Removing Layer upon layer of gloss paint?

FunkyCrunky

Hi, I’m trying to sort out the awful mess the last occupiers left. The neighbour told me that the lady who used to live in my home liked to refresh the interior doors, door frames, windowsills, stair bannister, and coat hooks by applying gloss paint. She never removed the paint before repainting and applied so thickly, there’s rock hard gloss stalactites dripping down - even those have been painted, painted more, and painted even more over!

Some of the layers have flaked off. There must be hundreds of layers! :eek: The doors have wave marks of gloss paint. The doors are council and are not hardwood doors. I can’t afford to replace them at the moment.

What is the best way to tackle this quickly and effectively? I have chronic arthritis (I’m not old - 37) so I can’t do much scrubbing.

I’ve read conflicting info on using either a heat gun or paint stripper. I have no clue on DIY stuff so not sure if paint stripper would be too harsh on the non-hardwood council doors. Or whether a heat gun would be effective on removing the stalactites. Or would it be a combo of different tools for different areas?

Someone help this clueless woman. :rotfl:

EDIT: I’ll try to take some photos tomorrow to add to this post so you can see what I’m dealing with.

Mr.Generous

Heat gun, It'll peel off in one thick layer. Some primer melts into the grain but not a problem if you're re-painting. I've found a lot of the dings and lumps in woodwork were actually in the layers of paint and under it all the woodwork is not in bad shape.

onomatopoeia99

I had some gloss like this at my house when I bought it from an elderly couple.


I found Nitromors is effective, but evil stuff. It seems to disolve just about anything it touches, including flesh. I had enough of that and went over to a heat gun, but in the end I tore as much of the woodwork out as I could and replaced it with new because it was just so frustrating.

FreeBear

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

I found Nitromors is effective, but evil stuff. It seems to disolve just about anything it touches, including flesh.

The old formulation (pre 2009) was indeed powerful stuff capable of stripping just about anything. I've not used the recent formulations, but based on quite a few reports, it is variable in its results and no where near as good as the old stuff.

PhilE

Before you go stripping loads of paint, if your in an older property you need to test all the paint layers for lead.

You can get a 3M test kit on amazon.

Nilrem

Biostrip is good stuff for removing paint, it's like nitromors but non toxic and non caustic, a friend swears by it and I've had good results..

The downside is that it can take multiple applications if there are a lot of layers of paint and it takes a few hours between coats before you can strip it off, as you need to allow it to work it's way in.

If the paint is really thick it might be worth getting professional level scrapers rather than normal ones (IIRC the difference is much better tungsten blades that are replaceable), Harris do some at about £10 for the scraper and £5 for two spare blades, as the more layers of paint you can easily remove at a go the better (their cheaper version is about £5 and £2).

Personally if the paint is really, really thick I might be tempted to carefully score it with a decent stanley type knife (with a new blade) to try and help the paint stripper and scrapers etc.

[Deleted User]

I've the same regards layers of caked on gloss paint on woodwork !
40 years worth !


I've used paintstripper on the doorframes and skirtings - Polycell Maximum Strength Paint Stripper is the best i have found, easy to use - it's thick and gunky and not liquidy and runny so stays put !


Also used a sander inbetween applications of the paint stripper and this has worked well to eat through those many layers of


Heat gun i've used on less fiddly areas.

-taff

Heat gun. Less messy than strippers. Will take it off in one go [ alhtough yours does sound like a much worse wrost scase scenario ] once you find the right heat setting for your paint to come off and not burn.
Can you afford to get them off and send them to be stripped? Actually, ignore that bit...
What do you mean by council doors? Do you mean hardboard doors, solid pine doors with sheets of ply, what exactly?

VfM4meplse

I am inspired to have a go at my staircase now. I can see that it could be quite addictive!

ed110220

-taff wrote: »

Heat gun. Less messy than strippers. Will take it off in one go [ alhtough yours does sound like a much worse wrost scase scenario ] once you find the right heat setting for your paint to come off and not burn.
Can you afford to get them off and send them to be stripped? Actually, ignore that bit...
What do you mean by council doors? Do you mean hardboard doors, solid pine doors with sheets of ply, what exactly?

I wouldn't have them stripped. I had one of my built in wardbrobe doors (1940s, pine with plywood panels) stripped and it came back like driftwood, all rough and covered in fine cracks. Heatgun is the way to go.

FunkyCrunky

I’m trying to respond with photos, but it’s saying I can’t upload photos as a new member.

I can’t link to them either. Not sure how I’m ever going to share these photos. They’re a treat, lol!