How I would finish the terrace of my house in Voinești

The week, about whose adventures we told you here, started in Voinești to see the state of works at the House between the apple trees, one month after their launch. They were, as one of the carpenters said, at 99% of what needed to be done in terms of structure. The house had been completely erected, the roof still had to be tiled, the terraces were also completed, even if their design had been slightly modified in the meantime. At this stage, Andrei had decided to finish the terraces himself, built entirely from softwood.

The newly cut wood looked very good and Andrei would have liked it to stay that way, in its natural colour, even if he was going to apply a treatment to protect it. And so we came to the discussion about finishing the resinous wood used outside and what the solutions would be in this case, which you can follow at the end of the article. As preserving the original colour of the resinous wood is impossible with ordinary finishes, I will develop this topic, especially as many people who write to me ask the same question. And I will also tell you what solutions I have thought of to make the terrace as close as possible to what Andrei wants.

The change in colour of softwood begins immediately after cutting

The change in colour of the wood after felling is not only specific to resinous trees. Most species change colour on contact with light, but in some it is more noticeable, such as softwoods and cherryand almost none at all in others (frasinThe colour of the resinous wood changes continuously, the wood becoming more and more reddish yellow as time goes by. The only way to keep the colour as close to its original colour as possible is to protect it from light. The easiest way to see the colour change is to leave a book for a longer period of time on a resin tabletop, finished with clear varnish. Underneath the book, the wood will be light in colour, as it was originally, unlike the rest of the top which will be darker with a reddish-yellow tinge.

Light, whether from the sun or from the lamps in the house, acts on the substances in the wood and gradually breaks them down, giving rise to yellowish-red dyes. This process can be slowed down by UV absorbers found in the composition of some varnishes or by using lightly coloured finishing materials - such as outdoor varnishes - which deflect the sun's rays, protecting the surface of the wood.

Colour cannot be preserved but can be reproduced

And what good is stain protection if we want natural wood in its original colour? It does, because that color can be very close to the natural color of the wood. If it's a lightfast colour - and in this case I recommend staining solutions based on pigments - it will keep over time, and protect the wood from oxidation that leads to colour change. That's why there is pine-stained varnish for finishing resinous wood. It is very close to the original colour of the wood and does not change under the sun. Of course, the finish must be maintained and re-applied periodically, at the intervals recommended by the manufacturer, so that the effect can be maintained.

The change in colour of the softwood also occurs in the interior wood and here it is sometimes accentuated by the yellowing of the varnish. Nitrocellulose varnishes are the ones that yellow the most. I recommend acrylic, water-based or solvent-based varnishes. They preserve the colour of the finish over time.

To keep that yellowish-white colour of freshly cut softwood, you can make an artifice. You can use a diluted white bath or oil/varnish in which you have added 3-5% white pigment (titanium dioxide). If you use a thinned stain, it will not have the strength in one pass to cover the wood completely. Instead, it will give a whitish tint and preserve the appearance of the original colour of the wood. The same effect can be achieved with varnish or oil to which white pigment has been added. Be careful not to apply too many coats, however, because instead of enhancing the effect, you will get a paint-like coating. Apply one coat, then let it dry completely to see the colour. After drying, the effect fades, with some of the white effect disappearing. The same does not happen with subsequent coats. The layer of coloured varnish is already on a substrate and in this case the white effect is amplified. If you have reached the desired colour but want better protection, apply clear varnish or oil.

How I see the terrace of the house in Voinești

The back terrace of the Apple Tree House in Voinesti is where I think it will be very popular. It's generous, quite hidden from view and open to the apple and walnut orchard climbing up the hillside. It has poles made of laminated beams of resinous wood, and the roof is clad on the inside also with resinous wood. The entrance to the house is through two large glazed doors, followed on the left and right by a glazed wall. The frames of the glazed parts are wenge coloured and the house will be beige. In these circumstances I think the posts and patio guard would go walnut or wenge stained, and the inside of the roof covered with white pigment and oil as in the examples above. The contrast will be nice, there won't be a lot of color, and the wood will appear to retain its original color.

The finish can be done - for posts and guardrails - with walnut-coloured oil-based varnish, and the rest of the wood with a 1:1 mix of white oil-based varnish and oil, so that the white does not stand out too much. I recommend the oil because it is easy to maintain and looks more natural.

I'm curious to see what solution Andrei will choose for the terraces of the house. I'm sure he'll make a good choice and the house will look great in the end. In the meantime, watch episode 4, with the house almost ready a month after the foundation was laid.