An absolute beginner’s guide to door dipping: the difference between hot and cold dipping varieties
How many dips have you come across in your lifetime? Choc Dips (those snacks with a chocolate dip and some phallic biscuits)? Double dips? Pond dipping? Or door dipping? If you’ve heard of hot or cold door dipping, well done to you. You obviously read this blog and have paid close attention to our posts.
On a wooden door, stripping can either be done with a paint stripper, being applied by hand, or dipped in a caustic soda solution. What is the difference between hot and cold types of dipping methods?
Firstly, hot tanks can only be used for dipping wooden doors or furniture. Secondly, cold tank dipping is suitable for steel. Aluminium cannot be dipped in a cold tank, because that will destroy the aluminium or aluminium alloy. Hot or cold tanks are suitable for stripping wooden doors. The poultice method, which we described in our previous post, is suitable for aluminium door stripping.
As caustic soda is an alkali, it won’t strip away your doors. It’ll strip the previous coatings off, but leave your doors intact.
Door dipping versus brushing
Door dipping is a more convenient alternative to applying paint stripper with a brush. A lot of elbow grease is eliminated by placing the door in its hot tank or cold tank. Though bathing your door in a tank is a convenient idea, some woods may benefit from hand stripping methods. Particularly oak and mahogany. Wood veneers also benefit from being stripped by hand.
If you would like some more information on door dipping, or wish to have your doors done that way, why not contact us? You can telephone us on 07481 171243 or send us an email via premiumdoorstripping@gmail.com. We shall get back to you as soon as possible.
Premium Doors and Furniture, 19 July 2017.