Remove paint from bannisters

stebiz

Just nearing the end of a refurb and there are some big chunks of paint out of the bannisters. All the skirts/architrave etc have new timber so I'd like the bannisters to be decent too.

Best way?

Sanding - maybe about 20 layers in places
Blow Torch
Chemicals

hp3

We used a heat gun on our bannister to get it back to original wood. Turned out it was awful so ended up painting over it but it took all the years or gloss off easily. Takes time but not as much as sanding etc.

macman

Nitromors on fine detail mouldings..not a pleasant job.

Ruski

If you have lots of spindles then it may be more cost effective to replace them - it's not a difficult job.

The rest tho is a case of heat gun (not blow torch!) and nitromors and sandpaper - not a pleasant or easy job.

HTH

Russ

Ivana_Tinkle

Take them out and take them to one of those dip-and-strip places. Anything else and you'll lose the will to live after about two spindles.

firsttimebuyer2013

I spent maybe 30 hours heat gunning, sanding down, and even nitromoring all the bannisters. I wish I'd just bought new. I ended up sanding the detail flat because I just couldn't face anymore of it.

I even bought a lovely Bosch sander but it was pure hell. Next time I'll just replace. Just wasn't worth the effort.