How to strip paint from brownstone woodwork

I've spent a good chunk of the past year stripping the woodwork in our old house, so I thought I'd share some observations for those inclined to do it themselves.

Point #1: stripping several decades of paint off of woodwork makes almost no rational sense whatsoever. The job is so insanely time-consuming, it would have made more financial sense to rip all all the old mouldings, buy replicas at Dyke's, and spend my time bartending instead (not that I know how to bartend). That said, I'm compelled not only to keep stripping but to show you people how to do the same, because, as they say, misery loves company.

My stripping began in the kitchen, with some window trim that had been painted brown. Fortunately, there was only one layer of latex paint, so it was easy to remove with a chemical stripper. (After experimenting with a bunch of different brands, I stuck with PeelAway 7. ) It took maybe 6 to 8 so hours to strip and clean one layer of latex paint off casings for a tall window on the parlor floor.

In contrast, the woodwork upstairs has taken approximately forever. The paint upstairs dates to around the 1920s, is loaded with lead, and thick as hell. I tried all methods of stripping to figure out what would be fastest (including the silent paint remover) and found the easiest way was to manually pull off as much paint as possible with a 6-in-1 scraper.

Because the wood was finished with shellac in its earlier life, much of the paint on flat surfaces lifted right off. I noticed that winter is the best time to scrape because the woodwork shrinks a bit in dry weather, making it easier to pull off the paint. In scattered sections, I poked a hole through the paint down to the original finish, which often made it easier to lift a few days later.

For detailed areas, I used the PeelAway. While it worked on the most recent layers of paint (latex) within minutes, I ended up leaving the stuff on for 24 hour periods because the older paint was a real bitch. Through trial and error, I found two treatments of PeelAway (with at least a day or two inbetween) worked best. When I did more than that, it tended to discolor the wood underneath.

To avoid safety problems with lead dust, I wore respirators that I bought online and hung light plastic dropcloths from the ceiling, enclosing the immediate area around the mouldings. The rest of the room was also covered in plastic dropcloths, which I frequently replaced.

Here's what the corner detail looked like after a 24 session of PeelAway. The gummy mess just beneath the corner moulding is residue from the chemical, which I should have cleaned better. The only way to get that stuff off after it dries is to put more PeelAway on it (you can wipe it off a few minutes later). The lesson here: for the final round of stripping, carefully clean off PeelAway, using denatured alcohol.

To remove the shellac, I alternated between PeelAway and denatured alcohol.
PeelAway is faster but is a pain to clean off. Denatured Alcohol doesn't leave any residue (in fact, it's often used to clean wood) but the fumes can be hard to take. You definitely want all windows open, with an exhaust fan (a box works wonders). By the way, you may note that, in the BEFORE photo (left), the shellac is scraped up to hell. The scratches on the wood are mostly from my scraping (shellac scratches fairly easily), but most of that comes off once the shellac is off [AFTER].

Having a bunch of good dental picks was essential for getting at nooks and crannies. The picks bend easily but you can harden them to some extent by blackening them over a flame beforehand.

I dug out all the paint I could with the picks, and quit when I reached the stage shown here. At a certain point, I decided not to try removing any more paint because doing so would only damage the wood. Instead, I cheated by using gel stain — a combination of Barlett's Maple and Dark Oak — to conceal any remaining paint and other light spots or flaws.

Gel stain is more like paint than a traditional stain; I found it easy to work with. And though it's not going to hide a significant amount of paint at eye level, it worked well for small stuff.

Here is the same corner after I applied the stain. Not bad, eh?

The stain also came in handy for making the woodwork color more even. A same window casing is bound to be darker in some places than others, so I used the stain before finishing with dewaxed shellac. (Dewaxed is more water-resistant and durable than standard shellac; I purchased flakes from Homestead Finishing.com).

And there you have it. Now all I have to do is paint the walls and caulk around the edges to make everything nice and clean.

Comments

[dt]

Very nice. We have been struggling with one banister for months. Can't seem to get it totally clean. I'm tempted to try the gel stain on it.

[Steve]

Nice job! Another nasty but effective product for final cleanup is MEK. It's sold under a variety of trade names like "After Wash" and is great for removing the filmy blur that strippers sometimes leave behind. The Lowes on 12th St carries it.

PS: is your blog feed on houseblogs.net?

[Shawn]

What do yo use to test for lead in paint?

[carrie]

I didn't actually test the paint before stripping; it dates back to circa 1920... and you can generally assume that paint that old is lead.

That said, you can get a lead testing kit at a hardware store.

[jessica]

And THAT said, be sure that you really want to know FOR SURE that you have lead paint.

I just assume that I MAY have lead paint, since my house is as old as Carrie's. But if someone were to put me on the witness stand, I wouldn't be able to say for sure that I do, because I haven't tested for it.

And, having just done some stripping myself, I'd like to add that Peel Away 1 gave me the least flakiness and residue as I removed my (possibly lead) paint. It is recommended for removal of lead paint. It did significantly discolor my wood, however.

If you're stripping to keep the wood clear, and not re-paint, I'd go with Carrie's suggestion of Peel Away 7. I would add to that the special Peel Away paper that is sold separately. This allows everything to come off on one piece of paper and would probably minimize exposure to lead. It also might cut down on the nasty fumes that emanate from Peel Away 7.

Another product I like for stripping is Klean-Strip KS-3, but unlike Peel Away, this stuff does contain some serious toxins so be sure to use it in a well-ventilated area. It doesn't discolor the wood and works like magic in 15 minutes. Wear a respirator!

[Jabeen]

Hi,

Misery is right...I'm in the middle of stripping our foyer molding and it's hard ass work. After much research I found about about Peel Away's new product, Strip Smart. It's working good except leaving a lot of gooey stuff behind. I'm thinking of waiting until I've finished the first round of stripping and then dry scraping as much as possible and then applying the varnish and calling it a day. the molding has very fine detail and it's a pain to try to get all the nooks and crannies clean. Wish me luck!

[Jabeen]

Oh I've a question for you guys. On the advice of the Peel Away manufacturer I didn't put plastic on the walls and when I scrape with water, the residue leaks down. Any advice on what I should do. Neutralize the walls before we paint. We live in an old victorian in San francisco so also worried about lead paint. I am using Smart Strip because it the best to use for lead paint because it don't release any vapors in the air. Any ideas you ladies have would be very much appreciated. My husband's words, "are you sure you want to take this on?" and my very stupid "Yes" keeping coming back to me as I scrape away in misery.

[carrie]

I didn't have to neutralize because I used Peelaway *7*, which is formulated specifically for antique woodwork that you don't plan on painting. I did have some dripping of the underlying shellac... to stop that I just made sure to use the Peelaway paper and remove the gunk as soon as it started dripping.

Good luck!

[sharon]

I am a stripper myself; I purchased a house that had to be moved. I was so excited to learn that my bid won me the 1955 home. The owner of the house had painted the "true" 1 inch thick tongue and grove virgin oak walls light blue. well to say the least my number one goal was to get rid of the blue paint. I took down a piece of the skirting and took it to every paint store I could find. Finally I found Klean Strip KS-3. this is the only product I could find to get the paint off the board. But the trick isn't getting off the paint; it is getting the residue off. That is where the denatured alcohol came to save the day! I put the alcohol in a spray bottle and sprayed the area after I had taken off the bubbled paint. then you use the steel wool ,rubbing with the grain, then rub with a clean dry cloth. The area was paint free; the alcohol does not wet the wood at all. In fact, you could immediately put on your poly coat. the products worked perfectly. It took me a total of 18 hours to do ALL of the kitchen walls and All the cabinets. I paid $21.00 per gal. for the ks-3; It took 5 gal. I purchased 3 gal. of alcohol, and bought $12.00 worth steel wool. now I'll tell you the rest of the story; I had contacted 4 different companies that specialize in paint removal to help me get rid of the blue paint; to make a long story short,the cheapest estimate i received was 5700.00 and no guarantee that "all" the paint would come of and it was going to take 6 weeks to complete the job.i am very relieved that the job is done, and I would do it all over again.