Stripping vs Sanding Paint on Door Linings?

paperclap

Hi all,

I'll cut to the chase. We'll be hanging new doors, which are 35mm thick – the standard size. Our existing door stops are wonky – in some areas they're 36mm from stop to lining, and other areas they're 31mm from stop to lining. I've now removed the door stops – if I didn't, I'd run into all sorts of issues with hanging the new doors.

Given I'll be installing new, correctly placed door stops, bare wood will show where it was previously incorrectly installed.

So I'm thinking of stripping the door lining back to wood, so I can make good basically.

As much as I'd like to own and use a belt sander, I'm not sure I can keep justifying spending a lot of money on tools I may not use again (or at least for a long time).

Is using paint stripper (and scraping the paint off) an option? Screwfix sell a 500ml bottle for £6... but not sure how far it'll go! Need to do 5 doors!

Thanks!

grumbler

I'd use belt sander as a last resort or with a fine belt for final touches.

When stripping paint finer sandpaper gets clogged very fast, rough one can easily damage the wood.

Start with a good manual scraper and a heatgun, preferably with temperature control.

travis-powers

grumbler said:

I'd use belt sander as a last resort or with a fine belt for final touches.

When stripping paint finer sandpaper gets clogged very fast, rough one can easily damage the wood.

Start with a good manual scraper and a heatgun, preferably with temperature control.

This is really good advice, I’ve used the screwfix paint stripper and it’s not very good.

Bendy_House

Chemicals are a 'mare. You could use a heat gun if you really wanted to, but that can messy too - unless you are lucky and it comes off very cleanly.

If you look at that exposed strip, since the new doorstop - especially if it's a few mm wider - will be slightly repositioned on the jamb, then one of these edges is going to be covered in any case? So, that's half the job

For the other side, a scraper to remove the obvious high edge, then manual or powered sanding.

A good comfy block with 80 grit might get that edge levelled quite quickly, so then a finish with ~180 grit should get it ready for priming. I'd probably fit the new stop before applying any top coat - you want it seamless like a one-piece.

I'd try doing it by hand first, before resorting to a new purchase. (Tho' belt Sanders are great But noisy )

NeverTooLate

I think this is the perfect job for a heat gun. I've done it on door linings, it doesn't take very long and the mess will all be on the floor on a dust sheet rather than dust from a sander all though the house.

paperclap

Thanks all. Sounds like the heat gun and scraper is the way forward. Will try and pick up a cheap one somewhere.

FreeBear

Do you have a multitool ?

These usually have a small sanding head which would be more than large enough to do the job.

A belt sander would be way too aggressive, and you wouldn't be able to get right in to the corners which you would do with a multitool.

paperclap

FreeBear said:

Do you have a multitool ?

These usually have a small sanding head which would be more than large enough to do the job.

A belt sander would be way too aggressive, and you wouldn't be able to get right in to the corners which you would do with a multitool.

I don't have a multitool... but do have a Bosch triangular sander. Even with 80 grit, doesn't seem to be burly enough to take it back to wood. Unless I'm just not going long enough!

ChilliBob

I found a mouse type sander, an 'American scraper' and some hand sanding did the job.

The type of paper made a good deal of difference. The yellow stuff from Toolstation was waaaaay better than the stuff on the brown sheets from say b&q.  Despite both being 80 or 120 grade.

Chemical stripper, na, nasty stinky risky stuff that can leave the wood a bit manky too in my experience.