I have a wood board that we placed outside that has a hard ‘eggshell/jawbreaker candy’ layer that is just stuck to the wood.
It’s about 1-2cm thick.
I’ve scraped off some of it with a paint scraper. I could only get the paint that is ‘peeling’ but it doesn’t peel off. It breaks off in little chunks like an eggshell.
So basically I’m left with tiny chunks of paint scraped or chipped off but most of it still on the wood.
I don’t know if that makes sense. but 80% of the paint is still on the wood and it is a hard eggshell like layer.
I tried sanding it, but it doesn’t do anything but smooth the paint layer. It seems to remove the top paint layer but exposes the hard shell which is still 1-2 cm thick.
Is there a way to remove this paint easily?
Will heat work? What about those peel away products?
Keep in mind that this isn’t a thin layer of acrylic or oil. It’s not even a thin layer of eggshell paint. It’s thick and really stuck to the wood.
A heat gun is good–it will soften the paint enough to make scraping it off easy. Chemical paint strippers also seem to work well, but you must be careful, as the fumes can be dangerous, and they can irritate your skin if you accidentally spill any on yourself. With a layer as thick as you describe, however, the chemical strippers would be very slow. A heat gun is probably your best bet, IMO.
I second the vote for using heat. Chemical strippers are harsh. Even with gloves and other protective gear, they manage to come into contact with your skin SOME way or another and burn like hell. Plus, there’s the danger of spillage/contact with other items.
Also, they simply don’t work that well…it’s slow, smelly, messy work. Heat is the answer!
Oh, I don’t know. Worked OK for me. On a flat surface, a chemical job is pretty easy. It’s when the wood has nooks and crannies and delicate carvings that it becomes a major pain. Huge, ugly, major pain.
I stripped about 7 layers of various pastel-colored paints off of an antique fireplace mantle. It took me about 6 months. The one thing that helped me through the ordeal was a deep almost mystical faith in and devotion to profanity.
I’ve used just about every method there is. For large, flat boards, a belt sander works well. Heat guns also can do the job, along with a scraper. Recently, I had some good luck with the (fairly) new orange low-odor chemical stripper product.
Is the board old? If so, watch out for lead paint. Heat guns generate fumes when the lead melts, and sanders generate dust.
I just spent some time taking a whole lotta layers of paint off some windows that were painted shut several times over, and the heat gun was the most effective and the least amount of work. I used chemicals on the window hardware, but it still took a surprising amount of work to get the paint all off. With the heat gun, all layers came off in one easy (but slow) swipe.
Watch for the large wads of hot paint falling onto flammable surfaces, though. I nearly started a fire.
Along these lines, my in-laws need their garage re-painted. What’s the best way to strip multiple layers of paint off of their wooden garage? Heat gun still? I don’t think I could put down a tarp to catch the melted paint then, would I?
Aes, it won’t look perfect, but you don’t always have to remove all the paint before repainting. If I were doing it (there’s your ymmv disclaimer again!), I would scrape the loose bits off, wash it down with a bio-safe detergent (maybe power washing, definitely have to rinse regardless), let it dry, then prime (seal) and paint with brush and roller. I would use brush and roller rather than spraying the paint because you tend to get better coverage.
Yes, I do stuff like this for a living.
If you want it to look as perfect as possible, you’ll have to sand down the transition edges between the exposed wood and the unpeeled paint. Which can just about double your work time for the project.
When you say brush and roller, what do you mean? First a coat with brush, and then roller? Or the other way round?
It’s the first time I’ve heard that recommended, but then I’m not an expert (whereas you are!).
Use a filtered breathing mask. The pain store ( Home Depot ) will sell masks and the proper filter to trap the vapors.
Use the thick chemically resistant gloves- the stripper cannot burn through them.
Eye protection.
If this all seems like more work than a heat gun, keep in mind the physicality of using a heat gun. I just did a major stripping/re-caul and re-pain job on a bow window in the front of my home. I started with stripper, was told to try heat gunning it. I have an industrial heat gun. It didn’t do squat. I went back to the stripper, which while messy is a guaranteed result.
One layer at a time, the paint turns to goo and is easily scraped off. Have a small bucket standing by with a paper bag set into it- to scrape off the layers of goo as you remove them from the wood surface. This will become a bag of evil-smelling paint goo. Dispose of with caution and allow to stand for days after you finish the job, so the vapors can shed away.
Don’t use a garden variety paint scraper. Find one with a short blade ( lengthwise, not widthwise. Widthwise you only need about 2-3 inches wide at a shot). You want it to be incredibly rigid, not flexible as many scrapers may be. Set against the stripper-soaked wood at a good angle, and pulled back hard, it will draw up a large amount of gooey paint in a single pull. You’ll get the technique down.
I have a dining room table that is from the 1910 era. Pineapple Legs, oak top with oak veneer inset in the middle. It had six distinct layers of paint on it when I bought it. It took me exactly one day to strip off all six layers from the table surface and leaves. It took me another 5 or 6 days of steady labor to get the paint layers off of the ornattely curved legs and underside/facing of table. You have flat area to work, this will not take you long at all.
The fumes are highly volatile. Work outside, again. Can’t beat the results, though.
Use a roller for most of it, a brush where you can’t. And it depends on what type of wood siding it is, but sometimes I roll on first and then go back over with a brush (while the paint is still wet) to make sure it gets into all the grooves.
If it were new wood or siding, spraying would be okay, though I would still probably do it with brush and roller. With it being old and worn, though, spraying just doesn’t give enough coverage. Besides, it doesn’t take much more time to do it with brush and roller vs spraying. The majority of the time of the job will be spent prepping before you use any method of painting.