I need to remove a lot of paint from some door jams

Tony Baideme

Member
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Location
Honolulu, Hawaii
Hi gang.

I'm trying to get rid of a lot of coats of paint from several door frames (jams) in our townhouse. I mean, the PO went paint crazy over the years on these.

I tried sanding, scraping and now I want to give chemical stripper a try.

Question is, which would be recommended? I will be priming and painting again when I get the old garbage off. I don't want any of the stripper to soak into the wood so I will have problems with the new finish.

Help?

Aloha, Tony
 
Tony if you can pick up a few cans of Spray stripper it will make the job very easy. Just mask off around the jams. What most people fail to realize when stripping is that if you are brushing stripper on you only make one pass over the intended area. So load the brush, then let it work and load again after you scrap off the 1st coating. What I like about the spray you can load the spray on with out causing the initial seal to break which lessons the active ingredients working strength.
 
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I've had good success with the citrus type strippers.
Slather the area with the stuff and then - this is key - cover the area with waxed paper and let the stripper work for an hour or so. The stripper works by fumes and if you concentrate the fumes and prevent evaporation with the waxed paper everything works great.
One or two applications may be necessary. Follow up each application with a putty knife. For the last application I use coarse steel wool soaked in the stripper to rub the surface down.
Since you are following up with primer and paint again, a good rubdown with steel wool, a paint scraper and a putty knife in the nooks and crannies should be sufficient.
I recommend the shellac based "Kilz" type primer to seal any areas of concern.
OBTW< use rubber gloves.
Good luck with a dirty, mean and nasty job.


Walter in CT
 
Tony,
Get a can of "Dad's Easy Spray" I buy mine from True Value. It contain Metholyne Chloride which is the same thing that Dave uses in his shop for refinishing and I use it to. Make sre you don't get it on your skin and it will damage lenolium but nothing works better. Wear heavy rubber gloves.
 
Welcome to the Family Walter! :wave:

Tony, I'd try the heat gun first, I too hate the chemical stuff, even outdoors, but IN the house :eek:

I think the heat gun would get rid of a lot of it, and then maybe the chemical stuff :dunno:

Don't envy you at all :wave:
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I will look for the products you have mentioned.

I already tried sanding (slow and really dusty) and I can't get into the corners that well, scraping (both with and without the heat gun) and, because I need to get this DONE, I am willing to resort to chemicals.

I have taken off all the casings I can get off without damage, so I can strip them outdoors. I am not worried about the existing floor because it is going to be covered by new laminate flooring.

See, this was a rental unit, and the owner's just kept painting over with no prep work that I can see. Some of the layers peel right off, some areas. Other areas won't let loose, and leave lots of feathers of paint from the sanding/scraping, making it too slow work getting all that cleaned off.

The paint is mostly latex and very rubbery. There's probably 6 layers that I can count. It is really a mess. I am glad I am not a refinisher/painter, but it is my home now.

I will keep you posted as to what I do and accomplish.

Aloha, Tony
 
I have to agree Larry. I am so tempted to just make replacement door jams and mouldings, but I'm talking about 4 doors here. That would amount to quite a bit of work, and expense. (I have a wife to consider too on the spending, and she doesn't want me to get in deeper on these projects labor wise)

Walter, thanks for joining the family, and choosing my thread for your first post. I never had that before.

Aloha, Tony
 
Here's something I built that would make short work of your paint removal issues. Add a 5 in 1 and a scraper and you're looking at 20-30 minutes per door casing. Cost me about 60 bucks to build and that is because I had to buy the space heater for the infrared elements.
 

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Let me throw in.... Carbide Scraper, $12 at Lowes. Works far better than any freshly sharpened steel scraper. I too thought, what the difference, till my friend introduced me to a Carbide Scraper... WOW, What a difference. Use the heat gun and then the carbide scraper and most all the the old goo will come off, then a chemical to clean up the residue, and again the carbide scraper, and some light sanding after washing with MS to clean up the chemicals,
 
OMG - since it is a rental unit I think you should take precautions regarding the possibility of lead paint being present. How long ago was the unit built and the like?
 
Walter, I think you read wrong. I said it WAS a rental unit. We bought it because the price was within our reach and I knew I would have a lot of work to renovate it so WE could LIVE in it. It is our home now, never plan to rent it, so I am not going to worry about the lead paint issue. (I am being careful though with removal and disposal. We have no children and no kids come to the unit.)

But, thanks for your concern.

Aloha, Tony
 
Well gang,

I have making some progress in my project, (just no pics yet. I'll try to get some tomorrow) But, 3 of the frames are now primed. I've had a couple other things to take care of so I missed a little time on this.

All your suggestions were carefully considered. I decided to go with chemical stripper, and it seems to work super. I'm using Kleen-Strip "Strip-X". It's a gel type remover and it works pretty well. Needs a couple applications in places, but I'm taking off about 5 or 6 layers of "rubber".

Lookin' good though. Pictures coming.

Aloha, Tony
 
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