Monday, July 28, 2008

What Stripper?

This is the product we used:

It's nasty but it works. It comes with a spray bottle that clogged or stopped working after a few sprays.

Still, it works well. I did the first panel (at the bottom of the picture) at my lunch break today. I worked a little too fast, it was a dry day, and I did it in direct sunlight so that may have had some retarding effect.

When my daughter got home she helped and we slowed down a little and did it in the shade. She and I would pour some on, then go away and do something else for 10-15 minutes. We managed to remove three or more layers of paint - probably some varnish at the bottom - in one pass of a knife. We got better at it as we moved to the top of the door.

The three layers of paint were at least one latex, two oil paints, and one layer of varnish or shellac.

Beware this stuff - use it outdoors, wear gloves and protective clothes, and wash yourself off IMMEDIATELY if you get it on you. It burns!! We kept a hose near us the whole time. Also beware that the paint and remover mess, should it fall and spatter, can get on your legs. I opened up an old cardboard box for us to work on and we did it on the ground. Still, we got spatters and spills and wearing playclothes is a must.

The stuff also eats up tarmac, so if you have a nice driveway, you've been warned. Use a lot of paper or cardboard or do it on a concrete surface you don't care about.

The muck of paint and stripper does NOT wash off with water. I bet this stuff is NOT "green", either.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome - thanks for the help! If we didn't have a very strict one-project-at-a-time rule, I think I'd be out working on the door tomorrow. In retrospect, I wish we had decided to do things in order of public visibility. Why are we repainting the downstairs bathroom? Not only do we never use it, but we haven't had any guests yet. But everyone who drives by sees the front door!

Paul said...

I understand the need for a one-project-at-a-time approach. We have to work on multiple projects for a few reasons. One, we can do something else while we wait for paint or mud to dry. Two, we run out of materials during a day and switch our attention elsewhere. Three, emergencies emerge. Four, if Jennifer is idle she likes to start on something innocuous that can be completed over a long time. Five, I live with some pretty impatient people whose dreams are bigger than our means, so we get sidetracked sometimes.