Digital Satori

In which I write a half-assed paint stripper review Comment

00:12 on 2010-06-22 by Capissen Projects paint stripper, review

For those hard-to-reach places...

So, a couple of people have inquired as to the paint stripper I’m using in the process of refinishing my apartment.  The short answer is: I don’t think there’s a paint stripper I haven’t used yet.  But here’s a quick breakdown of my feelings for each I’ve tried.

• Zip-Strip (http://www.lastnlast.com/Zip-Strip_Products.php) – This is probably what you think of when you think of paint stripper.  Its active ingredient is methylene chloride, and it will destroy you.  It will also strip the paint off of anything.  Open all the windows, turn on all the fans, wear thick gloves (maybe two layers, depending), don your safety goggles, invoke some elder gods.
• CitriStrip (http://www.citristrip.com) – Everything will smell like rotting, chemically-treated oranges for days. You won’t even know if you stripped any paint because you’re so sick of smelling rotten oranges.  The only thing worse is the aerosol version, which as far as I can tell is basically just weaponized Fanta.
• 3M Safest Stripper (http://solutions.3m.com) – This works reasonably well on light-duty jobs.  No noxious fumes (oddly, I actually think it smells good), it’s not caustic.  It does work slowly, though, and it’s easy to wait too little or too long for it to work.  If not left on long enough, the paint won’t budge.  If left on too long, you’ll want to apply another coat to get the first one off.  Expensive- $25 a jug.
• Heat gun – Effective on some types of paint, less so on others.  Vaporizes lead paint in older finishes killing a few brain cells in the process.  Potential to scorch wood if not careful.  Potential to scorch self if not careful.
• Scraping/planing – On the walls and some wood pieces, I’ve been using a large wallpaper-removal razorblade mounted on a foot-long handle to do some preliminary paint removal.  With a sharp blade and the right angle, you can just peel away several layers at once.
• Sanding – If there aren’t too many layers, and you’ve got a decent sander (hooked up to a shop vac, preferably), this is the way to go.  No messy, dangerous chemicals, and you get a more consistent finish.  Because most of the pieces I’ve been working on have 10+ layers of paint, I used chemical strippers to get the bulk off, and sanded the rest down.  Sandpaper clogs very quickly with too much paint, especially latex-based paint.  I started off with an el cheapo ‘detail’ sander, graduated to a half-way decent palm sander, and finally broke down and dropped $100 on a good belt sander.  It can be unwieldy, but let me tell you, when you flip the switch on a belt sander, the bullshit ends.
• Steel wool – I use this for stripping/finishing in places with tight corners and curves, like moulding and joints.  Dip a piece in some Zip-Strip and go to town- works pretty well.
• Dawn\baking soda\boiling water – This folksy little recipe is what I prefer to strip paint from metal hardware, like doorknobs and latches.  I initially used methylene chloride-based strippers on these pieces, and while they worked well, they were messy, and they got rid of the original black enamel in the brass artwork.  Mixing some Dawn with baking soda and boiling water, and tossing the pieces in for a few minutes did wonders, and preserved the enamel.
• Elbow grease and profanity – Required for any of the above to work.  Mankind has not yet invented the perfect paint stripping chemical or method.  It’s an open market.  Someone could make millions.  Seriously.