how to remove oil paints

[vannma]

I have been redecorating our lounge and most of the previous paints used were, or seem, oily. They are incredibly difficult to remove: I've tried with paint stripper (but it produces a mess); steam: ok but I still need to do lots of scraping using a very fine blade.

Is there a product I can buy that will make the job easier?

[Zampa]

Is the paint your talking about on the wall or woodwork?

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How much!

[vannma]

Hi Zampa,

it's on the wall and in a large room too! which is painful to think of if I have to use a blade scraper to do the whole room!

thank you

[Zampa]

You may be able to get away with giving it a coat of water based sealer (NOT P BLOODY V BLOODY.A!)......fill the rough bits and line it?

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How much!

[vannma]

Hmmm, thank you Zampa, however your reply implies that I keep the oil on the wall and put a coat of water based sealer? If that's the correct understanding, I'd rather not. I really want to remove the oily paint for good and go to the bare plaster.

PS: what does it mean what you put in brackets? Sorry I'm foreigner and apart from the b***y I don't understand the rest. OOOpps.

M

[Zampa]

You could try piercing it with a perforated roller...from a hire shop an using a steam stripper.that might make it easier

Bare in mind after you have stripped the walls they will probably be a bit scratched up......so you might need to line them.....but once its done you have a good surface to work from everytime

Oh....in the brackets...PVA glue....like unibond.....a lot of people think it cures everything...it has its uses....and its limits!

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How much!

[projectmgr]

There is no reason to strip the old oil based paint from the walls. Once dry, oil based paint is nontoxic and pretty much, permanent.

If oilbased paint is applied to a hard surface, such as wood paneling or flooring, a heat gun can be used to blister and peel the paint from the surface. This is a very easy, but slow, solution.

Also, there are strippers which come as a paste and when applied, will blister the paint from the surface below and it can be easily lifted off. HOWEVER, not all strippers are the same. Some, after application and blistering of the paint, become nontoxic. Look for these products.

Read your labels and also ask you local paint store manager. They are a great help in finding these products.

Now, it seems that what you have is paint on drywall (also called "sheetrock") There, you will have a problem, as up until a few years ago, drywall was made covered with paper covering ( the new stuff is not, but still a problem).

Usually, drywall is primed and painted. Trying to peel the paint off will result in damaging your drywall and would require a lot of patching (not fun) or replacing of the drywall (which costs $)

Why do you want to strip the paint?

If there is a texturing problem, then it can be addressed a few ways. You can "texture" the surface with premade texturing products and then paint over that. You can also use a heavy knapped roller instead of a brush to apply paint, which will produce a soft texture on the wall, covering up problems.

Other that replacing the drywall and starting fresh with latex primer and latex paint, your only recourse is to paint the existing wall with a really good oil based primer (IT MUST BE OIL BASED) , and then cover with a latex paint, OR cover up the wall with paneling or wallpaper or fabric or some type of texturing product.

Hope your results are good and worth all the work.

[projectmgr]

Sorry, It is late and I gave you the wrong advice on primer paint. Wiki website has really good advice. Take a look at it http://www.wikihow.com/Paint-over-Existing-Oil-Paint-in-Your-Home

Good luck with your project