Stripping and Repainting 80+ Year Old Apartment?
I’m preparing to repaint some of the rooms in my pre-war apartment, and thought I could use some advice from the people here who have experience with painting and stripping in older units. The building is a little more than 80 years old, and my apartments suffers from layers and layers of cheap and poorly…
I’m preparing to repaint some of the rooms in my pre-war apartment, and thought I could use some advice from the people here who have experience with painting and stripping in older units. The building is a little more than 80 years old, and my apartments suffers from layers and layers of cheap and poorly applied paint. I’m also sure there’s plenty of lead paint underneath the surfaces. The effect on the trim is something that could generously be described as a “cake frosting” look. Since I’m going to be repainting regardless, I’ve been exploring the possibility of partially or totally stripping the areas where the paint is really gunked on, namely the window and door frames, using chemical strippers. I don’t necessarily have my heart set on stripping the trim down to the wood, I’d just like to have a smoother, nicer surface to paint on top of so I’m not exacerbating the current situation. That being said, it doesn’t really seem to me like it’s possible to go ‘half-way’ with something like stripping – you either do it or you don’t. I’ve got some experience with painting and home projects, but this is the first time I’ve taken on a major project like this on my own, and there’s a lot of experience I don’t have. So my main question, then, after reading and hearing so much about stripping being an incredibly time-consuming and aggravating process, is this – am I an idiot for considering trying to get rid 80+ of rental unit paint? Considering it’s a rental, is it worth the time and effort? If I go this route, I’m going to try to stay away from the methyl-chloride based strippers. I’m intrigued by Ready Strip and SOY Gel in particular. Does anyone have any experience with these products?
(Sorry for the longish post – if you stuck with me this far, thanks!)
I am rather in the same boat. I’ve used a heat gun in the past to good effect but the fumes are really bad and I had a lot of complaints from the neighbors. My baseboards are not in such bad shape that I think I can scrape them smooth enough, My problem is the (metal) window frames, and the doors which are heavily cracked from, probably, painting latex over oil without priming.
Had anyone tried any of the Peel Away formulas? I tried it on a sailboat bottom once to only so so results but suspect that was because it was a watered down formula so as not to hurt the gelcoat
Is there a decent, cost effective place to take doors to be stripped? The panels are vanier (sp) so don’t know if they can be dunked.
If you’re handy, you could try building a ceramic version of the SPR:
http://www.oceanmanorhouse.com/?page=paintremover
the cost for materials is about $100-120.
Highly recommend SPR… heat’s not just heat. If you don’t heat the paint to high enough temperature, it will cool down so fast that you can only strip tiny bits at a time. The SPR is also lower temperature than a traditional heat gun, so I’m not sure what else you were planning to try.
You want to do this in a rental?!
Sounds crazy to me.
Maybe if you’re going to live there for a decade.
Thanks for the comments everyone. I’m learning towards the the heat-gun approach recommended by brucef, as that seems to be the most cost effective and direct approach. The Silent Paint Remover looks like a great product and I know a lot of people swear by it, but even renting one would be a financial strain (recent college graduate on a limited income). I’m confident I can get similar results with a low-temperature heat gun…heat’s just heat, after all.
@cyrka66, thanks for the tip on Soy Gel…it’s a shame that the most effective products out there are effectively poison…even the stuff ‘safer’ like Rock Miracle, which a lot of people swear by, uses active ingredients that are known carcinogens.
@Parklife, I actually ran across that post in my internet research on the subject. Some great information in there! And from the looks of the pictures it seems they got great results…
Skimcoat the walls and replace the trim.
Unless your trim is of the irreplaceable architectural variety (unlikely in an 80 year old apt.), rip it out and replace it. It’s ok–it’s only trim. New trim is vastly cheaper and easier than stripping. It will look better too.
You can either find a reasonably close substitute molding design at a place like Dykes or even have it replicated exactly by a mill for a nominal fee.
If the trim is fairly flat, the way to go is a UV paint stripper. A little slower going if the trim has a lot of ridges or corners.
Here is an excellent post and commentary about the methods and materials, the blood, the sweat, the tears, and some possible overuse of the word stripping ans strippers:
http://www.hawthornestreet.com/2007/11/paint-strip-woo.html
I wasn’t that impressed with soy gel. It’s very slow acting although it does eventually loosen the paint. The big problem I found is that it turns everything into a big sticky goopy mess that clogs up steel wool pads instantly. Unfortunately Methyl Chloride still seems to be the most effective, although you are quite correct that it’s nasty stuff. It really should only be used outdoors. Have you considered removing the trim, stripping (or having it stripped) and re-installing? Also, if the wood was originally varnished, it may strip fairly easily.