[Ohio painter]

When it comes to stripping off old paint what do you find is the easiest and / or most efficient to work with? There are quite a few options these days.
The wood surface (wainscoting) I plan to strip has nice detail that is covered by 150 years of paint. Lead paint in there somewhere and layers of latex added over oil. The goal is to start over and repaint, does not necessarily have to be taken down to bare wood but at least down to a sound surface for recoating.
Yes I am RRP certified.
So far I have tried Peel Away, while it accomplished what I wanted it is hardly like it is advertised. I let is sit 24 hours as directed and found I had to scrape the paper, dried stripper and paint of as one. It did work but was a fair bit off effort and quite slow, bit of a cost factor as well and it seems there is never enough paper and neutralizer included. The detail parts were painfully slow to scrape. Overall happy with the result but not the time involved.

I shy away from the old solvent based "EZ Strip" or "Stripeeze" type strippers due to the fumes in an occupied home.

Any thoughts?

 

[hdavis]

I never use the paper, I use plastic sheeting and put the stripper on thick. Usually takes multiple applications.

Citristrip is comparable in performance to peelaway 7.

 

[MarkJames]

Perhaps soy gel would work. Might want to check into it.

Here's one that looks interesting.

Soy-Gel Paint Remover - Odorless, Natural, Safe Paint Stripper

Soy-Gel Paint Remover is an odor free paint stripper. Safe on wood, brick, stone, & concrete. Click or call 800-339-9748 to learn more.

www.realmilkpaint.com

 

[David-Remodeler]

The few times I’ve used paint strippers they were so messy and slow I feel like prefer a heat gun, putty knife, mini scrapers and a few picks for the details. I know there’s the fire risk and the risk of vaporizing the lead (at 1200 F ?) but I use a fully adjustable Milwaukee heat gun with a digital readout, keep the temperature down as far as possible, keep the gun moving and a fire extinguisher handy and I’ve never had an issue.

 

[tjbnwi]

Steam?

Tom

 

[hdavis]

Perhaps soy gel would work. Might want to check into it.

Here's one that looks interesting.

Soy-Gel Paint Remover - Odorless, Natural, Safe Paint Stripper

Soy-Gel Paint Remover is an odor free paint stripper. Safe on wood, brick, stone, & concrete. Click or call 800-339-9748 to learn more.

www.realmilkpaint.com

That's an NMP stripper.

 

[pinwheel]

Call these guys, they'll fix you up with high quality products that work well. Very knowledgeable as well.

Wood Strippers - Benco Sales

Benco strippers are formulated with the highest quality solvents, surfactants, and additives. The liquid strippers are very thin and penetrate rapidly through finishes and into crevices and corners. All of our strippers contain surfactants and other additives that extend the wet life and enable...

www.bencosales.com

 

[rblakes1]

Citristrip works great on latex, it didn't seem to do much for the oil paint layers underneath

- Rich

 

[hdavis]

The tough part is doing this in place in an occupied residence on vertical surfaces. No easy solution I'm aware of. Lye will take coatings off faster than a lot of safe strippers, but it has its drawbacks, too.

Ideally, all that wainscot would come off and be stripped off site.

It pretty much has to be taken back to bare wood, since the old oil paint can craze, crack, and chip. Grinding a scraper to fit the bead profile can be a big help in getting those areas cleaned up, but you can also scar the wood with one. One old timer just broke a piece of glass, and chose the shard that fit the profile he needed.

Hopefully benco has some magic.

 

[hdavis]

Citristrip works great on latex, it didn't seem to do much for the oil paint layers underneath

- Rich

It softened 1-2 layers enough I could scrape them with heavy effort. Softer would have been nicer.

 

[pinwheel]

The tough part is doing this in place in an occupied residence on vertical surfaces. No easy solution I'm aware of. Lye will take coatings off faster than a lot of safe strippers, but it has its drawbacks, too.

Ideally, all that wainscot would come off and be stripped off site.

It pretty much has to be taken back to bare wood, since the old oil paint can craze, crack, and chip. Grinding a scraper to fit the bead profile can be a big help in getting those areas cleaned up, but you can also scar the wood with one. One old timer just broke a piece of glass, and chose the shard that fit the profile he needed.

Hopefully benco has some magic.

Yep, scraping as much of the brittle paint first before introducing chemical is the best practice. Works easier to keep profiles crisp on hardwoods like oak.Pine/poplar ect is nearly impossible to scrape to bare wood without distorting the profiles. Heat gun to soften old paint & scrape works well for the paint that won't shatter with a scraper alone.

When we still had our flow tank, we'd remove as much paint as possible before going into the flow tank.

Keeping chemicals wet so they do the work is key. Gel strippers will cling to vertical surfaces to help achieve the wet chemical.

There's no magic product when when dissolving old paint and oftentimes, it requires changing products as you work through the layers of paint on very old projects. Some of the base layers of old furniture, we'd switch to muratic acid/water mix. Benco was great at helping us solve what kinds of paints we were working with.

Just glad I don't have to strip antique furniture anymore to make a living.

 

[G&Co.]

Peel Away works very well, but there is a learning curve. You need to choose the right stripper for the job. You need to apply it in the right thickness. Let it work the right amount of time. And as said plastic sheet can work better than the supplied paper. Also Dumond (the manufacturer) has excellent tech people to help you.
If it's an RRP job, alkaline stripper is the only way to go. The resulting goop is non-toxic and can be disposed of as regular garbage.

 

[hdavis]

Peelaway 1 is their lye stripper. I haven't used it much, but it's much cheaper than peelaway 7.

If the product dries out before you scrape, it makes it more difficult. Previous post gives some of the factors behind that.

 

[Ohio painter]

I appreciate all the replies, i have a few things to consider now. Thank you.

 

[ksc1]

If it's that bad I'd consider replacing it. Even if it comes out great, you'll still be left with lead paint.

 

[hdavis]

If it's that bad I'd consider replacing it. Even if it comes out great, you'll still be left with lead paint.

He doesn't care about the lead, he just wants a good surface to put paint on.

Just plain stripping without getting the last bit of residue out gets me a failed lead test. Doesn't matter, because without a lead survey, I have to follow RRP if triggered every time I work on it.

 

[VinylHanger]

I like heat and steam. Every stripper I've tried has failed miserably, and then I need to find a way to get the stripper off.

Proper heat with scrapers is fast. Vent the smell out of a window and go to town. Less mess than strippers.

Putty knives and these work for me on my window restorations.

Verical will be a bit different, but the paint will come off.

Paint Scrapers - Ultra Sharp, Perfect for Restoration - Stortz

Shop our paint scraper selection for every application. Wood handle, heat treated, razor sharp blades for tight profiles, detail work and safe handling.

www.stortz.com

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

 

[G&Co.]

If it's that bad I'd consider replacing it. Even if it comes out great, you'll still be left with lead paint.

It's not "that bad", it's just caked up with paint. Replacing 150 year old wainscot that has "nice detail" would not be my idea of a good thing to do.
Yes you'll be left with lead paint. Makes no difference as hdavis said.

 

[hdavis]

I like heat and steam. Every stripper I've tried has failed miserably, and then I need to find a way to get the stripper off.

Proper heat with scrapers is fast. Vent the smell out of a window and go to town. Less mess than strippers.

Putty knives and these work for me on my window restorations.

Verical will be a bit different, but the paint will come off.

Paint Scrapers - Ultra Sharp, Perfect for Restoration - Stortz

Shop our paint scraper selection for every application. Wood handle, heat treated, razor sharp blades for tight profiles, detail work and safe handling.

www.stortz.com

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

The high % ethylene chloride strippers that are very liquid have always worked well for me, especially as the final rinse. The gel strippers gunk up real bad if they start drying out, and can be worse to remove at that point than if you never used it.

No stripper works well if it starts drying out, it starts redepositing the junk and that deposit may not dissolve again.

 

[hdavis]

BTW, I think my first stripping experience was with a propane torch. Worked great until I hit the old red milk paint.

I should have stopped there.....