# Cedar barn to restore



## Damon T

Am posting this as a follow up to questions I had for Ken. As a "graduate" of the BM stain certification class I would typically use Restore (sodium hydroxide and bleach) and then follow with oxalis acid. I'm gathering just using bleach may suffice. I did a test spot with a strong solution of bleach on the side of this building - not pictured- and it cleaned up great.





























UPDATE: I took a picture today of the section we cleaned with bleach and then hit with TWP cedar. It's the same section that the other corner pic shows. If was even lighter of course before the TWP. I like Kens advice of using the sodium hydroxide and bleach together.


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## Ultimate

Tease


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## Damon T

Actually I'm just hoping Ken will chime in and say "ya dude, bleach that thing!" I was out at the site today, staining walkways and stuff. Put a little stain over the area I had bleached, if I go back again I'll try to remember to take a pic of the test area.


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## Epoxy Pro

Bleach, restore then brighten. I did the Ben Moore Stain class also, I passed but they are holding my stain certificate until I pass the drug test, I had to take months and months worth of TRT just to get ready for it.


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## PressurePros

I would attack that with a combination of both stripper and sodium hypochlorite. Bleach can be deceiving as it will make the wood look great without even washing it. Its best to err on the side of caution and not trust that even though it means a huge jump in labor by washing every inch of that wood to remove the decayed/gray fibers. The stripper will help soften that gray for low pressure washing. When I have a stripper in the mix (sodium hydroxide) I do follow with downstreamed acid.


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## Damon T

So would you DS some F-18 with bleach added? 

There's a faded trex deck under one side. Would the stripper affect that??


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## PressurePros

Damon T said:


> So would you DS some F-18 with bleach added?
> 
> There's a faded trex deck under one side. Would the stripper affect that??


If the mold wasn't bad I would go 3/4 sodium hypochlorite (12.5%) and 1/4 F-18 mixed as concentrated as I could get it (f-18 is not a strong stripper). That would be diluted enough to not cause issues with anything except maybe very oxidized alum capping/siding.


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## Ultimate

I probably need my head examined, but here is one I am entertaining the idea of restoring for a brief moment. 20k neighborhood just off the top of my head. Acrylic on there at present and pretty intact in the shadowy areas under the eaves.


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## doctors11

Better you than me! What's on the decks?


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## Ultimate

Not likely I'm touching this one doc. Similarities with the op, so I wanted to share w/o thread jacking. Flooring is naked. Acrylic solid on the rails and such.


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## Jmayspaint

I did an old log home this year with just bleach and it turned out ok.
Wasn't cedar, old logs though.


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## Damon T

That turned out great!


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## PRECISIONVANCOUVER

Looks good!


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## PremierPaintingMa

Nice work Jmayspaint!


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## Rbriggs82

Just ok huh? I think it looks a lot better than just ok. Nice job!


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## PRECISIONVANCOUVER

Rbriggs82 said:


> Just ok huh? I think it looks a lot better than just ok. Nice job!


This would be a very satisfying job... I would feel proud after completing it.


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## PRECISIONVANCOUVER

Jmayspaint said:


> I did an old log home this year with just bleach and it turned out ok.
> Wasn't cedar, old logs though.


Is that you way up there or is it your helper?


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## Jmayspaint

PRECISIONVANCOUVER said:


> Is that you way up there or is it your helper?


That's me, carefully navigating around the power lines. I did do some training on this job though, this is my apprentice washing the lower part.








Jobs like that are cool sometimes. It is rewarding to make such a visible improvement. The owners were thrilled that it came that clean. 

I characterized as 'ok' because as good as it did clean up, it didn't turn out %100 uniform. On the back side of the house you can see that the bottom two logs are still kinda dark. To get them totally clean would have required more than just bleach. Wasn't an issue on this particular job, just me being picky, but it could be.


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## CRS

Sodium Percarbonate (oxygen bleach), much better than chlorine bleach. Same principle for wood as for clothes as far as not stripping natural color. I actually teach/train, most often using sodium percarbonate/sodium metasilicate blends 4:1, 2 lbs per 41/2 gal. water. Great foaming action and more than sufficient "kill" power for mold/mildew.
Of course neutralizing with an acid is necessary to "brighten" and drop ph of wood back to acidic side. Best results. Someday I'll figure out how you guys post picture.... have hundreds of case scenarios.


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