Can You Lime Wash Old Pine Floors

It works extremely well on pine giving it a gently used look that is most at home in country rustic or shabby chic decorating.

Can you lime wash old pine floors.

Finney s white wood dye is a white dye which does not totally obscure the wood leaving instead a bleached limed effect. Our alabama farmhouse is 99 floored in pine. If you do not clean off the floor after sanding it you ll end up applying the final coat of stain varnish or oil directly on top of this dust. If by some chance you should tire of the weathered appearance of your old pine floor you can sand it just as you would a hardwood floor.

Unfortunately true lime wash is temporary and unsuitable for most floors. Dad hired a floor sander for the day and with a few hiccups along the way transformed the pine flooring from this. The temporary aspect comes about as the lime will be removed little by little by mopping and washing. Interesting lime effects can be created on soft woods that may be colour washed or stained before to achieve more of a contrast.

Read more about cleaning pine floors. Each mopping removes some of the caustic chalky lime and the waxes or oils that can be used to seal lime washed. I was very fortunate to have my dad volunteer to sand back the floors with my 14 year old son as his sidekick a good how to tutorial for sanding floors can be found here. You ll have to clean the wax and oil soap off the floor before you sand or they ll gum up the sandpaper which is one reason why you shouldn t use these products.

Unfortunately pine has the wrong structure for genuine liming so what can you do. Brush on a thin application of dye wiping off all excess or instead apply using a pad of lint free cotton staining cloth. Jan 7 2019 liming or wood washing the timber flooring would change the timber color lighter than the natural wooden color without blocking the natural wood grain. Whitewashing is one of the oldest painting techniques still in use.

The softness of pine will be an advantage and a flight grit on your floor sander 100 or 120 grit will quickly wear off the surface and remove surface blemishes. Or you could mix pigment into the lime wax for even more distinctive effects. Cleaning pine floors as i mentioned about 50 times before these floors were one of the selling points for me. Easy to apply lime wash is a non permanent solution which can be used on most types of hardwood flooring although it is not recommended for softwoods such as light pine or ash.

After you finish wiping the floor wait 10 minutes for the pine to dry. When used on open grained wood such as oak chestnut and ash liming has a pleasing effect but it s not so good with pine. To these gorgeous floorboards.