How To Clean Old Paint Off Wood Trim

Anybody knows that the simplest way to rejuvenate a tired surface is to put on a fresh glaze of paint. Eventually, however, all new paint becomes onetime pigment. Whether it cracks and blisters or merely forms a lumpy coating of pigments and binders, it begs to come off. The ideal style to commencement over is to strip furniture of the old stuff and begin with a baby-smoothen, bare wood surface.

What is the all-time way to remove paint from wood?

Three mutual means to strip pigment from woods are heating, chemical stripping, or sanding. There are a handful of different products to choose from for each of these methods. To help you lot decide what approach to take, we've laid out options below. And, nosotros've shared step by step instructions to guide you through each stage of the process.

Steps on How to Remove Pigment From Forest

1. Notice Out If the Forest Is Worth Exposing

Scrape paint to see if wood is worth exposing.

"If you're hoping to expose woodwork and finish it with a clear coat instead of paint, you need to determine whether it was originally varnished or painted," says painting contractor and TOH contributor Rich O'Neil.

He recommends finding a hidden spot, such as inside a drawer or closet, and using a scraper to shave a test patch through the diverse paint layers. If the bottom layer is paint, it'southward a good sign that the wood is unworthy of stain. "If it'southward worth exposing, it was originally varnished," O'Neil says.

2. Decide if Whether to DIY or Bring in a Professional person

Person Stripping Paint Off Of Wood Furniture

It'south e'er better to determine beforehand that a job is besides big, complicated, or unsafe to tackle yourself. In that case, you lot accept a couple of options.

Send it out

If the pieces you desire to strip are easily removable (such as doors, windows, or article of furniture) and feature intricate detailing (like mantel-pieces or stair parts), consider sending them out to a professional person with a dip tank; pros apply these special vats to soak entire pieces in liquid paint removers for faster, more than thorough results.

Hire in

If you have a house's worth of trim or siding that must be stripped blank quickly, or if you accept pb-laden pigment and can't remove information technology safely, bring in a qualified pro to do it on-site. Visit the EPA'south website for certified lead-removal experts.

3. Select The Correct Tools and Approach for the Project

Heaters

Heaters use loftier temperatures to soften varnishes or multiple layers of paint so that the gunk tin easily be removed with a scraper. They minimize dust and can lift years of paint.

Downsides: Fumes and the risk of charred wood.

Chemic Strippers

Chemical strippers are liquids, gels, or pastes that deliquesce paint. No grit. No pigment chips. They're ideal for fine details, awkward shapes, and hitting spots you may have missed with a estrus gun.

Cons: They can exist messy, evil-smelling, and slow.

Sanders

Sanders, including power sanding disks and clapboard sanders, grind away paint. They're great for large, apartment exterior surfaces but, unless hooked up to a vacuum to capture dust, ill-advised for indoor work and annihilation with lead-based paint.

four. Counterbalance Your Paint Stripping Production Options

Keep in mind safety, ease of utilize, and cost when making your conclusion.

3 Tools to Cook Away Paint

1. Rut Guns

Using heat gun and scraper to help melt paint.

Heat is a tried-and-true method for softening thick layers of paint on apartment surfaces or in tight spaces. The trick is to detect the right temperature; too depression and the job takes forever, too loftier and you could create harmful vapors, char the forest—or fifty-fifty set the house on fire.

Estrus guns look like loftier-powered pilus dryers and blast hot, concentrated air through a nozzle to loosen pigment. About models have high and low settings, but burns and fires tin upshot even on the lowest setting if you let the gun rest in one place for too long.

2. Infrared Devices

Infrared Device Used To Strip Away Paint.

Infrared devices use infrared rays to heat up and loosen the bond betwixt paint and its substrate without generating noise or dust. They work speedily; a 30-2d blast can soften decades of paint.

They too keep paint temperatures below 500°F, well under the point at which forest ignites. The oestrus draws moisture from the woods, improving its ability to concord new pigment. Just these tools are beefy (run into case, higher up) and difficult to employ in tight spaces.

3. Steam Strippers

Steam strippers use water vapor to soften pigment without heating it above 212 degrees F, eliminating burn risks. And the condensation minimizes dust and fumes. On the downside, the procedure can generate a lot of moisture and saturate woods.

Tip: The Best Technique for Treatment Heat

Heat stripping is like a tango betwixt the mitt belongings the heater and the one with the scraper. Hover the device over the surface. When the paint bubbles, slowly move the heater along and try to develop a rhythm so that you're scraping and heating in unison. Go along a metal paint tray handy for when you take a break and demand to set up the device down.

three Safer Options for Removing Paint With Gels and Pastes

If you're going to apply a chemical stripper, know that anything that eats paint is dangerous and that doing the task without methylene chloride (encounter higher up) will be safer but slower. These wood stripping products contain less toxic, less noxious ingredients and remove both latex and oil paints.

i. SmartStrip

SmartStrip: A paste with a frosting-like consistency that can be brushed, rolled, or sprayed on. Clings well to vertical surfaces.

Active ingredient: Benzyl alcohol

Force: One coat removes up to 15 layers of paint.

Dwell time: three to 24 hours

Removal: Scrape off the paint, scrub off the residue with a moisture nylon brush, and rinse with water.

Cost: about $65 per gallon

2. Peel Away

Pare Away1: This paste works with a paper encompass to control evaporation. Ideal for atomic number 82 paint and masonry, but can stain article of furniture woods.

Active ingredient: Lye

Strength: Up to 30 layers of paint tin can come off as easily as stripping sheets off a bed.

Dwell time: 12 to 24 hours

Removal: Skin off the paper and scrub the surface with a wet brush; permit dry thoroughly, so utilise a neutralizing solution.

Cost: well-nigh $45 per 1¼ gallons

3. Citristrip

Citristrip: This woods stripper is an orange gel, best on furniture details and flat surfaces since it is thin.

Active ingredient: N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP)

Force: A ⅛-inch coat removes up to 7 layers of paint.

Dwell time: 30 minutes to 24 hours

Removal: Scrape off the paint with a plastic scraper, and use an abrasive pad and mineral spirits to remove any lingering residuum.

Price: near $20 per half gallon

Tip: DCM is The Paint Solvent All-time Left Lone

Years ago, if you needed a fast-acting chemical paint stripper, you chose a product that contained a seriously baneful chemic chosen methylene chloride (also chosen dichloromethane, or DCM), cranked upward the fan, and got the job done quickly. Generally speaking, the faster a chemical eats through pigment and terminate, the more than toxic it is, and DCM is fast—paint starts to bubble in minutes.

But this paint stripper is as well unsafe. Prolonged exposure to DCM, through the lungs or skin, has been linked to liver damage, cancer, and even expiry. The vapors can overwhelm air-purifying respirators, and just a few whiffs can exit you wheezing and airheaded.

Europe banned it for residential use in 2010. While DCM-containing paint strippers are however widely sold in the U.South., the Centers for Affliction Command and Prevention has tied the ingredient to 13 deaths in x states. Our advice: Check your labels and steer clear.

Paint Scrapers 101

Hand using paint scraper to remove paint.

No paint-stripping effort is complete without an arsenal of scrapers to usher away softened paint.

A 5-in-i paint scraper—also known as the "painter'due south tool" considering the curved edge tin can be used to clean a paint roller—is the become-to tool for removing about types of paint.
Metallic pull scrapers come with replaceable blade profiles to friction match the surface you need to strip, offering more command than push button scrapers in tight spots or on fine details.
When your paint scraping results showtime to look sloppy, rotate the head on the metal scraper until y'all run out of fresh edges. After that, replace or resharpen the blades.

Pro Advice on Paint Scrapers

Carbide blades agree an edge much longer than steel, but resharpening requires a diamond stone and some skill.
Steel blades dull quickly but tin easily be resharpened with a mill file, a pocket rock, or even a piece of medium-grit sandpaper.
When using push scrapers, choose plastic over metal, to avert gouging; this is particularly important with chemical strippers, which tin soften wood.

3 Piece of cake Ways to Examination Paint for Lead

Most 90 percent of homes built before 1940 have some pigment laden with this toxic metal. Although its employ went into steep pass up after 1950, pb-based paint wasn't banned in the U.S. until 1978. Hither'south how to discover it.

DIY Examination: Apply a utility pocketknife to brand a V-shaped cut through all the layers of paint, and so brush the groove with a LeadCheck swab. A bright red colour indicates pb is present.
Lab test: Scrape a table-spoon of chips into a pocketbook and send them to a lab for testing. Information technology can take upwards to ii weeks to get the results, but they're more reliable than a swab and typically cost less than $30 (prolabinc.com).
Telephone call a pro: For a few hundred dollars, a licensed pb inspector will conduct an X-ray fluorescence examination to place the amount of pb present in all the painted surfaces in your home.

Get The Pb Out—Safely

Lead is nasty. Exposure tin raise your blood pressure, stress your nervous system, and damage your retention, among other risks. It's especially toxic to children, whose developing brains are more sensitive to its effects. If you lot want to remove lead-based pigment yourself, in addition to the dress and prep steps (next), follow these precautions:

Use only heat or chemicals to avoid kicking up atomic number 82-laced chips and grit
If you must sand, use equipment fitted with a shroud and a HEPA vacuum attachment.
Moisture-sand stripped surfaces to minimize dust.
If working outdoors, cover the ground with 6-mil plastic, extending the sheeting 10 anxiety beyond the piece of work expanse.
Place debris in contractor bags; seal with duct tape.
Find more useful tips at www2.epa.gov/lead.

Prepare to Strip Indoors in 3 Steps

Bucket of tools ready to strip paint indoors.

Skip sheet drop cloths in favor of six-mil plastic sheeting, which won't trap fine grit or allow chemicals seep through. Extend the sheeting at least vi feet beyond the work surface area and overlap and tape the edges. To help avoid slips and absorb spills, cover the plastic with a layer of newspaper or contractor's paper.
Remove or cover items you do not plan to strip. If using chemicals, mask hinges and other hardware you tin't remove with solvent-resistant painter's record, like ScotchBlue. If working with heat, protect adjacent surfaces with aluminum-foil tape or a metal paint shield.
Apply 6-mil plastic sheeting and duct tape to seal off the workspace from the residue of the house.

Dust control:

If working indoors, comprehend air vents in your workspace to keep dust and droppings from circulating throughout the house.

How to Clothes When Stripping Paint

Gear for treatment fumes, paint chips, and caustic solvents

Put on articulate wraparound condom glasses to guard against splashes, dust, and flying droppings.
Utilise a respirator with a chemical cartridge for indoor work with pigment strippers.
Wear disposable coveralls or old pants and a long-sleeve shirt to protect your pare.
With chemical strippers, wear dark-green nitrile or blackness butyl prophylactic gloves as recommended on the manufacturer's MSDS. Opt for construction-grade gloves for scraping and heat stripping.
Habiliment disposable booties, and incorporate dust and dirt past taking them off whenever you lot leave the work area.

Apply a respirator with a P100 particulate filter when sanding or dry-scraping.

Tools for Item Stripping Work

Teaspoon To Scrape Paint From Concave Staircase Moldings

Some simple tools tin help you remove paint from wood track and other intricate details.

Dental picks brand information technology easy to dig out the remaining specks of debris that hide in nooks and crannies.
Sanding cords work like dental floss to remove residue from crevices in turned columns and spindles.
Erstwhile credit cards or souvenir cards can be repurposed as custom scrapers by cutting them to match the surface you demand to strip.
Teaspoons and tablespoons are handy for scraping paint from concave or convex moldings.

The Right Style to Clean Upward a Paint Stripping Job

Use water to mist the debris on layers of paper and plastic driblet cloths underfoot earlier carefully folding them, dirty side inward. Tape all edges shut or seal in heavy-duty trash bags for disposal.
Vacuum the entire work area with a vacuum equipped with a HEPA filter to pick up any dust and debris.
Wipe surfaces with a damp cloth or sponge and a household detergent; empty the dirty rinse water into a container, never a sink, bathtub, or toilet. Cheque with your town about chancy-waste product collection programs.
Give the surfaces and any uncarpeted floors a concluding wipedown with a clean, damp cloth.

Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/woodworking/21018208/how-to-strip-paint-from-wood

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