Wood veneer to cover pressure-treated wood beams?

[Peter Werner]

I'm remodeling my home and am looking at ways to make the ceiling
beams look more interesting. The ceiling beams (which also serve as
the joists of my house, which stands partly on posts) are presently
painted and made of some kind of composite wood (probably
pressure-treated wood) and hence would not give any kind of attractive
wood-grain appearance if I stripped off the paint. One design option
is to simply repaint them in a more interesting way. Another option
that I've thought of would be to apply a cabinet-quality wood veneer
over the beams, giving them the appearance of full-grain wood beams.

Anybody have any experience in using wood veneer to enhance the
appearance of cheap wood? Any idea whether this would work, and if so
whether I would end up with something nice or something
cheesy-looking?

Thanks,
Peter

[Baldy Cotton]

Far as I can tell, someone wrote:
>Anybody have any experience in using wood veneer to enhance the
>appearance of cheap wood?

That's exactly what veneer is for.

>Any idea whether this would work, and if so
>whether I would end up with something nice or something
>cheesy-looking?

I don't think you should do it for a few simple reasons...

Veneer is extremely thin and should only be used where you have a good
bond over the entire surface. Any expansion/contraction would buckle
the veneer and make it split and crack. The soundness and smoothness of
the old surface determines the quality of the job. If it ain't flat, it
ain't gonna work.

Veneer is applied using contact cement. Apply it to all mating
surfaces, allow it to dry completely and adhere. But the catch is that
it's 100% NON-positionable. It does not move one bit. Errors are
forever. It would be difficult at BEST to do veneer up in your
beams/joists.

If you really want a wood look, my vote would be to box them in with
nice wood, sanded and stained on the workbench, not on a ladder.

On the other hand, painted beams can look great if you also use them to
display stuff you like. In a previous house, my wife had baskets and
antique hats filled with dried wildflowers. I had a collection of
antique fishing gear. Everyone loved it, and you could barely see the
beams. Display what you love and it will look good.

[Goedjn]

Take a stab at painting a fake wood-grain on it first, with
a couple shades of brown milk-paint.

[Frank Ketchum]

Don't apply wood veneer to the beam, it won't look good. Instead, you can
purchase 1/4" thick plywood faced with the veneer type of wood of your
choosing. (oak, maple, cherry, etc). Locate a plywood dealer near you as
the Home depot will probably only have birch faced. You can cut them to
size, finish them in the workshop (stain, clearcoat) and apply with
construction adhesive and a few small finish nails to hold in place until
the adhesive dies.

You will want to try to conceal the edges of the plywood, a small quarter
round of the same species as the face veneer will do a nice job.

Good luck
Frank

Peter Werner <pgwern...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:13378f69.03011...@posting.google.com...