Large Canvas In Bathroom

[Steven6095]

Hi. A customer brought in three oil paintings today.
Two are normal, but one is huge by my standards.

It is about 30 by 40 and is on a 2 inch deep stretcher.

Client wants to hang it in a bathroom and wants a black non ornate frame around it (not due to price, but due to the picture

)

We are thinking about a float frame, but I am have a concern about the humidity and the relativly small surface / glueing area of any of the floater profiles.

What about the canvas itself? What will moisture do to it?

Thoughts? Thanks!

 

[boxer1]

There was a thread a few days back dealing with this issue...

http://www.thegrumble.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=008413

There is limited info there but you might get it fired up again.

 

[Jim Miller]

Extreme humidity would encourage mold & mildew, but that may not be the worst potential problem.

Most bathrooms suffer wide swings of temperature and humidity every day. That is, the conditions change rapidly from cool & dry to warm & moist, then back again.

The rapid change creates expansion & contraction cycles that could be damaging. Glazing the painting would slow the rate of change, and that would be good.

On the other hand, if glazing would trap condensed moisture inside the frame, it might be better to leave it open, so the moisture could evaporate.

The second best solution would be to seal the frame by Hugh Phibbs' method, using plenty of glass spacer and Marvelseal.

The best solution would be to hang the psinting someplace else, away from the rapidly-changing environment of the bathroom.

 

[Baer Charlton]

Personally, I think a float frame is a great idea.

If you build the "L" out of two pieces of mahogany or teak the wet dry cycle wouldn't have much affect. Of course, you are also down there in gods country (LOL) where you have ready access to an even better wood: Cypress. Bald Cypress, is not only unaffected by the damp, but has a natural anti-fungual oil and resists an mold too.

It is a beauty to work with and mills wonderfully. It will take a black Krylon paint like a gator to water.

make sure that the screw holes are slightly sloted to allow for the stretcher bars to move about.

If mold grows any where, it will be in the canvas.

But if the ventilation fan is correctly sized, there should NEVER be a problem. When was the last time you worried about mold growing on the paint in your bathroom?

But then what do I know... I only hack up wood, pick the sawdust outa my nose and live in the tenth house that I've re-habbed... and it's a new construction (1929) and, NO it doesn't smell like an old house. Not even the basement.