Removing oil-based stain from interior wood


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Old 10-12-13, 12:24 AM
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Removing oil-based stain from interior wood

hi folks:

I recently purchased a three sided log home, which also has solid hardwood floors throughout. The interior is extremely dark, as both the logs and floor were stained using an oil-based stain. On the floors I'm tempted just to put down some large area rugs in a light tone, but would like to know if there is a way to remove oil stain from the interior logs.

I use to refinish furniture years ago and we always use chemical strippers, which of course would not be practical on the interior of the home. The surface is really too rough to sand, so not sure what that leaves me. I hate to just kind of cover things up with sheetrock, but not sure if there is any way to bring the logs back to their original natural color. I would prefer not to use any kind of opaque stains either. I'm trying to get back to the natural blond color.

A shot of one of the offending rooms is shown below.

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Old 10-12-13, 04:21 AM
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There really isn't a practical way to remove the stain from the logs. Strippers will work and if there is no finish over the stain, scrubbing the logs with paint thinner would remove most of the stain ....... but you'd need lots of ventilation and I'm not sure the result would be worth the effort

The more sheen a finish has, the better it will reflect light but I think I'd concentrate on improving the lighting.
 
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Old 10-12-13, 05:26 AM
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Dark painted door, dark drapes, brick that looks like someone painted it black and used a dark stone under the wood stove, dark stain on everything, sconce lights. Looks like they where designing it to be one big home theater room.
The floor would be the easiest to strip, sand and use a lighter stain.
That brick could painted a lighter color, the stone or whatever that is under the wood stove could be changed to a lighter tile.
Door can be painted.
Valances with strip lighting could be added over the windows to hide the rods.
Can lights in the ceiling would project the light down into the room to brighten it up, not high lite the wall and ceiling flaws like what you have now.

That slat coil heater is done wrong behind that wood stove. There should have been two of them, one on each side of the hearth.
 
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Old 10-12-13, 08:19 AM
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Thanks for the reply Joe! The bricks are not real. that is essentially a piece of metal with airspace behind it, and then some kind of composite material designed to look like brick--a veneer IOW. I suspect it could be painted was some kind of high temperature paint though. The dark stone is just a metal tray. I could definitely see changing out the window treatments, and good point about the lighter colored door.

This was purchased as a rental unit, so I'm not going to get too crazy, but wanted to brighten up the place for more appeal, as it is really depressing. The living room also faces North, so doesn't get a lot of direct sunlight, so that doesn't help matters.

As to the heat registers, my guess is that it was there before the wood stove. The wood stove installation looks relatively new. With the extremely high cost of oil, seems like more and more people are adding them.

I think perhaps just sheet rocking the wall behind the stove, adding a large light-colored area rug, some lighter colored window treatments, and painting the door lighter would all go a long way to brighten things up. Can lights are not practical as it would break the vapor barrier. I'm in Alaska, so breaking the vapor barrier is not something one wants to do.

Thanks again for the great tips! At least some of the other walls have sheet rock. See another view of the same room below.Name:  GFBR123486F.jpg
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Size:  28.0 KB

Troy
 
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Old 10-12-13, 08:29 AM
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Thanks for the reply Marksr. I didn't think there was a easy way to remove the stain, but thought I would ask. As mentioned in my reply to Joe, I think I will just add some sheet rock to the wall behind the woodstove, and than add a light-colored area rug, along with changing window treatments, and painting the door a brighter color. it's really depressing the way it is!

Troy
 
 

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