Dipped and Stripped Doors

tekd00d

Hi,

Wonder if anyone has had any experience of dipping and stripping doors? I've just got three doors dipped and stripped, but the company are saying that one door is now white with the emulsion that was underneath the "green" paint, and the other door has stayed the same because it was dyed?

Can dipping and stripping not remove emulsion or wood dye? does anyone know if this is true? or is he spinning me a yarn?

Cheers

Mikeyorks

Dipping removes 'surface' finishes. So will not fully remove 'absorbed' finishes - such as wood dye and, to a lesser degree, emulsion / primer.

But if you let them air dry (totally - or you'll damage the surface) and then sand them really well - you should get rid of the emulsion colour - and a lot of the wood dye. You may then need to apply a wood dye to try and get them all a similar colour before finishing them with a sealer?

If you really can't get a sympathetic colour - before sealing - then you will need to apply (possibly several coats - sanding between) a sealer which also contains a wood colour. If you're looking for a pine finish - tend to find something like 'light oak' works best on stripped doors, if you do have to dye or colour finish them.

And - sorry - but it really is hard work to get a really decent finish. Had 6 doors that were stripped to reveal lots of old woodworm holes stopped up with polyfilla - and lots of blow torch marks as well. Sealed all the holes / cracks with a coloured filler mived with PVA - then sanded for days! Net result - 6 really superb looking doors.

Sold the house last year - and the new owner has painted them all white!!:rolleyes:

tekd00d

Thanks for that advice!! Just what i was looking for!! I suppose i was looking for the "least effort" job on my part, i just thought that the stripping process would be the devil of all strippers. The doors are original from about 60 years ago, really nice looking. Just seems a shame to paint over them!

Its amazing what people will do, after you spent all that hard work restoring them to their original colours! If I did that much work, i'd be tempted to take them with me!!

Mikeyorks

Yes - acid baths are pretty emphatic strippers - particularly as they tend to scrub the doors (particularly the mouldings) whilst in the bath. But it still doesn't remove absorbed colours / stains.

Sorry - but you won't get away with 'least effort'. As the acid bath is pretty vicious - and you'll need to get the doors back to a decent finish afterwards.

The OH will be pestering you to get them hung back up again:rolleyes: . But you do need to let them dry naturally (e.g. in the garage in an air draught?) before you touch them. As sanding them whilst damp will strip fibres of wood off the surface and make a real mess.

Regrettably couldn't take my doors with me. They were in a 400 year old farmhouse and the doors were 3" shorter and 3" wider than standard size. Hence the average 3 days renovating each - as it would have cost a fortune to have them made. And they really did look good after all the effort. Matched the shutters on the casement windows - and the colour of the beams. It was certainly better than the 'scumble' that was covering all the filled woodworm holes.

Regrettably the new owners have more money than taste!