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Sealing your plywood first


Augustine

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 I am building a Greenleaf Garfield here. They recommend sealing your plywood first with one half  denatured alcohol and one half shellac. To prevent the plywood from twisting. My question is will glue stick to the plywood after the wood is sealed?

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Stain nd primer will also seal the wood, and you can use clear sanding sealer for the underside of the bottom floor, if you're concerned about such things.  I have found that the build tends to keep the wood from twisting, and I also store my kits flat.  The one time I sealed the wood first, before removing the pieces, the sealer-primer I used filled in the die-perfs so I literally wore out  many utility knife blades hacking the pieces out.  The upside of making mistakes is that one learns all sorts of useful things to avoid doing, and that time spent ahead prepping pays off.

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  • 3 years later...

Just to clarify because I am almost done deconstructing my Pierce:  prime where I will paint/wallpaper or lay in floor/ceiling, varnish, or seal wood that will be exposed EXCEPT where wood glue goes (wood glue should be on raw wood)? Prime/seal/varnish, then sand, then prime/seal/varnish, then sand, then put up decorating materials?  I've read lots and have seen conflicting advice.

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Hello @Augustine & @Medieval

I only prime with a primer that is a white shellac like Zinser brand. I prime after it is glued so the raw wood adheres together. I try not to over sand Greenleaf's stuff because I make more work for myself if the piece splinters. You can used a wood putty to fix any areas, sand it then prime to achieve a smooth surface.

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I don't seal or varnish; I either prime if I'm going to paint or paper or "stucco" and I stain my floors whatever color I'll stain the wood strips that go on it.  I also either stain or prime the roof, depending on that treatment. Primer and stain seal the wood pretty well for me.  I do glue raw wood to raw wood, so if I need to decorate before final assembly I trace along all the wall and corner abutments with a dark-lead pencil whilst the house is in dry fit; I also lay on the door and window trims and trace around those, as well; then I know where to use my strips of tape to mask off the areas I'll want to glue and prime or stain what needs it, then remove the tape so I'm ready to glue at the proper time.  I wait to instyall windows and doors until the majority of the decorating is done.

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8 hours ago, Medieval said:

Just from stain?

This is one I scribed the "boards" into the kit floors, stained them & gave them the brown paper bag rub in 1:24:

kitchen.JPG

and here's the 1:12 version::

first residents, Rose & Reggie.jpg

and this is using the Greenleaf siding strips for flooring:

KathieB's photos:  the master bedroom

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8 hours ago, Medieval said:

I had seen these in another post. What I meant was all you put on them was a stain, right? Also does scribing mean you carved floorboard lines onto the plywood? These are nice, btw! Your little people look happy!

Yes to both.  When I finish any sanding that's needed and get the final stain color I give it a good brisk rubdown with the crumpled paper bag until I get a lovely warm glow.  I hold my Stanley box-cutter knife upside down and use the dull upper part of the blade to score the plywood of the kit along a cork-backed steel straight edge/ ruler to mark the "boards" and the stain is very slightly darker in those grooves.

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  • 1 year later...

When working with cigar boxes, I sand the box, use gesso, then paint and then use decoupage medium to attach any paper to the box. Would this work on a dollhouse which I am renovating? If not, I am curious why. Is there a durability problem I am failing to consider? I use acrylic decor paint or acrylic craft paint. I have a bit of leftover chalk paint and was thinking of adding some of that in . . . I use all sorts of papers, including wrapping paper. Any problems there? I'd be pretty bummed to do a lot of work only to have everything deteriorate in a year or two because I did not know what I was doing! I am in NY, with lots of summer humidity and dry indoor air in winter.

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2 minutes ago, Tinyroomartist said:

I sand the box, use gesso, then paint and then use decoupage medium to attach any paper to the box. Would this work on a dollhouse which I am renovating?

Yes. The important thing is to seal the wood. It contains natural chemicals that will eventually leach out to stain the wall covering.

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3 hours ago, KathieB said:

Yes. The important thing is to seal the wood. It contains natural chemicals that will eventually leach out to stain the wall covering.

This is why you want to stain or primeyour wood that you're going to decorate over.

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I'm working on a vintage house (1950's?) which has already been wallpapered and painted. I am not disassembling it as it is delicate. Is it a bad idea to simply gesso over the existing wallpaper (which is not peeling) and painted floors / ceiling and then proceed with whatever I decide to do? 

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50 minutes ago, Tinyroomartist said:

I'm working on a vintage house (1950's?) which has already been wallpapered and painted. I am not disassembling it as it is delicate. Is it a bad idea to simply gesso over the existing wallpaper (which is not peeling) and painted floors / ceiling and then proceed with whatever I decide to do? 

There shouldn't be an issue with the painted areas, but I wonder if the water in the gesso will loosen the wallpaper? You may want to test an area before you dowse the whole house.  If the paper begins to pull away, it may be worth the effort to pull it all off.

Edited by KathieB
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Thank you. Is it necessary if the old wall paper is not peeling? I almost wish I could use it. It is 1950's vintage patterned but entirely out of step for what I have in mind for the house. Oh well. I'd rather not disturb it if I don't have to and just go right over it. Would that be a disaster in a way I am naive about ? Thanks much!

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As KathieB mentioned, if you seal it with anything water-based (or that contains a solvent if some other adhesive was originally used) it might loosen the old paper and then you'd want to remove it and re-do the seal.

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16 hours ago, Tinyroomartist said:

Oh well. I'd rather not disturb it if I don't have to and just go right over it. Would that be a disaster in a way I am naive about ?

You won't know until you try it. That's why I suggest testing a small area before diving in full bore.

Diane, don't overthink this. It is a hobby. Hobbies should not be stressful. They should be fun. Part of the fun is trying something and finding out that unintended consequences are even better than the original plan  Think of it as working as a partner with the house. Sometimes the house wins. :D  And anything that happens can be fixed. Anything.

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15 hours ago, KathieB said:

You won't know until you try it. That's why I suggest testing a small area before diving in full bore.

Diane, don't overthink this. It is a hobby. Hobbies should not be stressful. They should be fun. Part of the fun is trying something and finding out that unintended consequences are even better than the original plan  Think of it as working as a partner with the house. Sometimes the house wins. :D  And anything that happens can be fixed. Anything.

Thanks! It's funny. I am very relaxed with the cigar boxes. I saw the amazing work here and on other sites and began raising the bar! I had no idea what was possible . . . so I'll try thinking of the house the way I do the cigar boxes and see what happens. :)

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