Im stripping a million layers of paint off my banister.

daveinbedstuy: you may be thinking of the Silent Paint Remover (http://www.silentpaintremover.com/) that uses infrared.  It is good–and expensive–but definitely not magic.  You can take off a whole stack of layers at once, but you still need practice to avoid burning the wood and you will still need chemicals to clean up the detail.  It is best on big, flat surfaces (e.g., wood siding).

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in Painters and Painting & Stripping 13 years and 6 months ago

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sandra | 13 years and 6 months ago

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Can anyone recommend the best stripper to use? I have to do it in  place unfortunatly so no dipping for me.

Goatcrapp | 13 years and 6 months ago

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preferably a clean one with good hygiene. .. oh wait… You want a gel stripper, since it’s got vertical serivces, but before using anything – might i suggest a heat gun?  If you’re reasonably sure there’s no lead paint in any of the coats – a heat gun is all i ever use…  don’t bother with chemicals. If you need chems – there’s a brand “aircraft stripper” which i’ve found to work well.. it comes in an aerosol version too, which makes getting into nooks and crannies easy.    Get yourself a GOOD scraping blade, as well as coarse steel wool.   Make no mistake however – there’s no version of paint stripping that’s going to be easy.   It requires elbow grease, multiple applications, and more elbow grease.

southslope | 13 years and 6 months ago

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agreed. Multiple layers of paint may require multiple layers of removal. I would try a heat gun, convitional stripper, and /or peel-away stripper in different locations before comitting to a treatment. “Gel” type strippers contain a wax to keep the solvents from evaporating. Always neturalize with vinegar/ lacquer thinner and coarse steel wool and sand w/  120 before applying finish.

stevecym | 13 years and 6 months ago

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how many layers and how old? if you have very old paint under there, you may want to try rock miracle 596\. It will remove multiple layers of the most difficult paint in one application. The only place I have found which carries this product is Abbot Paint on Eagle St. It is a really caustic product, so only use it if the application warrents. Steve

daveinbedstuy | 13 years and 6 months ago

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I heard there’s a new gun that uses microwaves or something.

greenmountain | 13 years and 6 months ago

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No heat gun for me.  I prefer organic solvents in my air not lead.  Anybody got a good safe plan to dispose of paint after it is stripped?  The city doesn’t want it, especially from a contractor.  Commercial carters don’t sort it out for recycling.  Scrap yards don’t want it.  I store it in labeled 5 gallon buckets with tight fitting lids, but that is not a permanent solution.  I would pay to have it safely handeled and turned in to car batteries, but to who and how much?

sandra | 13 years and 6 months ago

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Thanks everybody. There is probably at least five layers of paint over an original coat of varnish. Ive been chipping away at it just with scrapers and fine tools and got 6 spindles almost completely clean in a couple of hours. its very tedious and i look like a bank robber (goggles and mask) but its getting there. I love the idea of a heat gun but im fairly sure there is lead in there and dont want to kill what few brain cells i have left. Also it takes a back seat now that my damned roof leaked during that scum storm yesterday. There is one fault in the tar roof and it only leaks during that exact type of storm, super heavy dense slush. it blocks the route to the downspout and we get a water feature in the bedroom. I caught it just before the ceiling came down so thats something. I love old houses but who ever thought flat roofs were a good idea? seriously