealer will do well.
© by Jim Sulski. All rights reserved. August 5, 2005. NOTE: This column is distributed by Real Estate Matters Syndicate, PO Box 366, Glencoe, Illinois, 60022. This column may not be resold, reprinted, resyndicated or redistributed without written permission from the publisher. © 2005 by Ilyce R. Glink. Distributed by Real Estate Matters Syndicate. |
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