# Removong Sikkens



## Pete Martin the Painter (Nov 8, 2012)

I have a potential customer who has a mahogony spiral staircase that was butchered. I think that it might have Sikkens on it. In my experience this stuff is near impossible to remove. Anybody know how to take it off?

Sanding would be really tough on the railings.










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## Mr Smith (Mar 11, 2016)

Use Benjamin Moore 'Remove' and then 'Brighten'. I might put that in a small spray bottle (or garden sprayer) and mix it 1/2 and 1/2. Agitate with a scrub brush and rinse off. Will be a messy process as it runs off the railings. Wear protective clothing and goggles as it is potent stuff. I don't do jobs like that because it is almost impossible to cover up things when you use water or a pressure washer to rinse off the surface. I mean how do you keep plastic fastened to stucco for instance? That sh*t will stain. Finish it off by sanding. good luck.

I'm about to stain a deck tomorrow with Cetol SRD RE after prepping a 12-year-old deck with Restore and Brighten. That's as far as I'll go with decks. I will not use their REMOVE and do a full strip to bare wood. I think the liability issues far outweigh the compensation.

TIP: I use cotton drop cloths and soak them down to contain the chemicals and to prevent poisoning of the grass, plants, and foliage. A pressure washer will just blow plastic away unless you weigh it down with wood or bricks.

Or you could use a festool Ro90 sander and spend 3-4 hours removing it. That would be the healthier way with no fear of staining the surface below.


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## Pete Martin the Painter (Nov 8, 2012)

Mr Smith said:


> Use Benjamin Moore 'Remove' and then 'Brighten'. I might put that in a small spray bottle (or garden sprayer) and mix it 1/2 and 1/2. Agitate with a scrub brush and rinse off. Will be a messy process as it runs off the railings. Wear protective clothing and goggles as it is potent stuff. I don't do jobs like that because it is almost impossible to cover up things when you use water or a pressure washer to rinse off the surface. I mean how do you keep plastic fastened to stucco for instance? That sh*t will stain. Finish it off by sanding. good luck.
> 
> I'm about to stain a deck tomorrow with Cetol SRD RE after prepping a 12-year-old deck with Restore and Brighten. That's as far as I'll go with decks. I will not use their REMOVE and do a full strip to bare wood. I think the liability issues far outweigh the compensation.
> 
> ...


Thanks. I was not sure the remove would be powerul enough to get it off.
Great idea about the cotton drops. If I do this job, I will have to make sure he understands that the chemiclas might do some damage to the grass and plants.

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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

Personally, I’d probably recommend a compromise to the HO; paint the handrails and posts but sand down the treads and restain those.


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

i could have sworn the thread title was "removing Sikkens" the first time i read it! Wth?


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## Pete Martin the Painter (Nov 8, 2012)

PACman said:


> i could have sworn the thread title was "removing Sikkens" the first time i read it! Wth?


That is funny. One of the many reasons I hate typing with thumbs. Unable to edit post. So, I will not be removong the mispelling.

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## ridesarize (Jun 19, 2012)

With paint stripper or Remove you can plastic the ground, duck tape around the pole, etc. Use spray adhesive if need be. With Remove, Restore, or Brighten, you can pre wet and rinse grass or plants as you go. No doubt the stripper and debris will be a mess. Put down a couple layers of plastic possibly. 
Being careful to not harm the pickets will be the hard part. You'd have to apply stripper by brush as to not splatter everything else. 
You can use Remove nearly full strength for real effect, you will still have to sand though. 
Wirh the wet "Remove on the rail you could (try) a course synthetic steel wool pad or even certain scrub brushes..or just 150 grit sanding pad


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## Mr Smith (Mar 11, 2016)

ridesarize said:


> With paint stripper or Remove you can plastic the ground, duck tape around the pole, etc. Use spray adhesive if need be. With Remove, Restore, or Brighten, you can pre wet and rinse grass or plants as you go. No doubt the stripper and debris will be a mess. Put down a couple layers of plastic possibly.
> Being careful to not harm the pickets will be the hard part. You'd have to apply stripper by brush as to not splatter everything else.
> You can use Remove nearly full strength for real effect, you will still have to sand though.
> Wirh the wet "Remove on the rail you could (try) a course synthetic steel wool pad or even certain scrub brushes..or just 150 grit sanding pad


Duct tape may or may not stick on the ground after it is flooded with water. I recently tried that on a deck to protect the stucco and it didn't stick in all places. I just used a piece of corrugated plastic as a shield but that's a difficult maneuver when holding the pressure washer wand with the other hand.


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## ridesarize (Jun 19, 2012)

Mr Smith said:


> Duct tape may or may not stick on the ground after it is flooded with water. I recently tried that on a deck to protect the stucco and it didn't stick in all places. I just used a piece of corrugated plastic as a shield but that's a difficult maneuver when holding the pressure washer wand with the other hand.



Run the plastic up onto the pole a little, and then tape it to the pole.


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## Mr Smith (Mar 11, 2016)

ridesarize said:


> Run the plastic up onto the pole a little, and then tape it to the pole.


I went off on a tangent and wasn't referring to this specific railing job. I wouldn't bother with it unless it was part of a much larger job.


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## Pete Martin the Painter (Nov 8, 2012)

Mr Smith said:


> I went off on a tangent and wasn't referring to this specific railing job. I wouldn't bother with it unless it was part of a much larger job.


The biggest reason I am doing this is because I am also doing other work....and it is a huge house with a crap load of work that will eventually need to be done. I am giving a bid on only a small portion of the work that needs to be done.

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## Mr Smith (Mar 11, 2016)

Pete Martin the Painter said:


> The biggest reason I am doing this is because I am also doing other work....and it is a huge house with a crap load of work that will eventually need to be done. I am giving a bid on only a small portion of the work that needs to be done.
> 
> Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk


That's smart. You don't want the homeowner to invite more painters to the party.

Just as long as you aren't falling for the "I have a ton more painting work to do" scam that a lot of people use to lure painters in for the sh*t jobs. These guys always promise more work in the future. I used to fall for it when I was young.:biggrin:

Sure they have more work as long as you do it for 1/2 price. haha


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## stelzerpaintinginc. (May 9, 2012)

Hey Pete. I've removed just about every type of finish from decks over the last few years. With film-forming finishes, chemically stripping has to be done to such a degree as to fur the wood pretty badly in many cases, meaning that some sort of sanding would still need to be done. Worse yet, the same chems used to strip the Sikkens can also damage the finish of that spiral staircase. If it were me, I'd look under each of the treads and see if I couldn't remove them to sand the Sikkens off. As proficient as I think I am with stripping via chemicals, I still think the RO would be faster, as long as the treads could be removed. Might look into removing those treads.


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## Pete Martin the Painter (Nov 8, 2012)

stelzerpaintinginc. said:


> Hey Pete. I've removed just about every type of finish from decks over the last few years. With film-forming finishes, chemically stripping has to be done to such a degree as to fur the wood pretty badly in many cases, meaning that some sort of sanding would still need to be done. Worse yet, the same chems used to strip the Sikkens can also damage the finish of that spiral staircase. If it were me, I'd look under each of the treads and see if I couldn't remove them to sand the Sikkens off. As proficient as I think I am with stripping via chemicals, I still think the RO would be faster, as long as the treads could be removed. Might look into removing those treads.


I am almost positive that removing the treads will be a pita. When I did the bid I assumed that the paint might take a beating. My hope is to use the chems to get most of the finish off and use the RO90 and RO125 to remove what remains. I am hoping that the chems will get most of what is on thw pole off. I am assuming it will be a pain to sand.

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