Paint Stripper recommendation?

[Possom]

Is paint stripper generally a generic product, and therefore one brand is very similar to another in terms of effectiveness?

Or would anyone suggest if a particular brand is especially effective?

 

[emilybronte]

They,'re all a bit rubbish these days, I'm afraid. What is it for, exactly? (What type of paint and where?)

 

[Possom]

They,'re all a bit rubbish these days, I'm afraid. What is it for, exactly? (What type of paint and where?)

It's to remove oil based paint from pine timber indoors.

I did purchase one random brand and I did think it wasn't as good as paint remover I used many years ago; but perhaps that just the way most paint stripper is these days.

 

[Belboz]

NI******* used to be great but they appear to have changed the chemicals and it's not up to the job any more. AFAIK, the older good stuff no longer seems to exist. Perhaps H&S gone mad again...

 

[emilybronte]

They,'re all a bit rubbish these days, I'm afraid. What is it for, exactly? (What type of paint and where?)

It's to remove oil based paint from pine timber indoors.

Best way to do it is to have anything which can be removed, dipped in caustic soda, and anything which is not removable, stripped using a hot air gun.

 

[joe-90]

If you go to Ebay and put in Paint stripper you'll get the chance to buy the old type stuff (dichloromethane).

 

[longdogs]

Just tried a couple of test pots for Peelaway. According to their 'bumph' it will easily burn through 32 layers of paint. I tried the two types and left it for 48 hours and it barely got through one layer. I also tried Nitromors which was equally useless. I remember as a kid, watching my dad strip paint easily with Nitromors but in these days of H&S overkill, we are all considered too stupid to use anything that actually works.

 

[longdogs]

If you go to Ebay and put in Paint stripper you'll get the chance to buy the old type stuff (dichloromethane).

Does this actually work Joe? I have to strip some old paint (possibly lead)

 

[joe-90]

If it's Dichloromethane it will. It used to be called Methylene Chloride. Make sure you get the thick stuff like the old Nitromorse was.

 

[Isleman]

I have tried using some of this chemical paint stripper in the past and they have been absolutely useless. I have bought a heat gun and it was on of the best tools I have ever used .
I have stripped all the doors and the stair around my house.

 

[DIYBeth33]

Hi Possom,

I'm no expert, but have (over the last 5 months!) successfully paint stripped all the wood work (skirtings/door frames) upstairs in my house. It was a mammoth task, and one I would NOT do again- I'd just buy new ones instead!

My house had over 50 years of layers of badly painted gloss paint- it was covered in drips, bumps, scrapes and brush hairs! I tried various chemical strippers, but all were rubbish, only took the top 2 layers off.

In the end I bought a £20 heat gun and a couple of scrapers (blunted them after a while!) and spent weeks scraping! The top layers came off easy, but I found that I need to go back over most of the wood again to get the remaining bits off. I then used a combination of an electric sander and some mirka 40 grit sandpaper with some elbow grease to get rid of anything left. Then I filled and re-caulked it all and sanded with 80 & 120 grit paper to get a smooth finish before knotting and undercoating etc.

All in all, it was extremely hard work and something I would never like to attempt again!!!

Hope this helps!

P.s if you do get a heat gun, be careful with it as it can burn the wood (bit scary!) if not moved enough- defo get a mini fire extinguisher to keep to hand!

 

[joe-90]

You used a heat gun and a sander on old lead based paint? Are you crazy?

 

[DIYBeth33]

You used a heat gun and a sander on old lead based paint? Are you crazy?

Not crazy (well maybe a bit!), just a total novice/ unaware of lead paint! I did have all windows and doors open and am still alive so think I'm ok. Bit late worrying about it now tho! :/