Unusual project: An indoor "cabin". Which wood shall I use?

[tjhorwood]

I am hoping someone could advise.

We have to construct a "cabin"-effect inside an office-type room. It does not necessarily need to look brand new or aesthetically pleasing...it just needs to look like an old cabin, not smell, be safe (fire-wise etc), and preferably low-cost.

We considered:
- buying fence panels, and putting those up around the room...but, is there a concern as to whether these are pressure treated / un-treated?
- buying interior plywood

Any other suggestions would be welcome.

We've seen a timber merchant on ebay selling individual slats for fence panels cheaply....but these are pressure treated, and I'm not sure whether these would be suitable for indoor use with a project such as this, in relation to our needs above.

Many thanks

 

[MattRoberts]

Can you not just get some cladding? Mount battens to the wall, and then clad - either overlap or ship lap.

Bear in mind it's wood, so inside what fire safety regs will say...

Like this

 

[tjhorwood]

Thank you very much for the reply. I like the look of cladding BUT it looks too "new" and clean for this purpose.

Think theatre...we're trying to create a set of an old (400 years!) cabin, but would prefer to use real wood rather than wallpaper!

The look of fencing panel slats is kind of ideal and, as I say, we have found some cheap ones, which we could use.
They'd be going straight onto a wall, so the structure / strength is already in place. But, what we are not sure about is "pressure treated" material, and whether this is safe for indoor use

 

[MattRoberts]

Oh. Yes, it's fine to use pressure treated wood indoors. Just don't eat off it

 

[tjhorwood]

haha will try not to! Thank you

Might be a strange question but, is it likely to have any particularly strong odour?

It's actually second-hand, so I'm not sure what it's been used for. But, I mean, generally...does it smell?

 

[RobinBHM]

If you want a rustic cabin look, maybe consider untreated sawn featheredge boards?

I dont think pressure treated material gives off any smell these days and houses are built with lots of treated timber for joists, roof rafters etc.

I often have a lot of pressure treated timber in the workshop and Ive never noticed a smell, so your fence slats, which are basically a low grade of featheredge should be fine treated.

If you want inspiration for the rustic cabin style, visit any branch of fatface!

 

[MattRoberts]

If they're new, they won't emanate an odour. If they're used, they might be a bit musty!

 

[tjhorwood]

Thank you for the advice

Actually, found some untreated:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Joblot-600-56 ... SwqBJXWDJS

This is just more than I need. But, do you think it's suitable?

What, if anything, can we do to stain the wood a darker colour once it's used indoors?

 

[Sheptonphil]

Thank you for the advice

Actually, found some untreated:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Joblot-600-56 ... SwqBJXWDJS

This is just more than I need. But, do you think it's suitable?

What, if anything, can we do to stain the wood a darker colour once it's used indoors?

Perfectly suitable, I would use the cheapest, thinnest, water based fence treatment from any of the big shed DIY stores. Then even dilute it some before use.

It doesn't do much good outdoors, long live Creosote (get Brexit out the way and we may be allowed to use it again at home), but would be idel for your use.

Phil

 

[Droogs]

Hi tjhorwood
get yourself a tin of this and cut it with water 1:1 This will also lighten to colour a bit, so that the wood is more obvious in stage lighting
http://www.diy.com/departments/colours- ... 598_BQ.prd

and then spray it on using this
http://www.diy.com/departments/ronseal- ... 574_BQ.prd

hth