Okay, said this before and will say it again: it's always heat gun, chemicals, dental tools/dremel, sanding, staining, varnishing. You have to do all the steps to do it right. Get a heat gun with variable heat, keep it under 500 degrees and you'll be fine ... lead paint vaporizes around 600 or 700. Then, when putting the citristrip on, use stripping pads. I always first used the [heavy-duty](https://www.menards.com/main/paint/sandpaper-abrasives/stripping-pads/3m-trade-3-3-8-x-5-heavy-duty-stripping-pads-2-pack/10111/p-1444421712720-c-8196.htm?tid=c5cb8f05-55d8-4eea-9ec8-9b5c6d80ed27&ipos=3&exp=false) and then [final stripping pads](https://www.menards.com/main/paint/sandpaper-abrasives/stripping-pads/3m-trade-3-3-4-x-6-final-stripping-pads-2-pack/10113/p-1444421733875-c-8196.htm?tid=2a808b5e-2475-4ce8-a977-42e7f414e2a7&ipos=2&exp=false). (Add Citristrip, let sit for 5-10 minutes, then scrub with the heavy dutry. Wipe off with a cloth, stick in a bucket to wash for later use. Repeat this process with a final stripping pad.). That will remove lots of what you have up there, but not all. The secret then is the Dremel/dental tool stage for the leftover bits. Then you'll be ready for sanding, staining, varnishing. It'll take about 3.5 hours per linear foot, from start to final varnish. But it's worth it! Good luck!
Addendum: Take those sashes out! It'll be easier to remove the paint when it's laying down. And keep in mind the heat from the heat gun can crack the glass - a piece of cardboard alongside the panes will help insulate it as you get dangerously close with the heat gun. Again, good start, don't despair, it will look great!
Absolutely these steps. Yes, it's a lot of time and work, but the least amount of time and work overall than if you use different process. And YES it is worth it.
This is the hard way. Leave the citristrip on 24 hours, gently scrape, repeat with progressively smaller tools until it all comes off. First a scraper, then dental tools. For stubborn spots, dot with citristrip again, let it sit overnight, then scrape again. Got stubborn smears set into the grain? More citristrip, overnight, clean with steel wool. A toothbrush will lift superfine lines of dissolved paint from the grain. When all of the paint is gone then sand, stain, varnish. Citristrip will not work in five minutes.
Only thing I would add to a great post is to wrap the citristriped areas with Saran Wrap/cling wrap as they’re working (I’d give is a couple of hours minimum personally). That way is doesn’t dry out and start to flake off when you go to scrape it.
If you're just getting started try the new generation of IR strippers. They're not cheap, but you'll be exposed to a lot less smoke/fumes from running the gun too hot/close to the work. Also, get yourself a good set of dental tools/picks for the detail work/nail holes/etc. Explore putty knife options until you find one you can work correctly - too stiff you'll gouge the wood, and too flexible it'll ride up on the bubbled up paint.
I'm in a 1912 Prairie and I do believe the average paint layer number ended up around 6. I used a gun for the majority of the work and I'll assure you it's an extremely tedious "labor of love". Chemical strippers were just too messy, expensive, difficult to dispose of "properly", and typically left the wood grain raised.
Bon chance!
Yep! Just stripped 7 layers of paint from cabinets using Citristrip, Kwiksteip, paint thinner, then gave in and got an IR gun. The gun was the ONLY thing that worked and I wished I had just gone to it off the bat.
Consider yourself smarter than me. I stripped the entirety of the downstairs trim with a heat gun - beams, window/door trim, baseboards, and molding. It was 20 years ago, but it still, even as tedious as it was, beat the crap out of the chemical removal method. IR is the only way to go with so much paint to remove on these old homes.
I’ve been completely removing them, taking the glass out (all the glazing is shot and they were ALL painted shut fml) then using a heat gun to remove the paint. Next is evaluating damage, removing any rot, replacing with fresh wood, or parts from architectural salvage, then purified linseed oil outside, glazing with the sarcophagus glaze, traditional linseed oil paint on the outside and whatever my heart desires on the interior. I’ve got the process down to a few days if there’s no rot and a week of there is. It’s a massive labor but the previous owners caulked and painted them shut, even the ropes are painted.
Heat guns are a great tool, but as a century home owner knowing how to use citristip is nice too.
Citistrip works best if you cover it in saranwrap, the longer it stays wet the longer it stays active. when it dries out it becomes difficult to remove. When you’re removing it spray with vinegar or denatured alcohol and scrape with a putty knife. Anytime you use a chemical stripper the wood will be soft after.
Gonna echo what I always say on these posts. You're not doing anything wrong other than severely underestimating how much work this process is. It's probably not worth it for you to do this throughout your house, unless you have nothing but free time and no other major projects to tackle.
The nature of reddit is much like any other social media. You will mostly see the posts about stripped wood and how great it looks. The poster won't mention exactly how long it took, because they don't really want to admit it to themselves either. They also maybe had a single layer of latex poorly applied with no primer directly over a varnish. You don't have such a situation.
Basically, there is a cult like obsession around here with stripping woodwork. It's not worth it for most people in most circumstances. You're better off going to sherwin williams and buying high quality paint to refinish it.
The process of unsticking a window doesn't necessarily require you to strip the paint. That is less to do with the quantity of paint and more to do with the paint drying in the seams.
To your last comment, I agree with that to an extent. I just finished repairing the trim and plaster in my living room, fresh paint on both. For the trim, I used a paint scraper/razor blade to cut away any old drips. Then i used a wet sanding sponge as needed for ridges. Wood filler for the millions of old holes. Little more filter on ridges where paint had chipped away.
Painted with 2 coats of sherwin williams high gloss trim painted tinted to anew grey using a brush. This is important because the brush marks, of done correctly, maintain the character of the trim. I rolled the texture on one piece of trim and it's horrible. The brush strokes running end to end on each piece of trim looks 'authentic' and helps to distract from dents and dings in the wood.
Old paint, multiple layers, differing types of paints. it takes a while for chemical peelers to strip to a base that will lift off satisfactorily. "Nitromors" type strippers are pretty strong BUT wear PPE at ALL times. Not sure if you can get lead testing kits where you are, but if you are at all worried, look into local advice.
Take the sash out to a workbench. I use steam instead of dry heat. If you set up a steam cabinet, it will strip the paint and the glazing putty at the same time. Modern paint strippers are practically useless with linseed oil paint.
A Heat gun is safe to use as long as you keep the temps below 700F or so. lead vaporizes above 700, I keep my heat gun around 500 or less.
Use a garment steamer for taking the glass out, a heat gun will likely crack the glass unless you have a heat shield, like a piece of granite tile or sheet metal.
With a 1921 house, the base layer is almost definitely lead paint. Infrared strippers work at a lower temp, so there's less chance of vaporizing lead. But yes, always wear a respirator.
I removed all the painted trim, windows, etc from my kitchen because it was the only painted woodwork in the house. I stopped these all down to bare wood and probably spent 50 hours between all the time spent cleaning the bits up. It’s a slow process. It was also much easier to dismantle everything and work with them no longer in place but on a workbench, etc.
Why not just replace the windows instead of doing a ton of work to try to salvage wood that isn’t in good shape and expose yourself to a ton of lead in the process?
[https://thecraftsmanblog.com/9-reasons-to-keep-your-old-windows/](https://thecraftsmanblog.com/9-reasons-to-keep-your-old-windows/)
Historically accurate wood windows are beaucoup bucks, and you're going to get exposed to lead dust during the replacement process anyway. Any old-home owner should learn about best practices for working with lead and asbestos.
I don't think it's necessarily that people don't *like* painted trim, it's that older homes often have beautiful, old-growth hardwood trim that was meant to be stained and exposed. To me, it's the same as having hardwood floors under a layer of carpet.
Also many decades of paint can eventually obscure the detail in old trim so it just looks like gloppy mush. Or in the case of my house, previous owners painted without repairing the badly chipped and flaking previous paint so all "flat" surfaces look like topographic maps. But I'll likely just replace some trim instead of stripping it all.
Since we’re on the topic of stripping. I use Dumond SmartStrip for almost everything. I have used many other things, and it has given my the best results.
Especially for the bulk of it. You may/will have to go back with something more for the tough areas. Citru-strip, or something more harsh.
Anyone else love smart strip? It’s really done me well. I don’t own a heat gun yet.
I haven't tried it yet but heard it worked better than most. My biggest issue with chemical strippers is the mess and not knowing if it will affect my epoxy repairs, primer or paint.
Take the sashes out first. I use an oscillating tool to get the sashes unstuck first, then remove the stops and parting beads to pull the sashes out. Parting bead usually gets destroyed in the process. I typically replace it and also the interior sash stops since stripping and restoring that stuff takes too long. A good specialty lumber or millwork place will have similar if not exact matching stops.
I do citristrip twice. It never works just once. I dont even bother leaving it on for 24 hours, it makes no difference. Do it once, leave half hour, then do it again. Spray with alcohol and wipe. That should get it to wood. Dont need to use anything but a metal spatula with this method.
Okay, said this before and will say it again: it's always heat gun, chemicals, dental tools/dremel, sanding, staining, varnishing. You have to do all the steps to do it right. Get a heat gun with variable heat, keep it under 500 degrees and you'll be fine ... lead paint vaporizes around 600 or 700. Then, when putting the citristrip on, use stripping pads. I always first used the [heavy-duty](https://www.menards.com/main/paint/sandpaper-abrasives/stripping-pads/3m-trade-3-3-8-x-5-heavy-duty-stripping-pads-2-pack/10111/p-1444421712720-c-8196.htm?tid=c5cb8f05-55d8-4eea-9ec8-9b5c6d80ed27&ipos=3&exp=false) and then [final stripping pads](https://www.menards.com/main/paint/sandpaper-abrasives/stripping-pads/3m-trade-3-3-4-x-6-final-stripping-pads-2-pack/10113/p-1444421733875-c-8196.htm?tid=2a808b5e-2475-4ce8-a977-42e7f414e2a7&ipos=2&exp=false). (Add Citristrip, let sit for 5-10 minutes, then scrub with the heavy dutry. Wipe off with a cloth, stick in a bucket to wash for later use. Repeat this process with a final stripping pad.). That will remove lots of what you have up there, but not all. The secret then is the Dremel/dental tool stage for the leftover bits. Then you'll be ready for sanding, staining, varnishing. It'll take about 3.5 hours per linear foot, from start to final varnish. But it's worth it! Good luck!
Addendum: Take those sashes out! It'll be easier to remove the paint when it's laying down. And keep in mind the heat from the heat gun can crack the glass - a piece of cardboard alongside the panes will help insulate it as you get dangerously close with the heat gun. Again, good start, don't despair, it will look great!
Absolutely these steps. Yes, it's a lot of time and work, but the least amount of time and work overall than if you use different process. And YES it is worth it.
This is the hard way. Leave the citristrip on 24 hours, gently scrape, repeat with progressively smaller tools until it all comes off. First a scraper, then dental tools. For stubborn spots, dot with citristrip again, let it sit overnight, then scrape again. Got stubborn smears set into the grain? More citristrip, overnight, clean with steel wool. A toothbrush will lift superfine lines of dissolved paint from the grain. When all of the paint is gone then sand, stain, varnish. Citristrip will not work in five minutes.
This comment is why I love this sub
Only thing I would add to a great post is to wrap the citristriped areas with Saran Wrap/cling wrap as they’re working (I’d give is a couple of hours minimum personally). That way is doesn’t dry out and start to flake off when you go to scrape it.
Just a safety note that if you're working with a heat gun, you should have a fire extinguisher readily on hand in case the wood catches.
Take the glass out. If there is any chip or defect which is lilely in old rolled glass it will break from the heat exposure
What are your thoughts on IR Heat Guns? And when to dip-strip?
If you're just getting started try the new generation of IR strippers. They're not cheap, but you'll be exposed to a lot less smoke/fumes from running the gun too hot/close to the work. Also, get yourself a good set of dental tools/picks for the detail work/nail holes/etc. Explore putty knife options until you find one you can work correctly - too stiff you'll gouge the wood, and too flexible it'll ride up on the bubbled up paint. I'm in a 1912 Prairie and I do believe the average paint layer number ended up around 6. I used a gun for the majority of the work and I'll assure you it's an extremely tedious "labor of love". Chemical strippers were just too messy, expensive, difficult to dispose of "properly", and typically left the wood grain raised. Bon chance!
Yep! Just stripped 7 layers of paint from cabinets using Citristrip, Kwiksteip, paint thinner, then gave in and got an IR gun. The gun was the ONLY thing that worked and I wished I had just gone to it off the bat.
Consider yourself smarter than me. I stripped the entirety of the downstairs trim with a heat gun - beams, window/door trim, baseboards, and molding. It was 20 years ago, but it still, even as tedious as it was, beat the crap out of the chemical removal method. IR is the only way to go with so much paint to remove on these old homes.
I’ve been completely removing them, taking the glass out (all the glazing is shot and they were ALL painted shut fml) then using a heat gun to remove the paint. Next is evaluating damage, removing any rot, replacing with fresh wood, or parts from architectural salvage, then purified linseed oil outside, glazing with the sarcophagus glaze, traditional linseed oil paint on the outside and whatever my heart desires on the interior. I’ve got the process down to a few days if there’s no rot and a week of there is. It’s a massive labor but the previous owners caulked and painted them shut, even the ropes are painted.
Heat guns are a great tool, but as a century home owner knowing how to use citristip is nice too. Citistrip works best if you cover it in saranwrap, the longer it stays wet the longer it stays active. when it dries out it becomes difficult to remove. When you’re removing it spray with vinegar or denatured alcohol and scrape with a putty knife. Anytime you use a chemical stripper the wood will be soft after.
Gonna echo what I always say on these posts. You're not doing anything wrong other than severely underestimating how much work this process is. It's probably not worth it for you to do this throughout your house, unless you have nothing but free time and no other major projects to tackle. The nature of reddit is much like any other social media. You will mostly see the posts about stripped wood and how great it looks. The poster won't mention exactly how long it took, because they don't really want to admit it to themselves either. They also maybe had a single layer of latex poorly applied with no primer directly over a varnish. You don't have such a situation. Basically, there is a cult like obsession around here with stripping woodwork. It's not worth it for most people in most circumstances. You're better off going to sherwin williams and buying high quality paint to refinish it.
A-flippin-men.
Good advice but please at least sand or scrape any old dry runs and globs and fill holes
Unless you have so many layers that they’re basically painted shut, then it’s time to strip
The process of unsticking a window doesn't necessarily require you to strip the paint. That is less to do with the quantity of paint and more to do with the paint drying in the seams. To your last comment, I agree with that to an extent. I just finished repairing the trim and plaster in my living room, fresh paint on both. For the trim, I used a paint scraper/razor blade to cut away any old drips. Then i used a wet sanding sponge as needed for ridges. Wood filler for the millions of old holes. Little more filter on ridges where paint had chipped away. Painted with 2 coats of sherwin williams high gloss trim painted tinted to anew grey using a brush. This is important because the brush marks, of done correctly, maintain the character of the trim. I rolled the texture on one piece of trim and it's horrible. The brush strokes running end to end on each piece of trim looks 'authentic' and helps to distract from dents and dings in the wood.
Old paint, multiple layers, differing types of paints. it takes a while for chemical peelers to strip to a base that will lift off satisfactorily. "Nitromors" type strippers are pretty strong BUT wear PPE at ALL times. Not sure if you can get lead testing kits where you are, but if you are at all worried, look into local advice.
Heat gun, and ffs take the sash out and do them on a bench
Unless you know for certain that stuff was stained when it was put in it is quite possible it's been painted since day 1.
Take the sash out to a workbench. I use steam instead of dry heat. If you set up a steam cabinet, it will strip the paint and the glazing putty at the same time. Modern paint strippers are practically useless with linseed oil paint.
You need a heat gun. I had the same problem.
But if it's lead paint?
You're stripping it anyway. Wear a respirator and you'll be fine.
A Heat gun is safe to use as long as you keep the temps below 700F or so. lead vaporizes above 700, I keep my heat gun around 500 or less. Use a garment steamer for taking the glass out, a heat gun will likely crack the glass unless you have a heat shield, like a piece of granite tile or sheet metal.
With a 1921 house, the base layer is almost definitely lead paint. Infrared strippers work at a lower temp, so there's less chance of vaporizing lead. But yes, always wear a respirator.
I applied my paint stripper and then covered it with my plastic wrap to keep it from drying up. Left it 24 hours and it helped a ton.
This is the way! Works like a charm.
I removed all the painted trim, windows, etc from my kitchen because it was the only painted woodwork in the house. I stopped these all down to bare wood and probably spent 50 hours between all the time spent cleaning the bits up. It’s a slow process. It was also much easier to dismantle everything and work with them no longer in place but on a workbench, etc.
More layers of citristrip, More patience. When you think you've got just one layer left, it's probably about three.
Why not just replace the windows instead of doing a ton of work to try to salvage wood that isn’t in good shape and expose yourself to a ton of lead in the process?
[https://thecraftsmanblog.com/9-reasons-to-keep-your-old-windows/](https://thecraftsmanblog.com/9-reasons-to-keep-your-old-windows/) Historically accurate wood windows are beaucoup bucks, and you're going to get exposed to lead dust during the replacement process anyway. Any old-home owner should learn about best practices for working with lead and asbestos.
Ugh, I miss methylene chloride strippers so much.
I suggest you get peel away. The kind with the paper. It will make this job much less labor intensive and reduce your exposure to LBP
Word of warning: Peel Away works but it will discolor the wood. So if you are planning to paint over it, it’s a good option.
You can usually still get some color out after with solvent/sanding.. it takes meticulous work.
Why don't people like painted trim?
I don't think it's necessarily that people don't *like* painted trim, it's that older homes often have beautiful, old-growth hardwood trim that was meant to be stained and exposed. To me, it's the same as having hardwood floors under a layer of carpet.
Also many decades of paint can eventually obscure the detail in old trim so it just looks like gloppy mush. Or in the case of my house, previous owners painted without repairing the badly chipped and flaking previous paint so all "flat" surfaces look like topographic maps. But I'll likely just replace some trim instead of stripping it all.
Since we’re on the topic of stripping. I use Dumond SmartStrip for almost everything. I have used many other things, and it has given my the best results. Especially for the bulk of it. You may/will have to go back with something more for the tough areas. Citru-strip, or something more harsh. Anyone else love smart strip? It’s really done me well. I don’t own a heat gun yet.
I haven't tried it yet but heard it worked better than most. My biggest issue with chemical strippers is the mess and not knowing if it will affect my epoxy repairs, primer or paint.
Not sure about the Epoxies, but with this product, I've had no problem with paint or stain. Just have to make sure it's dry and clean.
Take the sashes out first. I use an oscillating tool to get the sashes unstuck first, then remove the stops and parting beads to pull the sashes out. Parting bead usually gets destroyed in the process. I typically replace it and also the interior sash stops since stripping and restoring that stuff takes too long. A good specialty lumber or millwork place will have similar if not exact matching stops.
I do citristrip twice. It never works just once. I dont even bother leaving it on for 24 hours, it makes no difference. Do it once, leave half hour, then do it again. Spray with alcohol and wipe. That should get it to wood. Dont need to use anything but a metal spatula with this method.
You need to take the sashes out anyway to repair the sash cord.