Indoor walls: pine or cedar?

[frazzlehead]

As you may know, I'm in the process of building my house on an acreage in Alberta. (applejackcreek.blogspot.com for progress updates!)

I absolutely do NOT want drywall in my house .. it is a pain to install and I don't want to paint every so often plus I really like the look of wood.

So, I'm about ready to make my decision and I can't make up my mind. Who better to ask but the Homesteading board?

For sure the bathroom gets done in cedar due to the moisture (walls and ceiling, cork on the floor). Now, what about the rest of the house? I have big windows so it'll be open and bright, and the living room has a cathedral ceiling up to the loft area. The floors will be the old fashioned variable-width real hardwood (pine, stained antique brown most likely to give some variety and "grounding" to the place ... it's one of my splurges, it's not cheap but nothing looks as good!).

What would you put on the rest of the walls? Cedar or pine (assuming I could afford either - they're not that far apart in price. although the cedar is a bit more)? How would you finish it, keeping in mind that we're after low impact (earth friendly), low maintenance (i.e. do it once and never again if possible), and a 'warm' look?

I know you're all full of opinions , so can you spare a few for me?

Thanks!

[Cabin Fever]

Sounds like you're pretty much considering what we did when we built our house. There is no sheetrock or carpeting in our entire home. The one thing we strived for is to not end up with the interior of the house looking like a pine box. So, we choose pine floors with a darker color (ie, antique pine barnwood) and we actually painted some of the shiplap wood walls. The walls that are not painted are sealed with three coats of laquer.

Go here if you want to look at what we did: Our Home

[CJ]

Our last place had walls and ceilings just like Cabin Fever's, I really liked it a lot! Just dust periodically. On the other hand, years ago I had a house with rough cedar on the walls, left natural. It darkened over the years and was really cool looking, but a pain to dust because of the roughness. Of the two, I liked the pine best.

It looks great left natural or a very light stain, with a darker pine floor.

[pcwerk]

I think pine would be just fine, and its cheaper (as you said). I was
just reading an article in Mother Earth News (Oct/Nov issue) about
something called Structural Insulated Panels (SIP's) and they seem
pretty cool. The builder is from Ontario and he says they work quite
well. They can't be beat as far as insulation goes.

james

[pcwerk]

Originally Posted by Cabin Fever

Sounds like you're pretty much considering what we did when we built our house. There is no sheetrock or carpeting in our entire home. The one thing we strived for is to not end up with the interior of the house looking like a pine box. So, we choose pine floors with a darker color (ie, antique pine barnwood) and we actually painted some of the shiplap wood walls. The walls that are not painted are sealed with three coats of laquer.

Go here if you want to look at what we did: Our Home

Hey Cabin whats that Longhorn doing in your house? ;-) Place looks
absolutely awesome! Ya'll did a great job.

james

[frazzlehead]

Thanks guys! CabinFever, that's a great looking place. Nice to see that dark floor next to the lighter walls ... that's what I was hoping it'd look like!

I definitely want smooth walls - no rough cedar walls for me, it'd catch lint and dust and be yukky.

I think I'll go to the lumber store tomorrow and have a look up close at the options. Anyone else got pictures to help me? It's so different when you see one board stained or finished a certain way compared to when you see a whole room done.

[Ramblin Wreck]

The ceiling in my house is knotty pine, similar to those in Cabin Fever's/WIHH's home. I used a marine grade spar varnish finish (Minwax product) on it to prevent staining if there was ever a leak. It gave it a slightly yellowed look compared to the natural, unfinished product. Pine or cedar: that's just a personal choice I guess, but if the prices are similar, I'd take the cedar. It's usually a tougher wood. Good luck and happy home building.

[amelia]

They're really two totally different looks. Pine, being characteristically knotty, has too busy a look for my tastes, whereas cedar tends to be pretty clear and even in tone. Cedar darkens with age into a rich golden brown (stunning in certain lights--try a red heat lamp in the bathroom for a sensual look) and, IMHO, becomes even more rich looking over time. Pine would need to be stained, as the wood tends to be a pretty anemic yellow, and pine can be VERY finicky and unpredictable with stains because the wood is characteristically varied in terms of porosity. Cedar could (and usually is) left natural or sealed with a clear, low luster finish. Also, you can't beat the scent of unfinished cedar. I might recommend looking at an entire wall lined with each, if you can find one. The difference between the two when you get it up on the walls is really night and day.

[mightybooboo]

Originally Posted by Ramblin Wreck

The ceiling in my house is knotty pine, similar to those in Cabin Fever's/WIHH's home. I used a marine grade spar varnish finish (Minwax product) on it to prevent staining if there was ever a leak. It gave it a slightly yellowed look compared to the natural, unfinished product. Pine or cedar: that's just a personal choice I guess, but if the prices are similar, I'd take the cedar. It's usually a tougher wood. Good luck and happy home building.

Same here,everything he said except we are ALL knotty pine,again a light golden color.
IMHO,wood sure seems to suck up the light in our house.With your BIG windows,no problem.
I also would take the cedar,around here about 50% more in cost last time I bought some.

BooBoo

[JAK]

Great thread.

There is no such thing as too much wood. There is nothing wrong with painting wood. There is nothing wrong with mixing and matching wood. Wood is good. The other advantage of plain old wood construction is you can move in anytime, as long as you can keep the weather out. Subfloors, unfinished floors, finished floors, unfitted kitchens and bathrooms, unfinished kitchens and bathrooms, finished kitchens and bathrooms. It's all good.

A sauna like finish makes sense in bathrooms. I can see Cedar for this. Cedar here is Eastern Cedar. In Alberta you probably have something else in mind. Anything sauna like or boat like will work. Pine will work. For the rest of the house there are many ways to go. Pine is beautiful unfinished, finished, or painted. If you have local sawmills ask them what local woods are available cheap and sometimes you get some great surprises. Here we have something called Tamarack which is excellent for floors and decks as it is insect resistant like Cedar, but harder. I am sure there are a lot of species of wood in Alberta and B.C. besides the usual suspects.

[Cabin Fever]

The one thing I'd caution against whatever you do is in regards to staining pine. I've never had good luck staining this specie. My experience is sthat tained pine always turns out looking "blotchy" and "dirty." For those of you who have had good results staining pine, what is your secret?

[amelia]

Cabin, the only advice I've ever been given for dealing with this is to use a good sealant before staining. Even then, I have found pine to be a real problem. For problem woods such as pine and alder, I generally choose a tinted teak oil product which can be mixed with clear and applied in multiple applications for better control over color absorption. Through experimentation, I've also found that wet sanding during the soak-in phase of the first few applications, each time with a progressively finer grit (e.g., 300, 400, 600), helps a lot. What you're doing is creating a slurry that is forced into the spaces between the wood fibers to plug up and even out the more porous areas. (Naturally, you must wipe the work piece off completely before allowing it to dry.) I've used this technique successfully many times with alder, which is a very nice wood for wood working but which likewise tends to go blotchy. It's also a good trick to have up your sleeve when working with oak, which accepts stain evenly but tends to need a "filler" to give you a smooth, glass-like surface. It takes patience, though--I've sometimes gone 8-10 applications (with a day of drying time in between) on problem woods to get an even finish.

[Irish Pixie]

Our log cabin is entirely pine on the inside, nary a piece of sheetrock to be found. You have to vary the colors of wood so that you don't look like you live in a coffin. The walls are honey pine with dark moulding, the ceilings were left natural with the main beams stained dark- the dark stain is the same color as the pine knots. We still have some carpet, which I hate, and are slowly replacing it with laminate wood and real slate in the computer room/front entry.

Cabin Fever and WIHH's cabin is gorgeous.

Stacy

[Ramblin Wreck]

I've not had much luck staining pine, either inside our outside. The marine varnish I used on the ceiling is a sealer. It did give the wood a honey glow however. So far there have been no leaks to "test" the stain resistance, and frankly, I hope in my lifetime I never have to find out. I'd hate to have to "kilz" it and paint it. Counting those knot holes puts me to sleep much quicker than counting sheep.

[Cabin Fever]

Originally Posted by pcwerk

Hey Cabin whats that Longhorn doing in your house? ;-) Place looks
absolutely awesome! Ya'll did a great job.

james

Longhorn!?!?! It's up there for two reasons: (1) I haven't shot a buck with a rack worth mounting and (2) it's up there onaccounta I married a gal from Texas!

And this Texas gal I married....guess where she is tonight? Hummmm? In Texas of course! Marshall and Kilgore to be perzack. And I'm here all alone typing back and forth to you nin-com-poops! Ohhhhh, I am so forlorned.....

[texican]

Cabin Fever......

tell your missus when she gets home I sure appreciate some of the cool weather she brought down with her.... I'm about 15 crow miles from Marshall... just hope she don't take it all back North with her when she leaves...

[tallpines]

I hate to admit but we have too much sheetrock.....but we have lots of wood, too.

The whole ceiling and a couple of walls are carsiding and we have one wall in the great room that is log siding ------ (purchased way up there in Crow Wing County, near Cabin Fever).

Our floors are all wide pine planking harvested from our own woods and stained with MinWax 'cherry' ------and 4 coats of varnish on it.
It looks great and we get lots of compliments.

We lugged in a 25 foot pine log from the woods that is the only support post in the 46 foot open span-------and for a newal (sp) post we have a smaller pine tree with several braches still on it------.

The railing across the 28 foot span of the loft and the both stairways is all hand hewn pine logs from our woods---and also all of the porch and deck railings.

And all the wood work is made from pine boards harvested from our own trees.

I love the the wood look.

[jeffreyc256]

I have 12 inch board on board western cedar full height in my living room finished raw. it is nice but does tend to catch a little dust being in the rough. For the hall the 12 inch board on board goes up to about 4 ft high and is capped with a 1x2 to a 1x3 rounded over. The balance of the wall is sheetrock with sheet burlap glued on and painted. The burplap finish gives it a rustic texture and helps with lighting levels in the hallway. For the cedar board on board pay particular attention to the nailing as the boards move during the seasons and are easy to split if restrained incorrectly.

I am considering building a cabin on the water and the old Knotty pine Pickwick pattern is looking pretty good right now. In the long run I think the wife will like the knotty pine because it is easier to clean.

There is also also another alternative if you like the log cabin look. They are making 2x6 T&G milled to look like logs. I have seen it installed on both the interior and exterior of conventional 2x4 stud walls and it looks pretty good considering what it is. The interior is raw pine and the exterior is usually pressure treated or raw finished with stain or sealer. Just another option.
Good luck

[tnborn]

We are building and using popular for ceilings and we may use barn wood on the inside. We have popular for the 10ft porches all around the house. I am debating on type of wood to put down as floors. Cedar inthe bathroom.?? never thought about that. I don't have any of that sawed. I am wanting to put ceramic tile or sometype of rocks for the floor in the bathroom. Any suggestions?Put sometype of rocks, tile down in the basement after the concrete is poured.? Not sure about that yet.BTW cabinfever, I love your home.
tnborn

[Arborethic]

Simply put, WOOD IS GOOD! I love it! But mixing in some stone ain't a bad idea, either.

Sheetrock is simply a cheap imitation of plaster over lathe. And of course lathe is WOOD! Yep, we're back too wood again!

My humble suggestion, considering your far Northern latitude, is that you might want to consider a quite common method of BRIGHTENING an interior space. For instance, you might take a few pieces of wood and mixing white latex with 9 parts water, 'stain' the wood. This whitewash will leave the grain apparent, and even fail to cover the dense knots and higher grain. But what it will do is reduce one's need for light during a long winter.

Dark, 'warm', wood has the tendency to make a room look smaller. Lighter colors tend to make a room look larger. White means less 'cabin fever'. Which is why our antecedents used so much white paint.