Windsor Terrace Reno

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November 25, 2007

Admitting defeat.

I am one of those people who feels nothing is ever done right if not done myself. So when it came to stripping the scary old man winter face newel post on our parlor floor, I figured this was the kind of job that I should do myself. I didn't want the carving to get destroyed by rough scraping that didn't care about the finished product as much as I did.

So after my great experience peeling the banister with Peel Away, I figured this project shouldn't be too difficult.

I set my stool down in front of this thing and got to work. As I came to learn, Peel Away works wonderfully on smooth surfaces but anything with this sort of detail was a totally different story. Instead of being able to wipe the paint off, it had to be picked away at piece by piece. I did multiple coats of stripper and countless hours in a respirator over several precious weekends. And after all that, I got this:

More coats, hours with tiny plastic picks and a box of rubber gloves later, I was still left with this

Really disappointing. After spending so much time on it and not getting the results I hoped for, I just couldn't stand working on it anymore. I admitted defeat and moved on from the hope to get this thing clean.

Fast forward to working with our contractor, we asked him to see if he could strip the post for us. I wasn't sure what to expect but I kept fingers crossed that it would survive.

And it did! Turns out that my weekends were all for nothing because our contractor got this thing done in just a couple of days! Im sure it was a lot of elbow grease for the guy working on it but chalk this one up to being better left to the pros. Lesson learned.

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Comments

looks great!

Posted by: z at November 23, 2007 11:34 AM

Wow, it is gorgeous. I give you credit for knowing when to give in and source it out.

Posted by: guest at November 23, 2007 1:08 PM

You should have started with a heat gun, Rock Miracle remover, dental picks, steel wool and patience

Posted by: guest at November 23, 2007 1:58 PM

We've got what looks like the same paint (identical color) as the initial paint layer over some of our woodwork. While several other layers of oil paint come off easily with chemical peeler, this stuff is really tough... still, I found that if you really glump it on and leave it with the protective paper for at least 24 hours, it comes off easily.

I used PeelAway 7, which is not as fast as other chemicals, but is easier on fine woodwork and is nontoxic. Contractors usually prefer to use the strippers with methylene chloride -- they're a lot easier and faster but are very toxic.

Posted by: carrie m at November 23, 2007 2:49 PM

what did he do differently?

Posted by: guest at November 23, 2007 3:09 PM

Well, you could look at it like handing some one a sticky jar to open after you have been working on it for ages, and they just pop it open. You might have loosened it up.

Same with the paint stripping, you had the bulk of the paint off already, they just gave it the finishing touches. It looks fantastic, are you going to stain it now it's back to the wood, and not paint it again?

Posted by: guest at November 23, 2007 3:26 PM

While I would like to think I helped, Im fairly certain that all those hours didn't really accomplish much. As far as I can tell, the difference between my method and his is that he really tore at the thing while I whittled away carefully. He also used a more toxic stripper but based on my own experience with the chemical he was using, I wouldn't have had an easier time using that stuff.

Whatever the difference, Im just happy with the final product.

Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at November 23, 2007 4:13 PM

I used soy gel and stripped 80% of the wood in my house. This product has no smell you don't have to kill yourself- you paint a nice thick coat on cover with clear plastic- GO AWAY for 24 to 48 hours comeback test and effortlessly remove the paint. It practically fell off. No damage to anything cause the stuff is made out of soybeans. www.frammar.com or look up soygel.

When I got to 80% I ran out of gas and my contractor loved my spunk, so he did the rest:) Good luck

Posted by: guest at November 23, 2007 5:29 PM

I think this stuff may be milk paint, which is harder to strip than other kinds of paint. Honestly, though, strength or power has nothing to do with it. I'm the biggest weakling I know and I could pull off this stuff. The key is letting a think layer of stripper sit on there for a long enough period.

Posted by: carrie m at November 23, 2007 5:32 PM

Trust me, I left the stripper on for long enough. Every coat of stripper had between 24-48 hours to work before I started pulling it off. After working with it on the bannister, I had a good feel for when it had separated enough to pull paint off but take it off before it got dry. The problem was that even with the stripper pulling paint off, it wasnt making good contact with all those crevices and the only thing that was going to get it off was a good hard scraping. But when I tried to scrape, it seemed like a task that would take a lifetime to complete and I clearly didn't have the patience to do it.

Maybe the type of paint or the way it had been applied 50 years ago had something to do with it? I can't really speak to that.

Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at November 23, 2007 6:59 PM

I think that I can see a smile on "scary old man winter's" face!

It looks great!

Posted by: Anonymous at November 23, 2007 8:30 PM

Liked it better before

Posted by: guest at November 24, 2007 7:12 AM

Nice work. I'm willing to bet your contractor switched to a stripper like Rock Miracle. I've done a great deal of stripping in my house and Rock Miracle is best to get the paint out of fine detal like your post. Yes it is nasty but it works. Peal Away is fine on flat surfaces like a door. However, I should warn you, be sure that your post is free of the Peal Away stripper. If your contractor used Rock Miracle the post shoud have a final wash of denatured alcohol. If you don't do this it's very possible that you will see spotting if you use a clear finish like varnish because of the chemical reactions of the strippers. I found this out the hard way and had to strip the surface over because of this.

Posted by: Rick at November 24, 2007 8:09 AM

I had the same experience with Peel Away: great on flat, but not so much with textured or carved wood. Sometimes you gotta know when to let a professional handle it.

Posted by: guest at November 24, 2007 11:31 PM

"my contractor loved my spunk"

I thought this thread was taking an entirely different turn, but alas no. In any event the newel post looks fantastic.

Posted by: guest at November 25, 2007 11:32 PM

ooooooooooo I soooooo know your pain. We have been stripping the garden level newel post because it looked "easier" than the parlor floor post. Me and T have to keep alternating to avoid burnout. I'll post about it sometime this week.

Posted by: HomeSweetstuy at November 26, 2007 8:51 AM

i have been stripping the wood in the hallways on and off for three years and I have tried peel away but found that the Multi-strip products, especially "tough-2-strip and ultra strip worked much better. A good thick coat and monitor the drying, and It would literrally fall off the details in nice thick clumps. Seemed the peel away kept would make a sticky paste that was very messy to remove. I also worked with the dental picks for deep recesses and the edge of a dull phillips screw driver for long straight channels. the multi strip products - i swear by them. I dont especially like the bottom grade one that changes color, Ready strip I think its called, but the contractor grade ones were excellent. These are all safe & non toxic . It is not available widely but I got some at Abbott paint and also at Pinchik.

Posted by: guest at November 26, 2007 10:02 AM

I have always had luck using a heat gun first, then cleaning up the remains of the day with a stripper. The heat gun takes off AMAZING layers of paint & varnish! Use a respirator even with the heat gun; all that lovely heated-up lead paint doesn't do you any good!

Posted by: guest at November 28, 2007 9:47 PM

Which contractor did you use? I'm looking for one to do some renovations in my house.

Posted by: guest at November 29, 2007 6:02 PM