Hello Dan. A little frustrated are we? Sit back, have a beer and I'll tell you how I handled the paint stripping problem.
I cut the transom frames and windows off the existing door jambs and bought new, pre hung doors, then luckily the transoms fit back over top of the new doors. The transom frames and sashes had about ten coats of paint on them, which is understandable, since my house is 115 years old. At the recommendation of my neighbor, I went to Scherwin Williams and bought a paint stripper called Peel Away 7. It was very expensive at 75 dollars a gallon. Here are the advantages of this stuff. It is environmentally friendly. I was able to use it indoors and it didn't burn my eyes or throat. It didn't burn my fingers, although I did use rubber gloves to keep the paint off my skin. It is water soluble, so clean up is easy. You brush it on, then cover it with the paper that they provide with the stripper. It's a little like waxed paper. You leave it on for 24 to 48 hours, then peel the paper off. It doesn't dry out because the paper keeps it moist. I left it on for 24 hours. When I peeled off the paper ten coats of paint came off with it, right down to the bare wood. I couldn't believe it. Although it is pricey, before this I would never have paid that much for a stripper unless she's was drop dead gorgeous, blond and I've had a lot of beer. Anyway, I digress, so, this stuff is fantastic and I would recommend it to everyone. Again, It's Peel Away 7 and it's sold at Scherwin Williams. Regards, Tom From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dan Rossi Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 10:47 AM To: Blind Handyman List Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Stripping paint. So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I decided to rip down the canvas wall paper covering, taking with it some 80 years of paint, including lots of lead based paints. I sealed off the nursery, taping the door closed, had a big box fan exhausting out one window with the other window cracked open. I had my respirator on, and a jump suit. I pealed all the paper off the walls and ceiling in pretty short order. I bagged it and sealed the bags. Then I shop vacked the hell out of the room with a heppa filter on the vac. All went quite well. Unfortunately, Teresa and I made a monumentally stupid decision after that. Being good parents to be, we discussed the fact that due to past water damage, the paint on the window sills was chipping and pealing so we should probably strip that paint off and repaint them. What a fucking nightmare. I spent about 20 hours over the weekend in a respirator, painting stripper on the trim and scraping it off. The stripper worked well on the first umteen layers of paint, it literally bubbled right off. After a second application of stripper, I was still fighting with the last couple of layers of paint. I finally gave up and just scraped it all down so that there was no loose material. My hands are scraped and sore from smashing them on corners, edges, radiators, and exposure to harsh chemicals. My back and shoulders are killing me from hours on the floor scraping the damn baseboards. I attempted making the pitch of just ripping out the trim and putting new stuff in, but that didn't fly. It would have been so much easier though. Anyway, it is done, sort of, and now I have to deal with patching up the walls a bit, and finishing the trim work on the closet. SHEESH! -- Blue skies. Dan Rossi Carnegie Mellon University. E-Mail: [email protected] <mailto:dr25%40andrew.cmu.edu> Tel: (412) 268-9081 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
