Removing Old Paint

CodeMonkey

My apartment has internal painted doors and some of them are cracked and peeling. I am just wondering if it's safe to remove the paint and sand down the door? I am thinking of varnishing them instead of painting them.

When googling for information about removing paint every article keeps on mentioning lead content in the paint is dangerous etc and you must check if there's lead in the paint. The apartment was finished around 1994 so my guess is that it should be ok. Just wondering if i need to do more to check for lead content. What do people think?

Wertz

Nah you should be okay...they stopped putting lead in standard household paint in the mid 70's.
If I still haven't reassured you you can buy lead test kits online relatively cheaply and check it for sure.
How are you thinking of removing the paint?

fintonie

you could taker the doors off and get them dipped saves lots of time and heartache

CodeMonkey

Wertz: thanks for the info

fintonie: pretty sure they're cheap doors and they don't justify the price of door dipping service, thanks for the suggestion though

fintonie

CodeMonkey wrote: »

Wertz: thanks for the info

fintonie: pretty sure they're cheap doors and they don't justify the price of door dipping service, thanks for the suggestion though

base paint them and grain them could be the job.

S.L.F

fintonie wrote: »

you could taker the doors off and get them dipped saves lots of time and heartache

You can't dip modern doors they totally fall apart or totally swell up and split.

I used to work in this field so I'm very well versed in it.