I having a go at decorating the spare room. The room was a storage room since we moved in. All been emptied and ready to fix up. Basically the skirting board is painting in something other than gloss :) ... normally I heat it bubbles and flies off! buuut the stuff on it is taking an age to heat off and scrap.
Any ideas on how to get this paint off quick as I have 2 doorways to do aswell :)
Heat is meant to work with oil based paint. You have probably got water based which is little better than emulsion paint. A chemical stripper would probably be better, but not much..
Does the "paint" char rather than bubble as you would expect from "ordinary" gloss paint?
I had this and someone suggested the wood had been emulsioned.
In the end I just rubbed it down and repainted.
If the skirting is just too horrible how about ripping it off and replacing? Will probably damage the wall above the skirting
Clive
Propbly worth just gritting the teeth and carrying on the loborious task :) ...still not as bad as removing tiles lol
Ello again
It kind of does, normally when heat gunning at least gloss it bubbles and you can rip it right off, but this stuff is taking an age.
I I rip a sander along it but the paint is so nasty and yellowing from white as the person previous was a heavy smoker so its been a touch jobgetting that smell out and with fresh paint it all helps.
My wifes ooo wife says she wants it totally stripped off as it was "disgusting" and sanded and then prepped and painted fresh bah.
When I first started I thought hmm that will sand nicely and just repaint.
I like the idea of replacing it, but I'm half way through. Although the electric bbill should be nice and high lol.
You don't say how thick the paint is; or how sticky. If it is not hugely both, you will find you get a better finish with a scarsden type scraper. And this avoids burning the wood too - and depending on the grain, may give you a better finish than sanding. I love scrapers: just one tip: keep a file in your pocket for dragging over the blade regularly to renew the burr - then one blade lasts for years.
Mind you, I got fed up with all the kneeling when I did ours, and discovered it was quicker and easier in the end to take the boards off and plane them. When putting them back I made sure to leave the screws as 'features' for ease of removal next time. Now we have electric screwdrivers, this total stripdown approach often works out easier.
S
Dont bother, if its stuck on it doesnt need to come off. Clean it with sugar soap and very hot water, & gloves to avoid burning.
NT
Something we are all going to be very used to with this lovely new regulation paint being foisted on us. Like another poster said, easier to rip out and replace if you can.
Happy days. :((
Bought some black gloss and undercoat on Monday to do the facias with. Had the bloke search the shelf for a couple of tins not marked with the 2010 low volatiles symbol.
I've never liked paint stripping. If the skirtings are beyond simply repainting and not of some particular historic value, I'd simply rip them off and fit new ones. Anyway, I though paint stripper was going the same way as the nice smelling paints;-)
Andrew Gabriel wibbled on Wednesday 24 March 2010 10:03
The "old" stuff is generally available, but not from sheds. I went out of my way to get some oil based coloured satin varnish (after walking round B&Q, Homebase etc). A paint trade counter is one option, eg Brewers.
I got mine from Chumleigh Hardware on t'Internet:
Not sure about gloss, but they carry a good selection of the Rustins poly varnishes (hint, if it says Quick Dry it's low VOC, so look for the other stuff). Bloody awful website (suggest using google with a site: operator) but the actual service is good and the tins came securely taped to avoid accidents.
Round my way, the good shops are miles away and the local (within 10 miles) shops are so damn useless I've pretty much gone over to buying everything on the internet from food to wellies. Hell, Boots, who've bought out all the local pharmacies round here can't (won't) be bothered to even get me a tub of citric acid and a tub of sodium metabisulphite[1]. "Not cost effective" he said, as him and his assistants were standing around doing absolutely bugger all else.
[1] Homebrew steralising agent, showing the kids how to make real ginger beer (including the alcoholic version for me :)
Actually, that's where I got mine. The old stuff is only around until stocks are gone.
Undercoat of cheap shellac makes for an easy disrobing layer
If you have any Asian suppliers within reach, they usually have citric acid by the kilo as for them it is a regular cooking ingredient. I use it as a general purpose household chemical - along with soda carb; epsom salts - can be had by the kilo as 'bath salts' in some (usually Asian: Asians seem to be still in the do it yourself household ingredients and chemicals age we used to be in in the 1950s)) chemists; 'dishwasher salt etc - and cleaning spray (20% with a dash of wash up liquid - is excellent for taps, baths etc.). Can't help with metabi - but as I used to be a lab tech, my 500g jar will last a lifetime at the rate of a few grains to each bottle I wash.
S
I found that water-based primer totally ruined all the preparatory sanding I had done on front window repairs. It raised the grain AND never really dried, so that it could not be sanded smooth. I had to scrape the whole lot off and resand the wood. The solution I came up with was to use diamond hard varnish as the primer. This actually goes much further, lies flatter AND is hard enough not to rip off when the nibs are sanded. Another tip, for a smooth finish is to avoid 'one coat' and 'non drip' paint like the plague - and even then, you may still need to thin on a warm day - if you don't want horrendous brush marks. Careful attention to thinning and sanding - and not using water anywhere near bare wood - and you can get a mirror finish even with ordinary paints.
S
Grain raising is usually blamed on water based stuff but it can happen with any finish if the wood isn't sound, or isn't bone dry when sanded. Sanding then tends to flatten the fibres but not cut them.
That's a level of perfection well beyond where I'm going with black facias, 20' up in the air and mostly hidden behind the gutters... They're getting treated for good longevity, but I'm not looking for the finish of a Steinway concert grand...
Painting them black isn't the best for longevity, greater expansion / contraction with sunlight. I gave up on dark colours for my front door for that reason.
IME longevity isn't an issue up there behind the guttering. Probably the least exposure of any exterior woodwork
You obviously made me feel guilty. Was going to do the top coat this morning, but instead, scraped the pimples off, and did another undercoat...
I think the ones I'm ripping off are 100 years old. They're exactly the same timbers as the floorboards. Slight wet rot along top edge where felt has rotted off and tiles now rest, and in some places where the gutter leaked and and the paint was all gone.
New ones being prepared and painted indoors (where it's not raining at the moment), prior to fitting.
Yes, good paint that stays stuck is difficult. I find if the wood underneath has started to go grey, nothing sticks for long. Also, if you have had to 'make good' any rotten bits with new wood, make sure the join is out of sight, paint just will not handle the slightest differential expansion, and I did the same window sill 3 times before just opting for some mastic in the inevitable crack!
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