How To Remove Paint From Woodwork

Everyone knows that the simplest way to rejuvenate a tired surface is to put on a fresh coat of paint. Eventually, however, all new paint becomes former paint. Whether it cracks and blisters or just forms a lumpy blanket of pigments and binders, it begs to come up off. The ideal manner to starting time over is to strip article of furniture of the one-time stuff and brainstorm with a baby-smooth, bare wood surface.

What is the best way to remove paint from wood?

Three common ways to strip paint from wood are heating, chemical stripping, or sanding. There are a scattering of unlike products to choose from for each of these methods. To aid y'all decide what arroyo 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 Paint From Woods

1. Find Out If the Forest Is Worth Exposing

Scrape paint to see if wood is worth exposing.

"If yous're hoping to expose woodwork and finish information technology with a articulate glaze instead of paint, yous need to determine whether information technology was originally varnished or painted," says painting contractor and TOH correspondent Rich O'Neil.

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

two. Make up one's mind if Whether to DIY or Bring in a Professional

Person Stripping Paint Off Of Wood Furniture

It's always better to determine beforehand that a job is too big, complicated, or unsafe to tackle yourself. In that case, y'all accept a couple of options.

Send it out

If the pieces you lot want 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 with a dip tank; pros utilise these special vats to soak entire pieces in liquid paint removers for faster, more thorough results.

Hire in

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

3. Select The Right Tools and Approach for the Project

Heaters

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

Downsides: Fumes and the adventure of charred forest.

Chemic Strippers

Chemical strippers are liquids, gels, or pastes that dissolve pigment. No dust. No pigment fries. They're ideal for fine details, awkward shapes, and hitting spots you lot may accept missed with a heat gun.

Cons: They can be messy, evil-smelling, and tiresome.

Sanders

Sanders, including power sanding disks and clapboard sanders, grind away paint. They're great for large, flat exterior surfaces only, unless hooked up to a vacuum to capture dust, sick-brash for indoor work and anything with lead-based paint.

4. Weigh Your Pigment Stripping Product Options

Keep in listen safe, ease of employ, and cost when making your decision.

iii Tools to Cook Away Paint

i. Heat Guns

Using heat gun and scraper to help melt paint.

Heat is a tried-and-truthful method for softening thick layers of paint on apartment surfaces or in tight spaces. The fox is to find the right temperature; likewise low and the job takes forever, too loftier and you could create harmful vapors, char the woods—or even set the house on fire.

Rut guns expect similar high-powered hair dryers and blast hot, concentrated air through a nozzle to loosen pigment. Nearly models accept high and low settings, but burns and fires can result fifty-fifty on the lowest setting if you lot allow the gun residue 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 between paint and its substrate without generating racket or dust. They piece of work speedily; a xxx-second nail can soften decades of paint.

They also keep paint temperatures below 500°F, well under the point at which wood ignites. The estrus draws moisture from the wood, improving its ability to hold new paint. But these tools are bulky (come across instance, above) and hard to employ in tight spaces.

3. Steam Strippers

Steam strippers utilize h2o vapor to soften paint without heating it above 212 degrees F, eliminating burn down risks. And the condensation minimizes grit and fumes. On the downside, the process can generate a lot of moisture and saturate wood.

Tip: The Best Technique for Treatment Heat

Oestrus stripping is like a tango between the hand holding the heater and the i with the scraper. Hover the device over the surface. When the paint bubbles, slowly move the heater forth and try to develop a rhythm so that you lot're scraping and heating in unison. Continue a metal paint tray handy for when you lot take a intermission and demand to set the device downwards.

three Safer Options for Removing Paint With Gels and Pastes

If you're going to use a chemical stripper, know that annihilation that eats paint is dangerous and that doing the task without methylene chloride (run across higher up) volition 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

Forcefulness: One coat removes upward to xv layers of pigment.

Dwell fourth dimension: 3 to 24 hours

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

Cost: about $65 per gallon

2. Peel Away

Peel Away1: This paste works with a paper cover to control evaporation. Platonic for lead paint and masonry, simply can stain furniture woods.

Agile ingredient: Lye

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

Dwell fourth dimension: 12 to 24 hours

Removal: Peel off the paper and scrub the surface with a wet castor; let dry out thoroughly, then apply a neutralizing solution.

Cost: about $45 per one¼ gallons

3. Citristrip

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

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

Strength: A ⅛-inch coat removes upward to vii 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.

Cost: about $20 per half gallon

Tip: DCM is The Paint Solvent Best Left Alone

Years ago, if you needed a fast-acting chemical paint stripper, you chose a product that contained a seriously noxious chemical called methylene chloride (likewise called dichloromethane, or DCM), cranked up the fan, and got the job done quickly. Mostly speaking, the faster a chemic eats through paint and cease, the more toxic it is, and DCM is fast—paint starts to chimera in minutes.

But this paint stripper is also dangerous. Prolonged exposure to DCM, through the lungs or skin, has been linked to liver damage, cancer, and fifty-fifty decease. The vapors tin can overwhelm air-purifying respirators, and just a few whiffs tin can get out you wheezing and featherbrained.

Europe banned it for residential use in 2010. While DCM-containing paint strippers are still widely sold in the U.Due south., the Centers for Disease Command and Prevention has tied the ingredient to 13 deaths in 10 states. Our communication: Check your labels and steer clear.

Paint Scrapers 101

Hand using paint scraper to remove paint.

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

A five-in-i pigment scraper—also known every bit the "painter's tool" because the curved edge can be used to clean a pigment roller—is the go-to tool for removing well-nigh types of paint.
Metallic pull scrapers come with replaceable bract profiles to match the surface y'all demand to strip, offering more command than button scrapers in tight spots or on fine details.
When your pigment scraping results outset to look sloppy, rotate the head on the metal scraper until you run out of fresh edges. Later on that, supplant or resharpen the blades.

Pro Communication on Paint Scrapers

Carbide blades concur an edge much longer than steel, merely resharpening requires a diamond stone and some skill.
Steel blades tiresome quickly but can easily be resharpened with a mill file, a pocket rock, or even a slice of medium-grit sandpaper.
When using push scrapers, cull plastic over metallic, to avoid gouging; this is specially important with chemic strippers, which can soften wood.

3 Easy Ways to Test Paint for Lead

Nearly 90 percent of homes built earlier 1940 have some paint laden with this toxic metal. Although its use went into steep refuse afterward 1950, pb-based paint wasn't banned in the U.Southward. until 1978. Here'due south how to discover it.

DIY Examination: Use a utility knife to make a 5-shaped cut through all the layers of paint, then brush the groove with a LeadCheck swab. A bright red color indicates lead is present.
Lab test: Scrape a table-spoon of fries into a bag and send them to a lab for testing. It tin take upward to two weeks to go the results, but they're more than reliable than a swab and typically cost less than $30 (prolabinc.com).
Call a pro: For a few hundred dollars, a licensed atomic number 82 inspector will conduct an 10-ray fluorescence test to identify the amount of atomic number 82 nowadays in all the painted surfaces in your home.

Get The Atomic number 82 Out—Safely

Lead is nasty. Exposure tin raise your blood pressure level, stress your nervous system, and damage your retentiveness, among other risks. It'due south especially toxic to children, whose developing brains are more sensitive to its furnishings. If you want to remove lead-based paint yourself, in addition to the clothes and prep steps (side by side), follow these precautions:

Use merely heat or chemicals to avoid boot up atomic number 82-laced chips and dust
If you must sand, use equipment fitted with a shroud and a HEPA vacuum attachment.
Wet-sand stripped surfaces to minimize dust.
If working outdoors, comprehend the ground with 6-mil plastic, extending the sheeting 10 feet beyond the work expanse.
Place debris in contractor numberless; seal with duct tape.
Notice more than useful tips at www2.epa.gov/lead.

Set up to Strip Indoors in 3 Steps

Bucket of tools ready to strip paint indoors.

Skip canvas driblet cloths in favor of six-mil plastic sheeting, which won't trap fine grit or let chemicals seep through. Extend the sheeting at least 6 feet beyond the piece of work expanse and overlap and tape the edges. To help avoid slips and absorb spills, embrace the plastic with a layer of newspaper or contractor's paper.
Remove or cover items you practice not programme to strip. If using chemicals, mask hinges and other hardware you tin't remove with solvent-resistant painter'due south tape, like ScotchBlue. If working with heat, protect side by side surfaces with aluminum-foil tape or a metallic pigment shield.
Use six-mil plastic sheeting and duct tape to seal off the workspace from the rest of the house.

Grit command:

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

How to Dress When Stripping Pigment

Gear for handling fumes, paint fries, and caustic solvents

Put on articulate wraparound condom glasses to guard against splashes, dust, and flying droppings.
Employ a respirator with a chemic cartridge for indoor work with paint strippers.
Vesture disposable coveralls or old pants and a long-sleeve shirt to protect your skin.
With chemical strippers, wear green nitrile or black butyl rubber gloves equally recommended on the manufacturer'due south MSDS. Opt for construction-class gloves for scraping and heat stripping.
Wear disposable booties, and contain dust and dirt by taking them off whenever you leave the work area.

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

Tools for Detail Stripping Piece of work

Teaspoon To Scrape Paint From Concave Staircase Moldings

Some simple tools tin can help y'all remove paint from wood rail and other intricate details.

Dental picks make it easy to dig out the remaining specks of droppings that hide in nooks and crannies.
Sanding cords work similar dental floss to remove remainder from crevices in turned columns and spindles.
Old credit cards or souvenir cards can be repurposed as custom scrapers by cutting them to match the surface yous need to strip.
Teaspoons and tablespoons are handy for scraping paint from concave or convex moldings.

The Right Mode to Clean Upwardly a Paint Stripping Job

Employ water to mist the droppings on layers of paper and plastic drop cloths underfoot before carefully folding them, dirty side in. Record all edges close 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 whatsoever dust and debris.
Wipe surfaces with a damp fabric or sponge and a household detergent; empty the dirty rinse h2o into a container, never a sink, bathtub, or toilet. Bank check with your boondocks most hazardous-waste collection programs.
Requite the surfaces and whatsoever 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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