Paint Stripping

Garibaldi

Hi all,

I'm trying to strip the paint off the front door of my new house, down to the bare wood so it can be varnished. It's got a thick layer of this bluey-grey matt paint on it, applied by the builder, that's particularly difficult to shift. I've tried Durabond chemical stripper (no effect on paint, despite using vast amounts of chemicals - gassed myself severely with them too) and am currently doing my best with a Black&Decker heat gun. Can anybody suggest a relatively quick method of getting this stuff off, other than paying somebody else to do it. It's certainly turned into a far bigger job than I'd anticipated and, since I can only get down to this kind of thing every other weekend, it's taking a helluva long time and the door currently looks like it's been vandalised....which probably isn't too far from the truth.

Cheers for any advice you can give,

G

iMax

You can probably get it dipped for less that €100 But you won't have a front door while it's gone (which admittidly may be a problem). There's stuff called "Nitromors" which is expensive but worked for me (in several layers) removing 30 years of old paint.

Garibaldi

I've heard of Nitromors alright but, after the Durabond experience, I'm a bit wary of going near it. Did I mention I gassed myself? Outdoors! I'm not kidding. It's a very unpleasant story, and not one for the forum. :eek:
I guess I could always try robbing one of the doors off an unfinished house...

Wobs

Nitromors is really good but lethal stuff. Apply it and leave it soak in for a while than scrape off. You defo don't want to get on your skin make sure to wear gloves (although i have seen it melt them also)

iMax

My gloves melted with it

Maybe offer to buy one of the unfinished doors ?

mad m

The Grey thick paint might be Aluminium paint,mainly for hardwood doors,it prevents oil seeping through as hardwood as a whole is oily.Where as if you had a softwood door with knots you apply a solution called Knotting to stop the sap bleeding through.

Now on topic,to be honest this door probably came from factory with the door pre-sprayed with the grey paint(aluminium paint).I think it might be a waste of your time and money.You would probably be better of getting a new door(might be cheaper).

But if you want to have a go,best thing to do if you can is take door off hinges,put it on treseles and apply very thickly the Nitromors.Get tools called Shave hooks and try and scrap paint off once it starts to bubble.Also use bales of steel wool on moulding/flats of door.,scrub door with the steel wool with the nitromors on door.

Dipping can be nasty to a door as it loosens the glue that was put into it with joints,etc.

Another method is a paste called Caustic paste,you apply it and cover it with plastic,but you have to leave it over night.Would be hard with door upright doing this method.

Bottom line as i said might be cheaper to price a new door.Anymore things like this let me know as i know about this sort of stuff instead of Attic joists...


Oh forgot to say heatguns or lamps can scorch/burn door if in one spot for too long damaging the look of it to be varnished,may have to use a stain/varnish to cover it up

kadman

mad m wrote:

Bottom line as i said might be cheaper to price a new door.Anymore things like this let me know as i know about this sort of stuff instead of Attic joists...

Hi Mad M,

Glad to see you have a sense of humour.

Well you better tell Garibaldi how to neutralise his now Nitromors impregnated door, so that his new expensive finishes, will stick to it, and not react with any minute traces of Nitromors left on it..he..he. :eek:

kadman

mad m

Water!Give it a good wash down.

Cheers Kadman

mad m

Just to shortly add to this,seen a while back a paint strippers which was water based .

Have a look

http://www.ecosolutions.co.uk/Home-BaseA.htm

kadman

Fair play Mad M,
Eco friendly as well, brilliant.

kadman

rooferPete

Hi Garibaldi,

The aluminium is most likely a primer (base coat) on the good side very few bother with a primer in our new "it'll do" culture.

On the bad side aluminium primer is very hard to remove because it's meant to soak into the timber.

You could try an old method which is the blow torch and scraper (pre nitromoors) not the easiest if you haven't done it before and no guarantee it will remove the ingrained paint.

What it will do is take the heaviest paint off and you can then use nitromoors followed by the steel wool and sand paper.

Another way again not for the ameteur but there are visitors to this board who can do it, is graining the door.

A very detailed process if I remember right, you sand the door down and apply a cream base, then apply scumble and comb the door to give it the appearance of a wood grain, then two maybe three coats of varnish.

Garibaldi

Thanks for all the info, gents!

The builder is going to get back to me about swapping out my current door for an unpainted one. Failing that, I'll give the water-based stripper a go, failing that, the Nitromors and, when the door has dissolved, I'll buy a new one.

G

Garibaldi

Hey Mad M,

That water-based stripper looks excellent. I'm waiting for a reply back from the manufacturer about where I can get it and if they reckon it'll do the job *if* the paint on my door is aluminium primer. Do you happen to know anywhere that stocks it?

G

mad m

Best place off hand i can think of is MRCB.Its in yellow pages or at top of thomas st near christchurch.

Ill ask in work tomorrow about it and see if i can get a place for you that sells it,will probably know monday if there is a place but try MRCB for now and see if they stock it.

The thing is though if it is that aluminium paint its a high builb paint and it might be the bane of your life stripping it.

But goodluck with it.

Garibaldi

Cheers Mad M,

It certainly is taking on bane proportions. However, there's a small bit of hope left that the builder might swap it for an unpainted door for me. That'd be a major help, needless to say. Still, that leaves the frame - a substantial enough job in itself - and it's more work than it's worth to swap the frame out aswell. So, I'll give MRCB a go this afternoon. Thanks for the tip. Closest place I'd managed to find up to now was in Belfast.

Bailey05

Hello,

I just read this thread and was wondering what actually happened. I have to strip some Ronseal black paint from some attic beams as the painter the whole beam rather than the metal joints. The paint is therefore freshly set so was wondering what the best thing to do is. The idea was to just varnish the attic beams and have the original look with a coat of varnish. The balck beams now just looks wrong. Any ideas ould be great.

mad m

Bailey05 wrote: »

Hello,

I just read this thread and was wondering what actually happened. I have to strip some Ronseal black paint from some attic beams as the painter the whole beam rather than the metal joints. The paint is therefore freshly set so was wondering what the best thing to do is. The idea was to just varnish the attic beams and have the original look with a coat of varnish. The balck beams now just looks wrong. Any ideas ould be great.

Grain them!

Graining

Edit: Jaysus this dates back a bit! How time flys