Advice on Jet Washed Timber Cladding

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scotia83

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Hi all,


I was jet washing various bits and bobs around the house and stupidly made a mess of the timber cladding (see photo). Last time I will do that.


Does anybody have any recommendations to restore the wood l've made a mess of back to how it was?


Thanks!
IMG-0933.jpg
 
If it were me, I'd wait until spring and jet wash the whole lot and then re-treat. Depending on the way the boards come up (possible to bring up some fluffiness on the grain), I might choose to do a quick pass with a sander in between jet-wash and re-treating.

With the jet-wash, I would not get quite so close to the boards with the nozzle and use a consistent distance, instead of what you can see here - where you've gotten closer to the surface with the nozzle in some areas. At a guess, I'd estimate that the width of the jet needs to be about half the board width. I'd go vertical strokes at that distance and see how the first one comes out and adjust as necessary.
 
If it is only that small area, buy some objet d'art, drive in a nail and hang the piece to cover it up.
 
If it were me, I'd wait until spring and jet wash the whole lot and then re-treat. Depending on the way the boards come up (possible to bring up some fluffiness on the grain), I might choose to do a quick pass with a sander in between jet-wash and re-treating.

With the jet-wash, I would not get quite so close to the boards with the nozzle and use a consistent distance, instead of what you can see here - where you've gotten closer to the surface with the nozzle in some areas. At a guess, I'd estimate that the width of the jet needs to be about half the board width. I'd go vertical strokes at that distance and see how the first one comes out and adjust as necessary.
Great thanks for the reply. I should have mentioned the cladding spans the whole height of the house so it’s no so easy to get access to jet wash the whole lot. If I were to jet wash the small section that I’ve made a mess of, do you think it will naturally blend in with the rest of the space in a few months again, or is there any oil I could treat it with to darken the wood if you like?

Thanks
 
I'm not sure if the same principle will apply in your situation, but a roofing specialist I know told me many years ago, if you want to quickly age new roof tiles to match the age & look of modern replacements, rub cow manure on the new ones and within a month or two, they will look practically the same as the originals.....

I hasten to add, I have never tried it myself, but he assured me that it works...!!
 
I'd get a stiff brush and brush over the area this will spread the algae from the jet washed part to the non jet washed part??
 
Great thanks for the reply. I should have mentioned the cladding spans the whole height of the house so it’s no so easy to get access to jet wash the whole lot. If I were to jet wash the small section that I’ve made a mess of, do you think it will naturally blend in with the rest of the space in a few months again, or is there any oil I could treat it with to darken the wood if you like?

Thanks

Oh - that being the case - if you can't reach to get to all of it - I would probably be minded to either leave it alone, or maybe try to "blend" the area out gradually so that the vivid lines are less visible. There is no treatment that will blend with natural ageing. Although a gentle rub with a strong bristle or nylon brush might be better to blend the area out and not remove as much algae/weathering.
 
For future use if you use the brush attachment with the jet washer you get a more even coverage as it keeps the spray head at the right distance from the surface. In your case if you cant reach the whole lot better not jet wash. Try a good scrub as has been suggested above and let nature do the rest.
 
I'm not sure if the same principle will apply in your situation, but a roofing specialist I know told me many years ago, if you want to quickly age new roof tiles to match the age & look of modern replacements, rub cow manure on the new ones and within a month or two, they will look practically the same as the originals.....

I hasten to add, I have never tried it myself, but he assured me that it works...!!
I was just about to say re roofs that I have heard that to promote moss and algae which is sort of whats on the cladding yoghurt should be applied, natural I would presume.
 
And for anyone else reading later, don't ever use one of those jet wash turbo lances with the spinning metal bead in the nozzle on wood. It rips little circles into them waaay worse than this.
 
I'm not sure if the same principle will apply in your situation, but a roofing specialist I know told me many years ago, if you want to quickly age new roof tiles to match the age & look of modern replacements, rub cow manure on the new ones and within a month or two, they will look practically the same as the originals.....

I hasten to add, I have never tried it myself, but he assured me that it works...!!
Never heard of rubbing it on. Mixing it up in a bucket of water and spraying it on definitely.
 
Buy a big plant pot, plant an evergreen shrub, put it in front of the damage. By Spring you will have forgotten all about it

(Or one of those naff inflatable Santa's. ).

Good plan. A decent bushy bamboo would go well with the vertical boards, planted in a chunky pot, perhaps square-sided, so that you can get the rim positioned up against the boards.
 
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