# Best way to strip old wood work



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

We have a big job comming that needs a lot of work to strip paint from old trim, stairway railling and doors (interior). I want to find out the best way to accomplish this. We will paint the entire house, but the stripping is T&M.
Thank you in advance,
Nick


----------



## Dunbar Painting (Mar 19, 2010)

Once stripped what will you do? Stain the wood work???

What if it is crap under the paint? (the reason it was painted in the first place)


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

Dunbar Painting said:


> Once stripped what will you do? Stain the wood work???
> 
> What if it is crap under the paint? (the reason it was painted in the first place)


We will put a clear and stain only if needed. I'm pretty sure It's not crap under it. We will do some test before stripping everything.


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

I used smartstip before but only to remove clear or 1-2 coats of pain. Anyone familiar with this product for multilayers of oil paint?


----------



## CliffK (Dec 21, 2010)

If the woodwork was clear coated in some way(shellac/varnish/polyurethane) prior to being painted you've got a "shot" at stripping and clear coating, but if the woodwork was primed and painted initially forget it. I doubt you will live long enough to get all the paint out of the pores/grain/detail of the wood sufficient enough to apply a clear coat or even a stain and clear coat and call it done.
I would make multiple samples for test purposes. Unless you know the paint history of the house extremely well, it's possible that what you find in one place will not be the same in another.


----------



## Danahy (Dec 11, 2008)

MonPeintre.ca said:


> I used smartstip before but only to remove clear or 1-2 coats of pain. Anyone familiar with this product for multilayers of oil paint?


Never tried it but saw this old bookshelf being stripped in the back. I don't know what it was originally painted with however.


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

The client told me it had some kind of white wash varnish kind of pink a little


----------



## CliffK (Dec 21, 2010)

MonPeintre.ca said:


> The client told me it had some kind of white wash varnish kind of pink a little


 Doesn't sound promising... if there is "white" in the grain/pores/details of the wood it will be thankless, but samples are the key. It's the only way your are going to know if it's feasible regardless of which stripper you decide on.


----------



## straight_lines (Oct 17, 2007)

Jeeze this will be ridiculous to strip.


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

straight_lines said:


> Jeeze this will be ridiculous to strip.


Thanks for the support!


----------



## tntpainting (Apr 3, 2008)

Oh Man i would run for the Hills on This one


----------



## straight_lines (Oct 17, 2007)

Any time my Canadian friend. :thumbsup:


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

I charge Time and material, I don't mind stripping that paint until christmas!!!!


----------



## ptbopainter (Sep 10, 2013)

It would be cheaper for them if they ripped out the trim and replaced it, it would look better too!
Maybe they would let you do it off-site? It would be way easier
Then you wouldn't have to worry about messing up the walls and house and leaving patches of hair that you've ripped out in frustration lying around.
Granted they'd have to make sure they don't fall off the stairs with the spindles missing there goes some hair right there


----------



## CApainter (Jun 29, 2007)

So you do a couple of strategically located strips to gain material knowledge, and labor requirements. A controlled test will reveal if the homeowner would like you to continue, repaint it, or follow another option.

There's too many unknowns and areas to cover on this one, IMO, to plow head first without some preliminary tests.


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

ptbopainter said:


> It would be cheaper for them if they ripped out the trim and replaced it, it would look better too!
> Maybe they would let you do it off-site? It would be way easier
> Then you wouldn't have to worry about messing up the walls and house and leaving patches of hair that you've ripped out in frustration lying around.
> Granted they'd have to make sure they don't fall off the stairs with the spindles missing there goes some hair right there


Doors will probably done offsite


----------



## Brian C (Oct 8, 2011)

that will definitely have lead paint on that woodwork underneath the topcoat . Be careful with sanding it.


----------



## northcountrypainter (Dec 7, 2012)

We have done a similar job about 10 years ago in Van. We used a variety of tools depending upon the profile of the substrate...chemical stripper, heat guns, infrared paint strippers, etc. We found that it took about 50% of our time to remove 95% of the paint, and another 50% to remove the paint from detailed areas (with dentist picks etc). I agree w CA...do some tests first so that you know, and the client knows...just what you will be getting in to. Good Luck!


----------



## Paradigmzz (May 5, 2010)

MonPeintre.ca said:


> The client told me it had some kind of white wash varnish kind of pink a little


The wood was stained. Term is pickling white. Initially stained with a white stain and lacquered. The lacquer ambered and turned the finish pinkish. 

Your done. New woodwork or stay paint grade.


----------



## Paradigmzz (May 5, 2010)

Brian C said:


> that will definitely have lead paint on that woodwork underneath the topcoat . Be careful with sanding it.


No it won't.


----------



## painterman (Jun 2, 2007)

Sub the job out to Faux painter ...By the time you have skinned all that paint off you could have a Faux finish done.


----------



## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

If there are lots of layers of paint over some sort of clearcoat, it's worth a shot. We've done a fair bit of these, one of which was a whole-house remodel that involved removing most of the trim, stripping it "loose", and finishing it in place once it was re-installed. With a heavy buildup of paint, we found that heat was the way start: heat plates and heat guns. The heat plates are tough to find these days, so I'd look at the infrared strippers. With thick coats of paint, we can remove 95%+ of the paint, and only use the strippers on the clearcoat. That means a lot less work with dental picks when using the strippers. For the one-site work, we tend to use 3M's Safest Stripper. It's slow, but we cover it with plastic sheeting and give it time to work. The upside it that there are virtually no fumes and we can use light-weight nitrile gloves for protection.

Good luck, this could be an amazing project. Nice to know that stripping work can be done T & M. We got beat up pretty badly on the whole-house project that I mentioned above, but I think that was mostly on the 250+ turned spindles on the 6 porches. We would have been ahead of the game on that part to have new spindles turned.


----------



## fauxlynn (Apr 28, 2011)

painterman said:


> Sub the job out to Faux painter ...By the time you have skinned all that paint off you could have a Faux finish done.


You must know some really fast faux painters. All the ones I know show up at 9 leave at 2 and take an hour and a half lunch.it would take me 3 weeks at least to wood grain what is in the pictures,and I am fast.





Seriously, I'm surprised nobody mentioned Citristrip. It works really well if you let it sit as directed. You just have to make sure you rinse it well with mineral spirits.


----------



## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

fauxlynn said:


> You must know some really fast faux painters. All the ones I know show up at 9 leave at 2 and take an hour and a half lunch.it would take me 3 weeks at least to wood grain what is in the pictures,and I am fast.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


We shy away from CitriStrip for on-site stripping because of the mineral spirit rinse. When we've used it in the shop, we've found that we had to do several rinses to make sure that all of the residue is gone. It doesn't help that I discovered that I'm allergic to one of the components of the stripper, d-limonene. I think.


----------



## Brian C (Oct 8, 2011)

Paradigmzz said:


> No it won't.


yes it would. Its an old house so how can you know what sort of paint is used under the topcoat ?


----------



## Paradigmzz (May 5, 2010)

Brian C said:


> yes it would. Its an old house so how can you know what sort of paint is used under the topcoat ?


Because pickling white has not been trendy previous of 78.


----------



## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

Paradigmzz said:


> Because pickling white has not been trendy previous of 78.


Para, in the original post, MonPientre said that it was old trim. Limed or pickled trim has been around for a long time, 300+ years. You're right that it became popular again, especially in the southern US, in the seventies. The only clients that we've ever had ask for it were refugees from the South, especially Texas.

Given the location of the OP (eastern Canada) and the detail shown in the photos, I'd guess that it pre-dates the seventies...by long enough that LBP is likely.


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

It has been painted less than 10 years ago, but I'm not sure what kind of varnish is under the paint.


----------



## ReNt A PaInTeR (Dec 28, 2008)

Which stain color do they want?


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

They want to match some existing dark brown trim in the living room


----------



## ReNt A PaInTeR (Dec 28, 2008)

MonPeintre.ca said:


> They want to match some existing dark brown trim in the living room


It's possible, Not a piece of cake but doable. Can they let you try with one of the panels??


----------



## Paradigmzz (May 5, 2010)

MonPeintre.ca said:


> It has been painted less than 10 years ago, but I'm not sure what kind of varnish is under the paint.


Show me some love Gough! My keen powers of observation and guestimation got lucky. Unless they made lead based stain. Lol.

Forgive me for being captain obvious, but even if you strip the clear coat you are going to have a limed out wood base. All that stripping just to tone it out? 

The wood is going to be sealed. I don't have tons of experience with anilines, but how does coverage work on sealed pores, especialy in detailed areas?


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

We started today, any festool suggestion?


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

The fun has started!!!


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

I'm wondering if we need to take off all the varnish on these pannel ???


----------



## painterman (Jun 2, 2007)

Really hope you are doing this T.M.Looks like oak, going to be very slow getting the remaining paint out of the grain. Best of luck!


----------



## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

MonPeintre.ca said:


> I'm wondering if we need to take off all the varnish on these pannel ???


From our experience, that'll make it easier to get rid of the last of the white paint.


----------



## straight_lines (Oct 17, 2007)

Sharpen those scrapers you will be needing them for many hours to come. Those pics make me uneasy. :001_unsure:


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

straight_lines said:


> Sharpen those scrapers you will be needing them for many hours to come. Those pics make me uneasy. :001_unsure:


I'm wishing to get it done in 2 weeks with 2 men. Worst scenario is to spend christmas at their house still scraping!!!!


----------



## Paradigmzz (May 5, 2010)

I don't mean to be negative but I think you opened a massive can of "gonna get your ass whooped". If your goal is to restain, the lacquer has to get stripped. You are just breaking the surface. The paint is the easy part. In my previous posts I really was trying to give you advice from experience, not just guessing and playing an asshat on the internet. 

Anything is doable, but you are going to have to strip it down to bare wood and even then, your going to have to tone the whole thing for consistency because those pores are going to be clogged. This is not a simple process. I serious when I say it would have been cheaper to demo and retrim.

Btw, its not pickling white!


----------



## Steve Richards (Dec 31, 2010)

Paradigmzz said:


> not just guessing and playing an asshat on the internet.


They'll be along soon enough.

Kick some a$$, Montp. Keep the pics coming too. Pretty interesting in a "glad it's not me" way.


----------



## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

Paradigmzz said:


> I don't mean to be negative but I think you opened a massive can of "gonna get your ass whooped". If your goal is to restain, the lacquer has to get stripped. You are just breaking the surface. The paint is the easy part. In my previous posts I really was trying to give you advice from experience, not just guessing and playing an asshat on the internet.
> 
> Anything is doable, but you are going to have to strip it down to bare wood and even then, your going to have to tone the whole thing for consistency because those pores are going to be clogged. This is not a simple process. I serious when I say it would have been cheaper to demo and retrim.
> 
> Btw, its not pickling white!


At least on the panel that he showed, it looked as if the clear coat was over bare/stained wood, without white in the pores. The open stringer on the stair looked more problematic though.


----------



## ReNt A PaInTeR (Dec 28, 2008)

Can someone from the Moderating team rename this thread "MonPeintre.ca Challenge".


----------



## Paradigmzz (May 5, 2010)

Gough said:


> At least on the panel that he showed, it looked as if the clear coat was over bare/stained wood, without white in the pores. The open stringer on the stair looked more problematic though.


My concern would be in the detailed profiles. Either way, your commited to it and I will offer any advice I have to help. Let me know what you run into.


----------



## Paradigmzz (May 5, 2010)

Peel Away. Cover with the moisture barrier and peel the next day.


----------



## fauxlynn (Apr 28, 2011)

And get some dentil tools.


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

Paradigmzz said:


> Peel Away. Cover with the moisture barrier and peel the next day.


I taught about this. We tried smart strip pro with a plastic over a door and let it sit overnite, but it was dry in the morning.


----------



## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

fauxlynn said:


> And get some dentil tools.


I'd also suggest getting some tools for working on some of the other moldings as well:jester: Maybe some dental tools....


----------



## fauxlynn (Apr 28, 2011)

Gough said:


> I'd also suggest getting some tools for working on some of the other moldings as well:jester: Maybe some dental tools....


oops, you got me, I had dentil crown in my head....


----------



## eews (Apr 18, 2007)

seems alot of you posters are "gun-shy" for this work, and think it's unbearable or impossible.
On the contrary-we've been doing exactly this type of work for 30 years, and it is very do-able!
What's more, it's very rewarding to uncover 100 year old wood, and return it to its original beauty. New wood never looks like the old growth stuff hidden underneath layers of paint.
We've tried all the methods, and chemicals, each has its plus and minus. But anyway you try it, you'll need to get the wood clean after all the paint is off, and for that I think there's nothing better than scrubbing with metal bristle toothbrushes. This will pull everything out of the pores, and you're good to go.
you can see some of the tools we use at our website www.RefinishNY.com


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

eews said:


> seems alot of you posters are "gun-shy" for this work, and think it's unbearable or impossible.
> On the contrary-we've been doing exactly this type of work for 30 years, and it is very do-able!
> What's more, it's very rewarding to uncover 100 year old wood, and return it to its original beauty. New wood never looks like the old growth stuff hidden underneath layers of paint.
> We've tried all the methods, and chemicals, each has its plus and minus. But anyway you try it, you'll need to get the wood clean after all the paint is off, and for that I think there's nothing better than scrubbing with metal bristle toothbrushes. This will pull everything out of the pores, and you're good to go.
> you can see some of the tools we use at our website www.RefinishNY.com


Thanks for the motivation! Nice website and projects!


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

Went and bought a festool combo today to please the PT crowd


----------



## ptbopainter (Sep 10, 2013)

Wow you're well on the way to being a hero!
What festool combo did you get? 
I checked their website and it looks like there are only two available in Canada. Slow down! The T & M on that job needs to pay for the machine, and you just shortened the job by a week


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

ptbopainter said:


> Wow you're well on the way to being a hero!
> What festool combo did you get?
> I checked their website and it looks like there are only two available in Canada. Slow down! The T & M on that job needs to pay for the machine, and you just shortened the job by a week


I know but they just added about 20 windows too.


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

The RO 90 + extractor + a splitter to plug the circular bosh at the same time


----------



## delidio (Jun 24, 2013)

I am very keen on getting the ro -90. Are you happy with it?


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

delidio said:


> I am very keen on getting the ro -90. Are you happy with it?


I used it only for 10min. I found The handle harder to control.


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

Color samples


----------



## fauxlynn (Apr 28, 2011)

I like the one on the bottom, it's rich.

Should you do them all in the same plane though so the light isn't affecting them too differently?


----------



## Painter-Aaron (Jan 17, 2013)

I agree with Lynn. The bottom looks the best


Nice work by the way. The wood looks new again.


----------



## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

I guess I'm always going to be the contrarian, but I like the top on best.


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

I like the bottom one best too, but I think the HO will go with the top one. She wants it as light as possible. The one in the middle is varnish only and will need way more prep if she goes with it. It doesnt hide anything and it wont be as uniform.


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

It's getting better everyday!


----------



## Rcon (Nov 19, 2009)

MonPeintre.ca said:


> We tried smart strip pro with a plastic over a door and let it sit overnite, but it was dry in the morning.


Not sure about the original smartstrip, but smartstrip pro is only meant to be left on for a couple of hours. 

In any case, I wouldn't use it for this type of application. It's stupid expensive stuff and you only get 20 sq ft out of a gallon. Not only that, it doesn't strip varnish well at all. 

Use a MC stripper on what you can salvage. But as for the doors, the HO's would be better off replacing them....it'd definitely be their more affordable alternative.


----------



## cardwizzard (Sep 13, 2010)

Very nice. Looks like your doing great work!

I like the top also. I suppose you can always go darker. What finish product are you going with?


----------



## Monstertruck (Oct 26, 2013)

eews said:


> seems alot of you posters are "gun-shy" for this work, and think it's unbearable or impossible.
> On the contrary-we've been doing exactly this type of work for 30 years, and it is very do-able!
> What's more, it's very rewarding to uncover 100 year old wood, and return it to its original beauty. New wood never looks like the old growth stuff hidden underneath layers of paint.
> We've tried all the methods, and chemicals, each has its plus and minus. But anyway you try it, you'll need to get the wood clean after all the paint is off, and for that I think there's nothing better than scrubbing with metal bristle toothbrushes. This will pull everything out of the pores, and you're good to go.
> you can see some of the tools we use at our website www.RefinishNY.com


 Ayuh, restoration work can be Oh So Rewarding, if you've got the head for it. Last wintah we pulled a nice 9 month interior/exterior restoration of a colonial from the early 1800's. There was NO blow and go work there. Lots of puzzling over paint and paper rework so that nothing looked new. Spent 58 hours stripping the front door/frame/sidelights with a combination of infrared and mechanical tools. Finally got to use the gamut of scrapers I purchased with the Silent Paint Remover. http://www.silentpaintremover.com/scrapers/index.htm Well worth the coin for this type of work. Gotta put the right guys on it because it is mega tedious and meticulous. In the end, it's all about respect for the craftsman that's come before you and trying to restore or perhaps improve upon his work. 

Probly don't see much of this west of the Mississippi tho'........



The project you're on looks nice.
Take it slow and do a bang up job!!!:thumbup:
Can't wait to see the 'after' pics.


----------



## ptbopainter (Sep 10, 2013)

Looks amazing, I'm glad there are so many of you. 
I don't think that doing this alone would have been that much fun. The movie "The Shining" comes to mind
C'est tres beau!


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

ptbopainter said:


> Looks amazing, I'm glad there are so many of you.
> I don't think that doing this alone would have been that much fun. The movie "The Shining" comes to mind
> C'est tres beau!


Merci!
The client is moving in tommorrow, so we have been a team of 9 painters this week to complete the painting. We still have a couple weeks of stripping, we are about half way for that.


----------



## epretot (Dec 17, 2011)

Awesome work.

I hope you have 20 employees to cycle in and out of that job. 

That work would make a few of my employees kill themselves after a week.


----------



## Custom Brush Co. (Jan 26, 2011)

fauxlynn said:


> Seriously, I'm surprised nobody mentioned Citristrip. It works really well if you let it sit as directed. You just have to make sure you rinse it well with mineral spirits.


I was going to have to mention this. I do it a lot! I have stripped a lot with this. I also follow it up with denatured alcohol vs paint thinner. Leaves no residue and the odd is more tolerable.


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

Should be done before christmas!!!


----------



## Masterpiece (Feb 26, 2008)

So aside from the Festool equipment, what product did you end up using for the stripping?

Thanks!


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

Masterpiece said:


> So aside from the Festool equipment, what product did you end up using for the stripping?
> 
> Thanks!


We started with smartstrip pro because it is soft on hands, but its slow to activate, and the smell is bad. we switched to citristrip, way faster. Both were about the same price I think, around 350$/20L


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

Next week should be the last week to get this loooooooong job done!


----------



## northcountrypainter (Dec 7, 2012)

Looks Great! Congrats.


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

Finally done after more than 1200 hours of stripping and staning. Our biggest residential project ever. Pretty proud of the team and their patience!!!


----------



## kdpaint (Aug 14, 2010)

Beautiful job! Thanks for all the pics and updates, I appreciate seeing such attention to detail.


----------



## Damon T (Nov 22, 2008)

Holy moly! Nice work!


----------



## painterman (Jun 2, 2007)

how did you make out with the missing hardware. Job looks great...you should be very proud of your team.


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

painterman said:


> how did you make out with the missing hardware. Job looks great...you should be very proud of your team.


We found it in a closet!


----------



## Tonyg (Dec 9, 2007)

would love to see more pics and before/after.

Well done.


----------



## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

If using Smartstrip you have to put it on heavy, cover it with plastic, make sure it's not to hot or cold or it will dry up, We have used it a few times and letting it sit over night helps alot. We had to learn to put it on heavy.
The pictures look great. Like Tony said finished pics would be nice to see.

Edit:
I just saw the finish pictures that came out great nice job.


----------



## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

Rcon said:


> Not sure about the original smartstrip, but smartstrip pro is only meant to be left on for a couple of hours.
> 
> In any case, I wouldn't use it for this type of application. It's stupid expensive stuff and you only get 20 sq ft out of a gallon. Not only that, it doesn't strip varnish well at all.
> 
> Use a MC stripper on what you can salvage. But as for the doors, the HO's would be better off replacing them....it'd definitely be their more affordable alternative.


We stripped 2 garage doors that were varnished, it took a couple tries but it came off. The doors were still hung and didn't make it any easier. I stripped my Grandfathers office desk which had varnish as well laying it flat or on it's side the smartstrip after sitting over night worked great.


----------



## Brian C (Oct 8, 2011)

you are truly a master painter.


----------



## MonPeintre.ca (Feb 17, 2011)

Brian C said:


> you are truly a master painter.


Not me....I just ran around Town to find festool sandpaper....always back order


----------



## dan-o (Sep 28, 2008)

MonPeintre.ca said:


> Not me....I just ran around Town to find festool sandpaper....always back order


There too?
Last season was a nightmare finding Festool paper in MA.
They seemed to forget that their tools are useless without abrasives.
We had to reschedule jobs several times due to lack of abrasives.

Hope they have their **** together this season as they flat out dropped the ball last year.


----------

