Hi All Anyone on here that can advise what the best and quickest way to remove gloss from woodwork is, in my infinite wisdom I am thinking of putting the stair way and door frames back to the natural wood. Is there a relatively easy way? Or am I just being completely stupid and it will be one of those jobs you regret ever starting. Thanks in advance Mrs B.
I've used heat guns with varying degrees of success. Its a laborious task. I think you'll start it and wonder why you ever bothered.
Hmm, not sure what the worst evil will be - re glossing everywhere or the stripping. How effective are these chemical solutions or do you require a lot of them - then making it very expensive? Laborious - That has to be word of the month for me - Cheers Baysearcher Is there not a wire brush and grinder equivalent power tool for it? Now that would make life easier - would bring back all those memories of bare metalling Stig - hang on - they aren't distant yet! :laugh2:
On old doors chemical dipping stripping can destroy glue on joints .heat guns are better than paint stripper if your doing at home .it will take at least twice as long as you think it will
tried doing my stairs years ago using heat/nitrimors/scraper, made a right hash of it and ended up looking crap so i had to repaint it..... never again.
I did my hall, landing and stairs last year. I heat gunned all the gloss paint of as it was in a right mess. I then reprimed and eggshelled it. Results are great but oh my god did it get tedious!!!! It takes hours and your arm hurts and you WILL burn yourself on the heat gun. I wouldn't bother with the chemicals, heat gun was quickest and cleanest, if a bit whiffy... One thing to bear in mind is that if you want to go back to natural wood you will have to get every last bit of paint off which is fine unless the wood has been bashed about and dented as the paint tends to get stuck in the indents. Having said all that, once you are done you will look at it with an enormous sense of satisfaction! I would seriously consider if it would be quicker to rip off architrave and skirting and putting new stuff on. It will save a lot of time stripping but with an obvious added cost. Go for it I say!
Doors id have dipped and pressure washed if they are pine, all will be ok ive had hundreds of things dipped before doing up and selling pine stuff years back, stairs / rails are the mother of all pigs lol, ive done two and i wish i hadnt done the first cos friend said oooow that looks nice can you do mine ,like a mug.......... id use chemical nitromors or caustic acid if you dare,as a starter, heats ok but inbetween stair rails etc is a nightmare. Corse wire wool with chem too not sandpaper. Good luck they do look nice stripped back especially if old and waxed with a good briwax. If not if youve got layers of paint shabby chic looks good with natural doors , just rub through the layers randomly with wire wool then wax over. Just a few ideas it can look really smart. Good luck with the old tennis elbow
As the others have said it is a thankless task (except when it's done and then it looks great) Maybe take a photo of what it looks like at the moment and ask us if we think it would be worth the effort to do? A new coat of gloss often does wonders!!
I do this quite often as part of my restoration business and there is now no easy way of stripping paint off wood. I am certainly not a fan of dip & strip. It is quick but the results are at best variable because it damages some types of wood and then your really stuck. Modern paint strippers from B&Q etc are not now very effective since they removed the dichloromethane. So I'm afraid its a a lot of hard work. I use a heat gun followed by several coats of Nitromors, wire wool etc. It can take 2 -3 days to remove all the paint off a Victorian 4 panel door!
i spent many hours stripping a table , using nitromorph and grade 000 wool from a furniture restores retail outlet , it is massively labour intensive , be carful of kiss/pets being around you if using nitro/ heat guns and best to ensure a (VERY) dust free work place , as other fella said , dip and strip , i think you sign a contract which will have the clause that goes like" if goods fall apart we are not liable " >> good luck buddy , its a long haul to get it right
There is art to burning off and stripping back , i loved watching my dad who is a retired decorator he always did a nice job but good god its time consuming and hard work .
i just removed the wood and fitted new wood it's quick and doesn't cost that much more than 100 litres of paint stripper
sorry i meant kids , NOT as ive typed the skull crushing American rock band!(whom i have seen ) thou i suppose they , if they struck up in your gaff would do more than strip the bleedin paint!
Gotta say i started to this years ago, then gave up and replaced it all, it was so much quicker, also it really depends on the quality/age of the original joinery, if all the mitres and joints have been filled you'll be raking that out and having to refill with with a wood filler which wont look to great anyway. I wouldn't bother if it was me, some nice white satinwood looks better than gloss too
old pine will strip a much nicer and different colour to using new and take wax better, hard redwoods bleed if you use chemical strippers.Lead paints strip better but wear mask beware of toulins in some older waxes too!!
Thank you everyone for your replies. It is very appreciated - Jen - I will get some pics tomorrow - Mr B has just asked if the thread is something I started - when I said yes - he said are you thinking of over there - then you have no hope - thats encouragement for you! 150 years of paint on that dear that goes up three storeys in a stair well Only wanted to make it look nice! Isn't if funny we battle like hell with buses but hard work jobs on the home - forget it! :laugh2: Apparently it would look good but I will be there for years - (Best he get out there and do some more welding to Stig so I can go back to concentrating on sorting him out then! ;D ;D ;D)
OMG! Hadn't thought of that - maybe I will be best of leaving it or just applying another layer of gloss! Thank you so much everyone! Really appreciated to you all!
