You may wonder why you see signs of long-forgotten products adorning our buildings. Plainly and simply, they have been allowed to fade over the passage of time once the product was discontinued. Some may call this neglect but in many cases they add to the character of the building. With great affection we call them ghost signs as they are of historical interest. Continue reading “Ghost Signs Revealed by Paint Strippers”
The Studley Royal Water Gardens in the grounds of Fountains Abbey, North Yorkshire, is a most photographed and visited part of England. On the banks of the River Skell, the Abbey is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It attracts thousands of visitors from around the world. The water gardens are flanked with four lead statues: Neptune, Bacchus, the Wrestlers, and Galen. They originally had a coat of white paint. This year shall see the quartet being given a paint restoration job. How and why, may you ask? Continue reading “Paint Restoration for ‘Marble’ Statues”
Imagine you have registered with a privately-owned employment agency or had a meeting with your Work Coach at your nearest Job Centre Plus branch. You may have come across the phrase “transferable skills”, the idea that a skill learned in one industrial sector could be useful in another environment. Customer service is a common one, where any interpretation of the said skill varies by sector. For example, stripping an antique dresser as well as making a good pizza is due to one common factor: quality. The end product? One satisfied customer, possibly a returning customer at that.
Since 2011, there has been one chemical that has been banned from paint strippers on these shores. Known as Dichloromethane, or Methylene Chloride, it is a solvent-based chemical which has carcinogenic effects. Due to its health risks, Dichloromethane has been banned by EU and EEA trading member states. Continue reading “The Dangers of Dichloromethane Paint Strippers”
Researchers from Sweden and US have successfully developed the Transparent Wood as an eco-friendly alternative.
The treated material which looks like clear plastic, has all the same insulating and environment friendly qualities as regular wood but lets through much more light.
Researchers working on the product believe it could one day be used in construction and design as an alternative to plastic or glass, but there’s a long way to go before it makes it to your living room.
A group of scientists from the University of Maryland worked on this composite material. To create it, materials scientist Dr. Liangbing Hu boils the wood in a bath of chemicals, stripping away any lignin, which gives the wood colour.
As the New York Times reports, this leaves behind the basic cell structure of the wood. Next, he pours clear epoxy over the block, encasing and protecting it.
Dr. Hu has authored a paper on his team’s achievement, which has been published in the Advanced Materials journal. Speaking to the Times, he said: “This can really open applications that potentially replace glass and some optical material.”
Transparent wood is also being developed on the other side of the world, at Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
Like Dr. Hu, Professor Lars Berglund uses chemicals to remove the wood’s lignin and replaces it with a polymer, creating fine strips of wood which are 85 per cent transparent, according to FastCo Design.
Berglund hopes the material will one day be used in eco-friendly solar cells, as a readily available and renewable alternative to glass.
The material does have its limitations, however. Currently, the blocks which can be produced are very small – the largest pieces made by Dr Hu have only been around one centimetre thick and a few inches wide, while Berglund’s sheets are generally paper-thin.
There’s also concerns about how affordable and efficient the brand-new technique could be made.
However, new technologies are always expensive at the start, and as research continues, the scientists hope the production process will become more scalable and affordable.
Solvent paint remover takes off all kinds of finishes, even contemporary ones. They are usually very gentle on the wood and won’t damage it, which is why they’re used in the antique trade. There’s no discolouring and solvents get the wood cleaner, deeper down into the grain. On the downside, you tend to use more of it so it can end up more expensive than a caustic stripper. Solvents can also cause burns, smell awful and must only be used in a very well-ventilated space. Last of all, you might have to work a bit harder to remove heavy paint build-ups than with a caustic paint stripper.
Caustic paint removers take off most finishes and are particularly good at getting rid of thick layers of paint and varnish. They give off fewer fumes than solvent-based paint strippers, are cheaper and tend to work faster. On the other hand caustic products usually contain a very strong alkaline which may react with chemicals in the wood resulting in staining or scorching of the wood. This is more common with dense woods such as mahogony and some types of oak, especially old oak. Caustic substances also cause burns if you get them on your skin.
What’s the best paint stripper for wood? You can always test drive a few different products to see which best suits the job and matches your capabilities. Just carry out testing in inconspicuous areas and keep your test areas small.
Most paints manufactured before 1960 contain lead, so if you’re stripping something older than that it’s wise to check. You can pick up a lead testing kit at your local decorating centre or DIY store.
If you find lead the British Coatings Federation have produced a leaflet about how to deal with it, which you can read here: “Old Lead Painted Surfaces – A Guide on Repainting and Removal for DIY and Professional Painters and Decorators”.
Chemical paint stripping and varnish stripping products partially dissolve the paint or varnish. You can buy paste and gel paint stripping products, handy because they’re so thick that they stick to vertical surfaces, perfect if the item you want to strip can’t be moved.
We highly recommend Panther Paint and Varnish Remover, one of the best wood strippers on the market for day to day paint and varnish removal on flat surfaces. It’s great for removing varnish from wood, and paint. It’s a remarkable product, highly effective and incredibly fast, removing as many as six layers in just five minutes. It’s a gel, sticking conveniently to vertical surfaces. And it’s ideal for removing water, oil and solvent-based paints, varnishes and lacquers.
We also love Peelaway One and Peelaway Seven, both used to restore antiques and decorative items like carved fireplaces, coving and ceiling roses. They work by dissolving the paint and pulling it out of the nooks and crannies.
Peelaway 1 is better suited to paint aged 30 years and older, the old-style metal and lead based types. Peelaway 7 works better on modern paints dating from the last 30 years or so. For some projects you might need to bring both into play, using Peelaway 7 on the newer layers and Peelaway 1 on the deeper layers. Like many paint remover products it’s caustic, so always try a test patch first.
Here’s a link to an old blog post in which we give the Peelaway paint remover a rigorous trial.
You’ve stripped it. Now it’s time to choose your wood finish. We have a huge selection of amazing products designed to breathe new beauty into your wood, whether it’s a gorgeous old floor, a splendid piece of antique or vintage furniture, a pine door or rococo picture frame.
Here are some ideas to help you get creative with your good-as-new wood:
Any questions? We’re always delighted to help. Just get in touch. Otherwise, we wish you the best of luck with your next wood stripping project.
Stripping the paint off of old woodwork can be one of the most time-consuming and mundane tasks a do-it-yourself ever undertakes.
It’s also very messy, whether you chose to use a chemical stripper or a sander.
There are ways, however, of streamlining stripping to eliminate some of the sweat equity and, at the same time, bring back the natural beauty of wood detail that has been muddied by countless layers of paint.
The key to a successful stripping job is patience – this work can take weeks.
One of the first steps is to determine if painted wood SHOULD be stripped.
Many homes have pine woodwork that was intended to be painted from the start. Such woods look better painted because they don’t stain well.
To determine what type of wood your home has, remove a small amount of paint, or peek behind a doorknob plate. Because it was a cheaper wood, pine was generally used in kitchens and bedrooms while the more expensive woods such as oak was used in living rooms, dining rooms and foyers.
STRIPPING VERSUS SANDING
Many wood experts lean towards stripping over sanding.
Stripping has several advantages:
It’s less dusty than sanding, a major concern if there’s lead-based paint in your home. Sanding lead-based paint off wood sends lead dust into the air. That dust can result in high blood levels of lead, which is dangerous to children under six years of age.
Lead can attack children’s minds, affecting their intelligence, memory, reaction time and concentration. Lead poisoning has also been associated with complications with pregnant women.
If your home was built prior to 1970, there’s a strong chance it has lead-based paint somewhere inside. Prior to 1940, lead-based paint was used in about two-thirds of all homes.
Chemical strippers also don’t remove the stain and patina – the natural color that comes with the aging process of the wood.
Strippers also do a better job at removing paint from cracks and crevices in the detail of the wood.
In addition to stripping and sanding, another method of removing paint is with a heat gun. The heat gun softens the paint so that it can be scraped away. A disadvantage is that it’s usually more time-consuming than chemical strippers.
The next step is to determine whether to remove the wood pieces from the walls and strip them, or strip them in place.
Items such as staircase railings or fireplace mantles are nearly impossible to remove. Often, they need to be stripped while in place. Door and window trim, meanwhile, can be removed with a bit of effort.
If you remove pieces of woodwork, carefully catalog each piece so you know where they should be replaced. Also, be prepared to make a few wall repairs.
Because they are fairly cumbersome, consider sending large wood pieces such as doors to commercial stripping operations where they can be dipped into chemical vats. That will save you time plus the cost of enough chemical stripper for a door.
Before you begin to strip the wood, protect yourself with a respirator, a long-sleeved shirt, protective goggles and gloves.
An easy way to chemically strip long, narrow pieces of woodwork is to create a tub out of piece of old gutter or ductwork. Cap both ends of the gutter or ductwork and plug any leaks. Set it on a secure surface and fill it with liquid stripper.
Next, immerse the piece of woodwork and use a brick to hold in place. Keep the wood submerged for several minutes until the paint starts to bubble off.
If you don’t have a tub, coat the piece of wood liberally with the stripper using an old paintbrush. Semi-paste strippers will adhere to the wood better but take longer to work.
Let the stripper remain on the wood for a while, but not long enough to dry out.
There are a number of tools you can use to remove the stripper and paint.
For flat wood, a putty knife at a low angle is a good tool. Use a can or plastic container to scrape the old paint off the putty knife.
Awls, stiff bristle brushes, toothbrushes or steel wool are good other tools to remove the loosened paint.
If you strip wood in place, use the semi-paste stripper to avoid drips. Protect the floor with drop cloths.
If you’re trying to remove numerous layers of paint, cover the stripper with a light plastic, such a food wrap or shrink-wrap. This will allow for better penetration. Allow it to remain on the wood for 30 to 45 minutes then remove it.
Clean bare wood with either mineral spirits, lacquer thinner, other solvents or water. Use a clean rag to apply the cleaner. The wood may also require a light sanding.
A major concern when renovating our home was the removal of old paint on doors, windows, skirting boards, staircase and fireplaces. We had many layers of old paint on basically every surface in the house! Because the house was built so long ago, and because any previous updating work was probably done in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, we can be fairly certain that all of the paint is lead based.
A lot of people may not really believe that lead in paint is especially toxic or harmful as you would probably have to eat the paint to ingest any lead. But do you really want to take the risk? If we have children in the house in years to come why would we want to take the risk of them becoming ill? Chemicals in lead in paint are also potentially harmful to pregnant women – again why take the risk if it can be safely removed?
Over the years, due to regulations, paint strippers have become less toxic, removing some solvents and lowering toxicity. But of all of the paint strippers I looked at in builders merchants and DIY stores I was only able to find one other (DIY store own-branded) paint stripper that contained anything less than high VOC (volatile organic compounds) content. As regulations have changed, manufacturers have often simply removed one banned solvent, or substance, and replaced it with another that was probably just as bad and was probably banned at a later date.
I won’t claim to know all of the science and technical information involved in the dangers of lead paint but I know that I have the chance to be rid of these dangers now, whilst the house is being renovated. I would encourage anyone else, who is also renovating, and reading this blog, to give serious consideration to taking steps to remove any (even potentially) lead-based paint from their homes.
We decided that it would be best to remove all of the old lead paint, if possible, and re-paint with non-toxic paints. But it was always going to be a difficult task. As we’re trying to create an eco-friendly home, free from VOCs, we didn’t want to use any aggressive paint removal products as most of the off-the-shelf paint removal products are themselves very high in VOCs so using them would be counterproductive.
We wanted a paint remover that was solvent-free, non-hazardous and suitable for DIY use. It needed to be suitable for indoor use as we’re stripping lots of surfaces such as door frames or skirting boards that will remain in-situ. Also, as some of the work was done over winter it would have been cold outside. Whatever you’re doing, who wants to be outside or have the windows open if it’s cold or raining? So it had to be suitable for indoor use, without a nasty, toxic smell.
When you read on a label “use only in a well-ventilated area” what do you think? I think that if the manufacturers don’t believe that I should be able to breathe in the fumes of their product, then it can’t be safe can it? There must be a better, safer and more environmentally friendly answer. I simply refuse to use toxic products if at all possible. A little research of all of the different products that I could find resulted in nothing suitable until I found Eco Solutions Home Strip. Straight away I knew that I had found a safer, more eco-friendly alternative. It’s just down to how much time do you have? Are you willing to potentially pay more for eco-friendly products? Are you prepared to work a little harder if necessary? Hopefully, if you’re reading this I’m making this decision easier for you.
Eco-Products Home Strip removes lead-based paints, oil-based paints, solvent-based paints, water-based paints and emulsions as well as varnishes, waxes, fire-resistant paints and rust-preventative surface coatings. It’s suitable for use on many surfaces including hard and soft woods, marble, stone, brick, concrete, plaster, ceramic tiles, UPVC, GRP, aluminium, brass and other soft metals.
The VOC content is 0.000004% so you can work with it for as long as you like without ever fearing that you’re going to do yourself any harm and you needn’t have the windows open. Do you really want to burn your skin or breathe in hazardous fumes? I don’t. Certainly, we all get lazy and sometimes we forget to wear gloves or a face mask, but you should always work from the outset with a genuine good intention to work as safely as possible.
When removing lead paint, it is important not to simply try to sand it off by hand using sandpaper or by using an electric sanding tool as this creates dust with lead in it and this can be inhaled. In order to safely remove lead-based paint, you should keep it wet. Home Strip is similar in consistency to a gel. Once it has been spread onto the surface it keeps the paint wet. In order to ensure this, you can wrap the object being stripped in cling film – although this can be more difficult for things like door frames for example.
Home Strip eats away at the layers of paint and all of the lead content is encapsulated in the gel. It is then important to dispose of the waste correctly, at a local refuse centre that are able to handle lead paint products. You could safely wash Home Strip down the drain as it’s water-based, but the problem with this is that the lead-based paint that you have stripped is still toxic if released into the drains, so it should be disposed of carefully.
In my experience using Home Strip does require a little more time and effort than using a more aggressive, less eco-friendly product, but I was willing to take the extra time and put in the extra effort knowing that the result would be more environmentally friendly. I didn’t want to simply resort to using the easiest, most aggressive product that I could find to get the job done as quickly as possible – to the detriment of indoor air quality and the wider environment.
Home Strip did a quality, eco-friendly, job and did so without filling my home with toxic smells. I would happily use Home Strip in the same room as children, or in a room where I intended to sleep that same night, with the windows closed. I wouldn’t do this with other products. I felt no need to open a window or to ventilate the house whilst using Home Strip. It was almost totally odourless, in fact, what faint odour it did have I actually thought was quite pleasant and whilst the instructions did suggest using gloves I didn’t feel any real need to do so. I wouldn’t even consider using other paint stripping products without some sort of face mask, a fully ventilated room and gloves. We recently had some work done where a very commonly used adhesive was used and the whole first floor of the house smelled awful for several days, to the point where we didn’t want to be in the house. Home Strip does not create any toxic or unpleasant odour.
Types of strippers: Strippers fall into three categories: caustic, solvent, and biochemical. There is no shortage of strippers to choose from. Many painters are loyal to one brand. If you’re not yet one of them, consult your dealer, quiz other painters, and experiment.
Here’s the range of answers I got when I asked several painters if they used chemical paint strippers:
After more conversations with painters and paint dealers, I found that many painters don’t understand how strippers work, or how to match a stripper to a job. Although many painters prefer to minimise their use of these chemicals, most painters must use them occasionally. So unless you’re a hard-core “Never! Ever!” painter, take the next few minutes to learn how to use strippers safely and productively.
Strippers fall into three categories: caustic, solvent, and biochemical.
Caustic strippers are water-based solutions with a pH of 13 to 14. Their active ingredient is lye, which may be either potassium hydroxide (known as caustic potash) or sodium hydroxide (caustic soda). When carrying out caustic paint stripping the lye reacts with the oily component of the paint film, turning it into soap. This reaction with the paint loosens it from the surface. The health risks of caustic strippers include skin burns and lung irritation.
Solvent strippers remove paint by dissolving or softening the bond between the film and substrate, causing the coating to bubble up. The most common solvent is methylene chloride (also called dichloromethane), but alcohol, toluene, acetone, and ketones are often also present.
Methylene chloride based strippers work very well. However, they pose more potent health risks than caustic strippers do. They temporarily reduce the blood’s capacity to carry oxygen and may cause permanent liver and kidney damage and cancer.
Another solvent is N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), often used in combination with dibasic esters (DBE). Although these strippers are promoted as a safer alternative to methylene chloride, their health effects are not yet completely understood. According to the EPA, NMP causes skin swelling, irritation, and blisters. Dibasic esters cling nicely to vertical surfaces, but they work slowly and have been reported to fuzz the surface of the wood.
Yet another solvent system is a combination of alcohol, toluene, and methanol. This cocktail works quickly, but it evaporates quickly and is highly flammable. Breathing it can give you brain damage. The fact that it evaporates quickly reduces somewhat the volume of waste you must dispose of.
Biochemical-based stripping agents are another category. The solvents in them are derived from plants. Biochemical-based strippers may include terpenes, from pine or citrus; lactic acids, from corn sugars; dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), from wood pulp and paper by-products; citric acid; and soy oil. Some of these materials can irritate your skin. In addition to the biochemical ingredients, most of these strippers contain NMP.
Although manufacturers of citrus-based products emphasise their suitability for commercial use, the paint stores in my town don’t report selling a lot of citrus-based strippers to professionals. If customers are concerned about odour, they may be happier if you use a citrus-based stripper. Remind them, though, that citrus-based strippers do contain harmful chemicals, and that the stripper will have to remain on the surface for a long time to work.
Strippers marketed as “safe” or “eco” don’t contain methylene chloride, but they may contain NMP, DBE, biochemical agents, or a combination.
What is Caustic Soda?
Caustic soda (aka sodium hydroxide) is a very common chemical compound that is known to contain a very strong base, and as such could harm humans when mishandled. It has many uses for both industrial and domestic uses. However, due to its corrosive nature, it is best if Caustic soda, also known as lye, is handled by professionals.
Being a strong base, Caustic soda has many uses at the industrial level. It is used in the manufacture of cleaning agents such as soaps and toilet cleaners.
At home, it is used to unblock all drainage. A little quantity of caustic soda poured into blocked drainage pipes can clear the pipes of any blockages.
Caustic soda is also used as a paint stripper. When there is a need to remove paint on any surface including wood, metal, or any furniture caustic soda can come in handy when removing the old paint. When applied to the surface, it causes the paint on the surface to detach itself. This process is known as paint stripping. Caustic soda clears the surfaces of any paint.
Most people use caustic soda on door stripping. When they wish to change the paint on doors, they use caustic soda to remove the old paint from the doors. Caustic soda easily strips off paint from doors. However, handling caustic soda requires high levels of caution as it is a very corrosive chemical compound that is very hazardous to humans.
Since caustic soda can damage human’s health, it is best left to the professionals to handle it. Premium Door Stripping is a company that offers caustic soda paint stripping services. Our qualified experts have protective gear and are best qualified to handle caustic soda.
Accidents can happen anytime, and it is therefore not safe to have caustic soda at home. Contact Premium Door Stripping for all caustic soda paint stripping services. We remove paint on furniture, doors, metals, and any wood surfaces in a professional way, without causing any damages to the surface, or the people handling the caustic soda.
A caustic soda stripping tank is the most commonly used method to strip paint, lots of people say the stripping tank is an acid bath, in fact, it’s totally the opposite; caustic soda is an alkaline, it still burns like hell, as it’s highly corrosive but it’s not acid, therefore it doesn’t eat your doors.
There are two types of caustic tanks: Hot and cold.
The cold tank is only for metal items.
Metals can be stripped in a cold tank, as there is no risk of damage as these metals obviously aren’t porous. The hot tank can be used for both wooden items and metalwork.
Please note: you can not strip aluminium or aluminium alloys with a caustic stripping tank, it will damage it.
The heating of the caustic soda greatly accelerates the stripping process, making it a lot safer for the woodwork, as it’s in the solution for a lot less time.
Pine doors, windows, furniture, and woodwork strip really well, but these must be done in a hot tank, or there is a good chance the items will be damaged.
One of the most common asked questions to Premium Door Stripping is: does it loosen the joints or warp the doors?
The answer is no, not if it’s done properly. The only problems you may find is that on some furniture where the wooden blocks they used in the construction were glued with animal glue, and these can come off through the temperature of the liquid, so if the wood has lots of woodworm or rot and is soft, it may take forever to dry out – saying that, if it has an average amount of woodworm, it will kill the woodworm and prevent re-infestation.
You hear all these horror stories about pine stripping, if it was that bad, why would you have hundreds of antique dealers up and down the country using this method. To have a good paint stripping tank, you must keep your caustic fresh and heat your tank really hot and keep it that way, and this costs a lot of money, then the doors aren’t in the tank for long periods at a time.
When you get a recession or so-called “credit crunch” it seems that every builder, plumber and whoever hasn’t got a lot of work on, sets up a tank in his shed, after a while the caustic is old, he’s getting a bad name and not much work coming in, and can’t afford to heat the tank properly so the doors are submerged in the tank for half a day or even more, and the doors are ruined.
At the end of the recession, they get back in their Transit van and are gone, and we’re left with “doesn’t it loosen the joints and warp the doors”.
So always try to go to an established company with some history.
