Forum Archive: Woodwork

Good morning. It is November, and 43 degrees out.

I am interested in renovating, ideally on the cheap, the woodwork below the windows in my apartment; and coming to some decision about the floor. The Questions:

1. Would it be better to citrus strip, or sand the pain off these below-window elements?

2. the “Windowsill” (kind of an embelishment, at least currently) depicted is now covered with a piece of cheap moulding. What were the window sills originally made of? What would you suggest I replace them with?

3. The floor depicted in the other photo should probably be replaced; until I can afford to do so, would some sanding and application of stain have any positive effect on the look of the floor?

Photo of window wood:

http://tinyurl.com/28tre3g

Photo of floor:

http://tinyurl.com/2cne358

I’ve done a few smaller scale stripping projects in the past (furniture) and always used the low toxicity orange goo paint/varnish stripper and a plastic scraper/elbow grease.

Now I’m looking to undertake stripping the paint off some moldings in my house – much more area to cover. What is the best DIY way to go about this?

Heat gun? Specialty tool? I’m a little hesitant to drop money on a special tool because none of the wood is currently exposed, so I don’t know what I’ll find under the 10 layers of paint. The doors are very pretty, so I’m taking a gamble on the moldings. Even if I end up painting them again, I’d like a much smoother finish than I have now.

Any advice?

Some damage was recently done to a wood column in our apartment. Any suggestions on fixes would be greatly appreciated

We are just getting around to sprucing up the parlor level of our new home. We are lucky to have lots of beautiful wood detail in pretty good shape, but years of sloppy paint jobs have marred the finish.
We’ve tried painters pal and goof off but it removes the poly and some of the stain from the wood.
Short of sanding and staining to match, any tips for removing old paint splotches?
Thanks!

I need to get some moulding cut to match others in my home. Can Dykes do that kind of thing, or is there a specialist for that, and who would they be, exactly? Tx!

I’ve searched the internet and am not convinced by the advice I found for removing the glue left by 2 layers of linoleum. One layer of glue is hard and has the black tar like paper residue, the other linoleum glue layer is soft like bubblegum and is the bigger nightmare. How the heck am I going to get this off a whole flight of wood stairs? Thanks for any advice.

The original woodworking on the parlor floor of my eclectic (eccentric) victorian brownstone is low quality (a soft wood with cherry stain) and too Addams Family for my taste (wings flanking tops of windows and doors). I would prefer it to be streamlined and imagine removing the ‘wings’ to create a more rectilinear, Federal-type treatment. Has anyone tried this? If so, can you recommend someone who could do the work?

I came to Brownstoner looking for a recommendation for a contractor to create a pass-through between my kitchen and living room and was referred to Steve Cymbalsky at The Tinker’s Wagon. I would recommend Steve to anyone looking for an honest, straightforward, creative, and all-around excellent contractor and builder.

Steve worked closely with me to design a countertop for the pass-through and after fielding a ton of questions and ideas from me, came up with a gorgeous design and built me a 5′ long, 2.5″ wide counter made of alternating ash and mahogany. His work was exacting and he was exciting and fun to work with, as well as generous with his time and energy.

I would recommend Steve for any range of jobs, and especially for custom woodwork.

I have pine baseboards and trim that have just been stripped. I know they aren’t fancy, but don’t want to paint. What kind of finish should I use? Would beeswax polish look good? And does anyone know where to buy?