Best stuff for removing stain (paint)

[JR]

I have a fiberglass door from Therma Tru and it was stained by someone for me about 10 years ago. Since then we have been clear coating it every few years. Lately it has started to peal (clear coat) and look yellowed. I wanted to strip off all the stain and restain the door. Therma Tru says products that are not meant for fiberglass doors are fine with theirs. They mentioned:

- Bix Quick Stripper

- Bix Tuff Job

- Savogran SuperStrip

- Kutzit

- Dad's Easy Stripper

- 3-M Safest Strip

I have tried Bx Tuff Job and Savogran SuperStrip. Neither of them work. I leave them on for 3 minutes, or 1 hour nothing comes off. I have been scrubbing it with a brass brush and bits come off, however I know with these removers it's supposed to easily come off. Not knowing what the original stain was based on, any suggestions?

Thanks.

JR

[DanG]

What is not coming off? Your clear coat or the original stain? If the fiberglass was stained, I doubt it will ever come all the way clean. If any of the above were latex, it may be at the root of your problem.

I have had several pieces that were painted with a high quality latex enamel. No strippers that I tried would touch them. On both pieces I cleaned them up with lacquer thinner. The lacquer thinner would soften the stuff enough to remove it with a 3M scrub pad or a scraper, but it never came off in sheets nor did it wrinkle up and let go like oil based finishes. The minute the lacquer thinner was evaporated the stuff was stuck all over again. Absolutely miserable.

I should have just offered to buy her a new crib and chair. I would have been way ahead time wise and chemical wise. I guess it was a labor of love.

[JR]

Well, I finally had success. Technique and following the directions was the problem. Directions talk about waiting 15 minutes or longer. I found that if you want more than a couple minutes, it cures again and you can't get much off. A combination of a brass brush, the stripping compound, and a bit of elbow grease did the trick. You just, as I mentioned, need to allow it to sit for a minute or two at most. The clear coat would crystalize and that you have to keep scraping off. Once you get past that, you just need to scrub with the brush before the stripper compound dries. Still takes about four times over the surface to clean it, but I now have the door looking close to what it did before it was ever stained. Now for the fun of re-staining it this weekend.

JR