Windsor Terrace Reno

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February 5, 2007

The bannister stripped bare...

After the good results with peel away 6 on the door jamb, I moved on to a more weighty project: the 2nd floor bannister. It has some moderate curves on it and quite a few of these tiny little ridged details that would be a challenge. Sorry, I forgot to take a true "before" photo that shows it untouched. You can get a good idea by looking at the newel post that I didn't strip yet in the after photos but take my word for it, there were quite a few layers of paint on her. All the colors of the rainbow in fact as well as a coat or two of stain underneath.

So I set it and forget it. What I mean by that is I spread the stuff all over the banister railing and left it overnight. Even though my results with the door jamb were pretty good, I wasn't so confident about this experiment. I had visions of scrapping off some pasty by product with the paint still intact.

Anyway, arrived the next day and raced up the stairs to see the progress. Scraped right off! Scrape, scrape, scrape. Scrub, scrub , scrub. A few hours later and I had progress.

Unfortunately for me, the paint wasn't entire gone. The first 5 or so layers had been removed nicely but there was still patches where a brown icky mix of stain and paint hung on for dear life. Mostly these were the spots I hadn't applied quite so liberal of a coat. So I went in for another round.

This time, I really layered the stuff on. Almost like the frosting on an expensive hipster cupcake. This time I covered in plastic wrap as I was concerned it might dry out. Left for about 15 hours. The saran wrap did a good job of keeping it moist but working with it wet was a way bigger pain than working when dry. So I think I'll skip the wrap next time. Anyhow, a lot more scraping, scrubbing and rubbing and magic (well, sort of), she is completely stripped bare.

Quite happy with myself as the wood looks really great. We aren't sure what kind of wood it is - red oak maybe? Anyone a wood expert who can shed some light on the species?

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Comments

mahogany

Posted by: eletricgreek at February 5, 2007 9:41 PM

lookin good! i assume you went with the peel away stuff?

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at February 7, 2007 9:25 AM

I am assuming the "stuff" applied was a stripper?

Posted by: louise at February 7, 2007 10:50 AM

The "stuff" is mentioned in the first paragraph and the entire post before it.

Posted by: Anonymous at February 7, 2007 11:18 AM

oak

Posted by: Anonymous at February 8, 2007 10:16 AM

I used peel away to strip all of the woodwork in my 5 story brownstone over 14 years ago and it worked wonders.

I know it has been improved tremendously since then and don't know if there is still a "finishing" step involved with a vinegar like chemical -- but if there is, I would caution making sure the final step is thoroughly done. Years later we have some brown leaching through our paint in spots where I suspect we didn't properly finish. Even still, I think peel away is far superior to any other kind of stripping.

Posted by: Anon on Greene at February 9, 2007 11:50 AM

Anon 1150 - the newer peel aways don't require the vinegar step (thank goodness)

Did you find using the paper to be worth it? Or did you do it paperless?

Posted by: Anonymous at February 12, 2007 7:49 AM

I'd second that "mahogany"

Posted by: houseowax at February 12, 2007 9:25 AM

That's a mahogany banister! Totally.

Glad the Peel Away worked for you :) I do, however, recommend using the paper for larger projects. You need it to stay wet because once the PA dries out it's no longer working on dissolving the paint. That's how we did our entire staircase and landing, as you may remember. Did you think about using Peel Away 7 for any other projects? The only reason I mention it is that it's similarly odorless but 100% nontoxic--you don't even need gloves! Awesome stuff.

PS if you will be needing large quantities of the stuff, give Brian a call. I know it's expensive and he might be able to hook you up.

Posted by: Cynthia at February 14, 2007 9:31 AM