stripping varnish

what is the best ,quickest,cleanest and cheapest way of removing varnish.i have i dining room half cladded with pine t & g which has been varnised.idealy i would just love to rip it out,but cant,so i am going to have to paint the unsightly stuff.also will be trying the steamer method on artex on my kitchen walls.why the hell do people use these daft ways of decorating ?

its just more hard work for us,it ok for you,you have sold up and moved on

 

try paint stipper, but try a "hidden " bit first to see how long you should leave it on

 

If you're going to paint the t&g, why not just give it a light sanding so the paint has a "key" to grip to ?

 

I agree with Scoby, varnish makes an excellent base for paint, and you can get back to a no colour base when you want to.

 

thanks lads,will be off to buy a sander.paint stripper is to messy,and costly..

 

and you think a sander is less messy? do the sanding outside and see. and how much is your sander going to cost (and sandpaper) V paint stripper.

although all that said they say varnish is a good base for paint (i didn't know that)

 

Varnish is one of the best things to rub down and paint on as the varnish has soaked in and therefore "locked" to the wood.
As for the mess with sanding, nothing wrong with being dirty now and again (so I'm told )

 

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