Carpentry

What to Apply after Stripping?

We stripped all the window and door encasements and floor moldings of our brownstone and really like how it looks now (we used peelaway for half and the silent paint remover for the rest). It is mostly wood (about six different kinds, actually) and parts where you can see the 9 million colors it was…

by Downing2fam
07/01/2009

We stripped all the window and door encasements and floor moldings of our brownstone and really like how it looks now (we used peelaway for half and the silent paint remover for the rest). It is mostly wood (about six different kinds, actually) and parts where you can see the 9 million colors it was ever painted.

But now we want to coat it with something to preserve it, without making the wood darker. Does anyone have any suggestions for what product to use? We’re interested in it being a low/no VOC material and hopefully a flat/matte finish. Someone suggested Waterlox which seems ok in the flat/non staining department but it seems pretty toxic. I’m hoping to find another solution.

We definitely want to seal those paint chips in (lead paint) — but if possible, we want it to look kind of raw/ and hate to use the term, but “shabby chic” …

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Carpentry

Comments

  1. With regard to the Waterlox; if you ventilate well during the finishing process, the “toxicity” factor should not really be a problem. The only toxic part of the Waterlox equation is the solvent, (mineral spirits/paint thinner), that our products are based in. That solvent, with proper ventilation, should dissipate within the first 2-3 hours and then if there is any residual odor it is from the Tung oil itself which comes from the nut of the Tung tree and is therefore a vegetable oil and non toxic.

    The tung oil also has an amber cast to it and will change the color of the wood depending upon what type of wood the finish is being applied to. As always, it is best to work with a test piece to see if the color is that which you desire.

    Good luck with your project.

    Hope this helps.

    Chip Schaffner – Waterlox

  2. It’s kind of a longwinded comparison…

    I had someone do the work for me and we found the Peelaway to work best, but we stopped using it for several reasons…

    1. while they claim its “non-toxic” the fumes that result from the paste with 100-year old paint are completely noxious and made me feel sick every time I entered the house for several weeks afterwards (this ended after I sprayed it with the vinegar solution to deactivate)
    2. The amount of waterproofing necessary took so much time that and never really was sufficient (I started on the 2nd floor of my house and it eventually dripped down to the parlour which totally freaked me out bc I hadn’t neutrallized it yet and fear that the chemical will be smoldering for ever and ever…)
    3. Cost– while the silent paint remover is a large 1-time expense ($500 + tools $300), I’d already paid $1000 for peelaway for just one floor, and I had 3 more to go– so I figured I’d do it with the silent paint remover and sell/rent it out when I was done…

    The silent paint remover is truly great, but it also has it’s flaws. It is very time intensive and it often takes 2-3 times the same patch to get all the paint off– other people have had much better experiences with it, but in my house, the contractor really hated using it. He kept on pushing me to use a heat gun but I resisted because of fears of fires in the walls, etc. I pushed him to do it and now he’s OK with it…

    That said, we have completed the 3 remaining floors and It certainly does have it’s benefits, including not really having a smell (besides cooking linseed oil, which we applied beforehand) — and i’m tempted to start on the doors/stair linoleum/ shutters etc. because it’s there and it works and it’s truly rewarding to peel off all those layers of paint and expose the beautiful wood that is my house… In terms of lead danger, the silent paint remover definitely creates dust, which is supposedly the most dangerous part of lead paint removal…

    I would definitely recommend the silent paint remover over peelaway, but I feel that they both have their uses– I’m using peelaway on the exterior of my window frames (because I don’t want to risk lead chips flying into my garden and my neighbors– ) but now only using the silent paint remover on the inside.

    Hope this helps. In terms of finishing off the wood (sorry for another out of place reference) — I trekked to the Green Depot building store in greenpoint and bought a quart of matte “glaze” so I’m interested to see how it turns out… I called the waterlox people today and they told me flat out that their product would completely change to color of the wood… which is what I was trying to avoid… I’ll update when it comes out.

    THANKS FOR THE RECOMMENDATIONS!

  5. Another vote for Osmo.

    Depending on the topcoat you use, you may need to neutralize the stripper first- as many strippers contain waxes to keep them on the surface and slow the evaporation. Waxes will cause problems such as fisheyes on some products like lacquer or polys.

  6. I looked at Waterlox and it seemed to make things very orangey. Try Osmo’s Polyx Oil. It is a wax/oil finish, and the company have super-clean product labels. You can get a sample tin for about $5 or so – just google it. I used it on my floors and am really happy with the results, but I don’t see why you couldn’t use it on your mouldings.

    BTW, what was your experience using Peelaway vs the silent paint stripper? I have to strip the baseboard down our stairs, and have been wondering if the silent paint stripper is the best way to go, so the stairwell doesn’t get all fumey?

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