Strippers

[Donald Hendricks]

Get your mind outta the gutter....

What is the best stripper to remove layers of paint on wood work in a 90 year old house?

Thanks.

[Sebastian Gruner]

i have used several different types of stripper. Two of the strongest ones are commercial aircraft strippers or peel away 1/ peel away .

These are the strongest ones out there, since you will be painting it these do the job the fastest. If you would be staining it you would have to go with something less strong because the stripper can color the bare wood underneath and put some heavy dark spots in it. I fixed somebody's screw up like that before and believe me it is a huge pain and involves a lot of cost. Just saying in case you want to stain the doors.

The process:

You need to wear a respirator, not the ones for dust or sanding, they make special ones for stripper and organic material. Get those at HD, Some for big splash goggles and heavy duty chemical gloves. I would consider maybe a rubber apron of some sort or really thick cloth. This stuff hurts like hell if you get it on your skin. Make sure there is good ventilation because anyone breathing the fumes in for a longer time will be subject to brain damage.

Once you got all your safety gear, get a metal bucket you can pour the stripper in and a natural bristle brush. Dont use synthetic ones, they degrade quickly and so do the cheap HD ones. You want to put the stripper on quiete thick as thicker and "air tight" the coating the better it will work. Usually let it do its magic for 15-30 mins or acording to label. If it start to dry inbetween spray it with some water to keep it moist, it help with the process. After that get a scraper or putty knife and scrape it of. Hard to reach areas are best dealt with a wire brush. Carefully this splashes the stripper around a fair bit. Once you removed the stripper and paint, you might have to do the whole thing over again until you are happy. After that let dry for 24 and sand nice and smooth for painting.

All the sludge needs to be disposed according to law, which can get pretty expensive. Check for local code.

Feel free to pm me if you have any further questions.

Seb