Fish house interior questions?

[aczr2k]

Looking for some more input on finishing this Yetti.  I plan on using the cedar tongue and groove, should I finish it or not?  I like the natural look of the wood but I am concerned about stains.  Our last house was finished with marine spar varnish, I didn't care for the look and 3 years later it still stinks awful.  Last time all the cedar was varnished after install, this time if its going to be finished it will be sprayed ahead of time.  What is the best and will not stink forever?

What trim wood looks nice with the cedar?  Last time I made cabinet doors from cedar and they are a pia, wood is just too soft to be durable.  Pine?  Alder?  Popular?  I'd like to possible stain the trim pieces to kind of break up all the cedar.

The stuff is piling up in the shop, my Amazon order was huge this week and now the "M" store has the 11% deal so I'm thinking I will pick up the majority of the wood this week. 

Thanks! 

[Moon Lake Refuge]

Question for you... If your going to seal the wood why bother with cedar?  You lose the natural scent and you have to deal with a hard to work with  wood.  If your planning on staining it why not just go with pine for cheaper and find the color stain you want? 

[aczr2k]

Good to know that it didn't stink, I can't stand the varnish smell.  Did it darken the wood much?  Thanks!

Idk I guess I just like the looks of the cedar over pine?  Yeah it definitely is harder to work with.  I would only be sealing the face side of the cedar.

[YettiStyle]

7 minutes ago, Moon Lake Refuge said:

Question for you... If your going to seal the wood why bother with cedar?  You lose the natural scent and you have to deal with a hard to work with  wood.  If your planning on staining it why not just go with pine for cheaper and find the color stain you want? 

I'm with Moon Lake, if you're going to go with cedar don't seal or stain it.  If you want a different color option you might as well save your money and get pine T&G.  Pine is a good choice for your trim, easy to find, cheap, and you can stain it whatever color you want.  Pine also comes in a lot of molding shapes (cheaper than other woods) so you can finish off corners nicely with pine corner moldings. 

While your thinking about wood species/colors you might want to think about what you're doing with your countertops and wheel well tops.  Laminate is an easy choice but Menards also has edge glued boards (LINK) that you can get in a lot of dimensions.  You can stain them or just seal them and they look great!

[papadarv]

Pine is a good choice. If you choose cedar and not finish the wood it will indeed get dirty and smudged from rubs, collect finger prints and other marks. Popular does not stain well, usually used by contractors when painting is done. I did my basement in T&G inexpensive pine car siding lots of knots. Used a satin MINWAX poly with a Honey pine stain in the poly. Did a second coat with the crystal clear, all poly applied and dried for a week before install, no smell. The Polycrylic is great stuff.

On trim, contractors now buying lots of Select Pine no knots, multiple sizes, well milled. Quite popular in new house build, and simple look. Use 2" (measured 1.5") on vertical select pine and 4" header (measured 3.5"). the header boards extend 3/8 to 1/2" past the vertical trim. Same trim on windows only the bottom trim is between the vertical with the vertical slightly extended below the bottom trim. On my basement I did a simple 2"x2" angle cut mitered.

I am also not fond of corner molding so the top board is cut to fit and driven into place. No gap.

If you miss the "M" 11% and happen to have a veteran or military card, Home Depot gives a 10% military discount on all purchase any value unlike M where you need to spend the 11% rebate at the M store.

 

[PurpleFloyd]

4 hours ago, aczr2k said:

Looking for some more input on finishing this Yetti.  I plan on using the cedar tongue and groove, should I finish it or not?  I like the natural look of the wood but I am concerned about stains. 

 

 

I am a cabinetmaker and professional wood finisher with about a quarter century of experience in finishing. If you like the look of cedar and want to keep it from getting stained and soiled then finishing it is the best way as long as you can accept that you will lose the aroma that makes cedar famous. If you want more of the natural look, use a dull,Matt or flat sheen in whatever product you apply. It will protect without the shine and reflectivity you get from satin, semi gloss or gloss. The vast majority of people use a satin sheen.

 

Quote

Our last house was finished with marine spar varnish, I didn't care for the look and 3 years later it still stinks awful.  Last time all the cedar was varnished after install, this time if its going to be finished it will be sprayed ahead of time.  What is the best and will not stink forever?

I am not sure why the spar varnish smelled after 3 years. This is not typical and may have been a quality control problem. Marine spar varnish is just a varnish that is formulated to be able to move with the expansion and contraction of wood that is exposed to the elements without cracking as some of the types with harder resins may do. After it cures there should be no long term odors but some people are more sensitive than others. 

Spraying, if done by someone who knows what they are doing, gives the smothest, highest quality finish. Varnish and polyurethanes do not spray well at all. They are tough to atomize and tend to get tacky overspray everywhere. For spraying you are probably looking at laquer, conversion varnish or waterbased finishes.

For low odor, easy clean up and not turning amber over time the best products are waterbased although the quality varies wildly and if you buy at the home centers you are not getting the best products but they will work. They are much more expensive than oil or solvent based products.

 

Quote

What trim wood looks nice with the cedar?  Last time I made cabinet doors from cedar and they are a pia, wood is just too soft to be durable.  Pine?  Alder?  Popular?  I'd like to possible stain the trim pieces to kind of break up all the cedar.

All the woods you mention are soft and are popular due to their low price, not their durability. What you use depends on budget as well as where you buy. If you want a wood that is very strong and looks great with cedar then I would use Hickory. Very dense, great rustic look. Other than that whether it is Alder, Poplar, Pine etc you have some of the same issues but if I had to pick I would say Alder. I have made countless cabinets out of Alder and it machines well, takes stains decently and doesn't warp too badly like many woods. The drawback is it is very soft so using rustic or knotty alder is preferred so the dings don't show up as much.

 

Edited September 13, 2016 by PurpleFloyd

[aczr2k]

Thanks for all the great info... Now I'm second guessing the cedar.  I really wish there were more options of the thin planking material. 

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Don't overthink this   There are probably 25,000 fish houses out there with 5/16" pine or cedar tongue and groove, and I've never heard of a problem with either.  I've used exclusively pine, and had great results.  Never any swelling or rotting, but I've only kept mine for 3 years at the longest.  I think as long as you do some sort of stain/varnish and keep the water off it you'll be just fine for 20+ years.

My latest house got pine, 1 coat of stain on the finished side, 1 coat of spray lacquer on the back side, and 2 coats on the front.  Lacquer is a very hard, durable, waterproof finish.     

Cedar sucks for cabinets, as you mentioned.  At least the stuff you can buy at the big box stores.  There may be some high grade stuff available at the lumber yards, but I haven't looked.  Select grade pine is great to work with, and should take stain in whatever color you'd like.  I've had really good results staining pine to look like cedar with 2/3 natural, and 1/3 cherry stain.  

[aczr2k]

Over think?  What is that?  I'm only a farmer/engineer... over thinking is all I know.  I'm going shopping tonight, cedar or pine whichever looks the best is going in the truck.  Thanks for all the information!

[Hawg]

Wait for the Menards deal, it'll save you 1/2.

[Moon Lake Refuge]

1 hour ago, Hawg said:

Wait for the Menards deal, it'll save you 1/2.

That's what everyone has been saying but I've been watching for the last two years and haven't seen half off once.  I saw about 5 bucks off per pack that was definitely nice by not half.  I was looking at premium too so maybe there is half off on the standard grade? 

[fishingstar]

don't wast your time on the standard grade pack. you will have more waste that will make up the price differance.

[aczr2k]

I've never seen the planking on sale?  or at least not when I've needed it.  I did buy the cedar on Friday, I didn't care for the pine, at least not the few packages I looked at, it was only a couple dollars more per package, premium pine vs cedar.  They only had about 20 packs of pine regardless.  It was the 11% deal so I did save some or will be getting some money back, only to spend again.  I still had to stop at both the Fargo menards and the Moorhead menards to get 50 packs with no obvious bad pieces, lots of sorting.  I did get some matte finish poly acrylic, tried a sample on some leftover cedar & I like the looks of it and no smell.

Made pretty good progress, installed the fir strips and built the wheel well storage cabinet frames, installed the 3 porch lights and the two wheel well lights.  Amazon delivered about 15 packages last week so most if not all the necessary stuff is sitting in the shop.  Picking up the two Yetti sofas on Friday along with the stereo.  Basically ready for wiring.  Not sure what I'm going to do with the ceiling mounted speakers, I will have to make up some spacer rings or something otherwise they will be deep into the foam?

Thanks for all the advice, maybe I should start a new post with some pics?

 

[Moon Lake Refuge]

Couple things to consider.  We got an extra light, same as the wheel wells to mount over the propane tank for changing at night.  Also for the speakers they make spacers at just about any rv shop but I just made a 45 angle in the top corners and mounted my speakers there to get me the depth

[aczr2k]

Yup I mounted an actual porch light on the drivers side v front down lower to light up the propane & shine on the hitch.. I will have to check out the rings, i was thinking maybe the stereo shop would have rings as well, I know I can make some but I'd rather spend my time doing something else.  

[Moon Lake Refuge]

Do you have a post started on just the build of your house?  Curious to follow along and see what all you come up with.

[aczr2k]

No I suppose I should start a build post.

[trav102]

I think it is just stupid not to finish the woodwork. I just bought a new ice castle with cedar interior and threw a clear coat waterborne finish on it, plan on buffing down with sandpaper this fall and putty all the holes and throw another coat on. Still smells fine and anything you spill or smudge will wipe right off. Leave it bare and will look like dump in a few years, anything you spill, fish slime will stain it. I'd rather have it not smell so "cedary" and keep a new clean look, but just my thoughts - but then again my family owns a painting company so i am rather picky on my wood finishes.

[elkrivermn]

15 hours ago, trav102 said:

I think it is just stupid not to finish the woodwork. I just bought a new ice castle with cedar interior and threw a clear coat waterborne finish on it, plan on buffing down with sandpaper this fall and putty all the holes and throw another coat on. Still smells fine and anything you spill or smudge will wipe right off. Leave it bare and will look like dump in a few years, anything you spill, fish slime will stain it. I'd rather have it not smell so "cedary" and keep a new clean look, but just my thoughts - but then again my family owns a painting company so i am rather picky on my wood finishes.

I prefer the painted sprayfoam interior being I am inside the fish house to fish, not watch tv inside a 8000# fish house that resembles an on shore Lake Minnetonka home!

[Hawg]

Here come the winter people.