A little TOO rustic?

June 30, 2020 1:50 PM

I tore down an old shed. There were some gorgeous weathered softwood boards underneath the shingle siding, which I have carefully denailed. I planned on using them for the ceiling in my (unheated, currently unfinished) mudroom, but there are spots that aren't as sound as I'd like. If I treat them for dry rot before finishing (probably with a low-gloss urethane), am I inviting calamity into my home?
posted by kate4914 to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

No, you'll be alright as long as the area is dry. Here's another option, though: First paint the ceiling black. Then before urethaning the boards, knock out the dry rotted parts. The ceiling will show through. I think it would look kinda cool!
posted by summerstorm at 2:12 PM on June 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

Consider using a penetrating wood hardener to handle the dry rot. It's pretty useful stuff IMHO.

...however, test it out before widespread use (I have no idea how well it will work with whatever coating you intend to apply afterwards).
posted by aramaic at 3:26 PM on June 30, 2020

Best answer: The consensus I've seen among professionals discussing dry rot (Wikipedia) seems to be that despite the name, it only spreads when wood is damp (YouTube, "The Honest Carpenter"). Unless your mudroom is quite damp, any fungus-damaged wood you bring in is going to dry out and stop any further rotting. And if your mudroom is very damp, the fungus spores, which are pretty much ubiquitous in the environment, are probably going to get into any wood you have in there sooner or later anyway and start causing rotting, regardless of its current state. So just make sure your mudroom is reasonably dry (like, no leaks in the roof) and you should be fine.
posted by biogeo at 3:29 PM on June 30, 2020 [2 favorites]

I recently turned a section of an old, partially dryrotted tree with a knothole in to wall art... coated it heavily with low gloss polyurethane. It wicked up a ton of the poly and still has a low gloss finish. It seems pretty well sealed and the only problem is that it had to dry for days and days before the poly odor stopped. I think your strategy is fine.
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 4:07 PM on June 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

Some years ago, I shared an apt. that had been decorated in full-on 70's style. Barnboards on 2 walls of the living room, op-art wallpaper on 2. It kind of always flaked dirt. I diluted white latex paint quite a bit, let's say water:paint 2:1, and whitewashed it. It looked much better and stopped flaking.
posted by theora55 at 5:38 PM on June 30, 2020