# interior wood trim prep and application



## Dunbar Painting (Mar 19, 2010)

I am doing the basement in this nice house that next year will receive the two main floors "update".

It is a very old house, and the entire house upstairs (not basement) has beautiful wood trim, banisters, window casings, doors etc. The owners (husband and wife) are split between whether they want to paint the wood, or refinish it). Either way, I think they would have me do it because I have done their exterior and shortly their basement.

My questions on prep and application are:

1. If they decide to have them refinished, how do I strip off the previous varnish without losing the current contours on the trim and the nice rounded banisters?
2. if I strip it and they want to varnish it again, what is the best application method?
3. I don't want to know how much you would charge, but could you give me an indication of how many linear feet of wood trim can be stripped per hour?

thanks
I have a year to research this, and I sure will


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## [email protected] (Mar 1, 2008)

Some pitures would be helpful 
David


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## Paradigmzz (May 5, 2010)

Stain color needs to be known, (current and desired) shape of trim now, details on trim, scope in linear ft, do you have finished hardwood floors next to trim? (ie. stripping issues) 

Bottom line, tons of variables to consider and not knowing what finish is currently applied or the current state, it is hard for me to give you an answer. I agree, need some pictures and I would be willing to help out honestly and cheerfully with your request.


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## Paradigmzz (May 5, 2010)

P.S. I love the look of stained wood, so I lean to that direction. Unless the wood is FUBAR, then by all means paint away.


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## BrushJockey (Mar 15, 2009)

Why are they wanting it stripped? 
Sometimes with a little creative colorization, you can refurbish without stripping. 
Stripping is very labor intensive.


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## mistcoat (Apr 21, 2007)

As BrushJockey says - stripping/prep is labour intensive and I would make the HO realise this and charge the prep out either hourly or dayrate.

The application of the finish, you may know/should know how long it would take you to apply say, three coats minimum etc. on a given substrate/area and offer a price.


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## jack pauhl (Nov 10, 2008)

Im assuming he said beautiful wood trim... meaning not the condition of it because he's talking about doing something with it. Many of these older homes I've come across have nice trim but the finish looks dried out, cracked, faded, wrinkled looking others are still shiny and smooth.


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## timhag (Sep 30, 2007)

Dunbar Painting said:


> 1. If they decide to have them refinished, how do I strip off the previous varnish without losing the current contours on the trim and the nice rounded banisters?


 Research some of the chemical companies in your area. Some offer/ allow you to bring your wood in and have them dip to strip. Hope you have some carpenter skills, If not, may wanna practice that over the year also.


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## Dunbar Painting (Mar 19, 2010)

thanks everyone

I will get some pictures when I do the basement paint in 2 weeks.


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## straight_lines (Oct 17, 2007)

I am seeing old varnish or oil ploy that is yellow, when he said beautiful trim that need work.

You can chemical strip it, but you will need to invest in the proper tools mainly the nice profile scrapers. A kit like this is very cheap in comparison, but if you only need it once and there isn't much scraping you should be fine.


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## Dunbar Painting (Mar 19, 2010)

by beautiful i meant that it once was beautiful real wood. Currently the varnish or whatever is on it has faded in many areas making what once was a dark reddish wood turn a bit yellow.

As I said the trim has all kinds of contours and indents like most decorative trim, so I obviously can't take an orbital sander to it.

Again, I will get some pics to post here when I do the basement. I then will have time to learn how to prep it properly


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## straight_lines (Oct 17, 2007)

Stripeeze the thick brush on kind and a decent profile scraper set like this will get you back to new. 

As far as pricing we can't help you there. Try and figure how long it would take you to strip one door casing and multiply. 

As for a new finish I would always go with a water based poly like Ben Moore Stays Clear. They may also consider staining first.

Good luck.


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## Dunbar Painting (Mar 19, 2010)

thanks Straight Lines


I didn't want to know "what" to charge, I just wondered if there was a somewhat basic linear feet per hour that I could go on. I could modify for height areas, worse condition areas etc...

like 1 foot per hour? 5 feet per hour? I mean obviously if I don't try these things I will never learn, but I also don't want to screw the home owner or myself.


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## straight_lines (Oct 17, 2007)

Honestly you probably won't know until you start stripping how fast it will go. Like I said could be oil poly and really thick so more than two passes with the stripper will be likely. You will have to make an educated guess at how long the stripping will take or offer them an hourly rate, plus materials. 

Good Luck!


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## Dunbar Painting (Mar 19, 2010)

thanks again Straight Lines


What I think I will do is give a quote (when the time comes) for all the normal painting, and then propose an hourly rate for the refinishing. The HO knows I work fast and efficiently, with care and attention to detail, so I believe he would accept that.

I talked to someone I previously worked with who refinished varnished wood on a whole house, and he said he estimated 220 hours, and it turned into 500.... that is quite the screw up. It was also his first time doing such a large refinish job.

thanks again... going to get those tools also


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