# Refinishing pecky cypress interior panels



## bwates

Working on a house that has pecky cypress panels in the main living area. The wood is beautiful but the homeowner thinks the color is too orange and dark. I am looking for a way to remove the current varnish and stain so that I can refinish the wood panels in a lighter color. Should I use a chemical stripper, and if so, which one will work best on pecky? I am also looking for the best techniques for applying the stripper to the pecky and it’s many crevices. I am desperate for help. Any suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have attached a picture of the pecky cypress panels.


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## MikeCalifornia

Looks like doug fir, schellac, and termites to me.


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## finishesbykevyn

bwates said:


> Working on a house that has pecky cypress panels in the main living area. The wood is beautiful but the homeowner thinks the color is too orange and dark. I am looking for a way to remove the current varnish and stain so that I can refinish the wood panels in a lighter color. Should I use a chemical stripper, and if so, which one will work best on pecky? I am also looking for the best techniques for applying the stripper to the pecky and it’s many crevices. I am desperate for help. Any suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> I have attached a picture of the pecky cypress panels.


Is this a floor? Ceiling?


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## bwates

The first picture I posted is a close up picture of the pecky cypress walls. The ceiling is the same color and type of wood, but has no pecky boards. The homeowner would like the strip the walls and ceiling and refinish in a lighter grayish color. I have attached another picture of the entire room so that you can see what I am working with. Thanks for the help.


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## deadend

...this is the south...its Cypress...


MikeCalifornia said:


> Looks like doug fir, schellac, and termites to me.


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## kmp

Looks like cost plus to me.


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## finishesbykevyn

I would highly suggest you talk them into either just painting it or doing a type of white wash or the likes. 
Trying to strip all that in a lived in house would be the most horrible experience I can imagine..ugg


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## Redux

I couldn’t imagine chemically stripping that either. You might have problems with the pecks. I’ve done about 20 pecky cypress finish/refinish jobs, and had best results sanding it off with a D/A sander combined with a bit of hand-work. Looks good painted and whitewashed too as one member mentioned. Attached a pic of painted and limed pecky.


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## Woodco

Alchemy Redux said:


> I couldn’t imagine chemically stripping that either. You might have problems with the pecks. I’ve done about 20 pecky cypress finish/refinish jobs, and had best results sanding it off with a D/A sander combined with a bit of hand-work. Looks good painted and whitewashed too as one member mentioned. Attached a pic of painted and limed pecky.


That bottom pic actually looks pretty cool.

Honestly to the OP, though, it'd probably be easier to take the boards down, and run them through a planer.


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