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Thread: Stripping Paint to Restore Original Woodwork

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
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    Stripping Paint to Restore Original Woodwork

    I live in a 1925 house in which a previous owner painted over the original stained and varnished woodwork (baseboards, door and window trim, window frames, and doors) in two of the upstairs bedrooms. The trim and frames are white oak; the doors are fir. Much of it has chipped off, exposing the original stain, and I would like to remove the paint and restore it to stained wood. So, what is the best way to remove the paint? It appears to be no more than two coats of paint, and as far as I can tell, the previous occupant did not sand the varnished wood before painting. A few years ago, I had excellent success removing paint from another fir door in the house using Strypeeze (I did this outside, placing the door on sawhorses), and it removed the paint without taking off much of the original stain and varnish/finish, necessitating only light touch up work to restore the door to its look. But I've read that we should avoid stripping paint with products containing DCM, which Strypeeze contains. Are there other products that work just as well but are safer? I plan to remove all of the trim and doors and doing the stripping operation outside and then refinish/touch up as necessary before reattaching.

    Another thought is to run some of the flat baseboards through the planer, taking off 1/32 of an inch, but will that ruin the planer and its blades? It will also remove the original finish, so I'll have to restain and refinish the pieces.

    What recommendations would you make for such a project?

    Thanks in advance.

  2. #2
    Steve, the good news is the fact that the trim has been stained and varnished should make the paint removal process easier to accomplish, as the varnish prevents the paint and its pigments from successfully getting into the pores of the wood. I tested some 'green strippers' on our 1920's trim ( Citristrip and Soygel) they had fairly good success with modern paint, you just need to make sure the products stay wet.

    The downside of these strippers is they are SLOW, which maybe a good thing in your case, with my 10+ coats of great old 1920's paint, the products didn't do a thing. The newer modern paint top coats seemed to yield fairly quickly (4-8 hours), cannot say that I tried either product on varnish. I wish you luck, stripping trim is a miserable job.

    There is no way I would machine painted trim
    Last edited by Robert LaPlaca; 08-11-2017 at 1:00 PM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Despite your reluctance, I recommend you use a chemical stripper containing methylene chloride. BTW, what's DCM? Anyway, I really like Kleanstrip Premium. It will take off most paints pretty quickly. It also will remove the varnish underneath and likely any stain that was used, too. I'm very surprised that whatever stripper you used before removed the paint but not the underlying varnish. If you wear a good respirator with organics cartridges and use heavy rubber gloves, there's not much danger using chemical strippers. Obviously, don't smoke. Hard with a respirator on anyway. Open the windows when doing the baseboards, work outside or in the garage with an open door when doing the doors. Mask off with plastic, heavy paper, and tape what you want to protect.

    Anyway, I would take it down to bare wood and start over, but I would avoid sanding after the stripper because that will change the patina of the wood and likely require you to sand everything, whether you wanted to or not, in order to get a uniform look.

    John

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Providence, RI
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    Test the paint for lead and take appropriate precautions if present.

    You might also consider heat-based methods. Modern heat plates like the "silent paint remover" don't heat paint up enough to produce lead fumes. The upfront cost on these is higher (starting ~$300), but if you have a lot of stripping to do, they are more economical in the long run.
    -- Jim

    Use the right tool for the job.

  5. #5
    Get your "dads ez strip" It's the best stuff I've ever used. In fact I told to use it from a professional furniture restorer. Get some scrapers, dental tools, steel wool, carbide, scotch brite, and acetone. Make sure u wear heavy gloves and glasses.

  6. #6
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    If you use a chemical stripper it doesn't matter if the paint has lead in it. The stripper will remove the paint w/o creating any dust or paint fumes like sanding or heat based approaches will.

    John

  7. #7
    Join Date
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    Shenandoah Valley
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    Thanks all for this very helpful replies. Got the message on pausing to machine the paint off. I'll look for Dads Easy Spray, which has some very positive reviews. Thanks for the recommendation, Sam. And good to know that I don't have to worry about the lead if I use a chemical stripper.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
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    Providence, RI
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    Quote Originally Posted by John TenEyck View Post
    If you use a chemical stripper it doesn't matter if the paint has lead in it. The stripper will remove the paint w/o creating any dust or paint fumes like sanding or heat based approaches will.

    John
    True, but you still have to dispose of the stripped residue, which some jurisdictions may consider to be hazardous waste if it contains high levels of lead.
    -- Jim

    Use the right tool for the job.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    Tasmania
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    Lead is not just inhaled, you can ingest it from contact as well. Still use all the recommended safety gear and clean up properly. Cheers

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