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Paint Stripping and Refinishing safely.

There are many methods to perform paint stripping and refinishing on wood, metal and masonry. Some methods are messy as heck; others can cause serious health risks. There are also alternatives to traditional, harsh paint strippers that make stripping and refinishing easier on your lungs and skin. Let’s take a look at what methods are available.

The 3 most used methods for the Do-It-Yourself for removing finishes are;

1. Paint Stripping and refinishing by hand.
2. Paint stripping and refinishing by toxic chemicals.
3. Paint stripping and refinishing by safe chemicals.

Though there are other methods such as infrared heat, I’ll be covering the most widely used and available methods here.

NOTE: First off make sure if you are doing any paint / finish stripping that you purchase a good set of gloves (chemical if that is what you’ll be using), a Tyvek or equal full body suit to protect your clothing from fine paint particles or chemicals, a good respirator to protect yourself from fine dust and fumes, goggles to protect your eyes from flying debris and good scraping tools to expedite the process. A hepa vacuum cleaner or fine filtered shop vac will be needed for clean-up. I have a used a 2 stage vacuum process that’s a little technical and too much to cover here but will separate fine dust from the main materials collected for safe handling. Also as in any dusty or fume heavy project, build a barricade from your work area from other living areas of the property. If you can take the item(s) out of the main living area and work on them away from animals, children and other adults, that would be a plus.

Paint stripping by Hand.

The low tech method of removing old finishes has some merit. It gets the job done but at what expense?

Now we’ve all seen professional house painters hand scrapping loose paint off the side of a house. Looks simple doesn’t it? However that’s not enough elbow grease to get paint, varnish or polyurethane off furniture or interior woodwork. The reason that paint goes flying off on the outside is because the finish has been compromised with moisture and has “popped” loose from the material it was applied to. Basically the adhesion has failed. This happen on the inside too but usually from a leaky roof, plumbing failure, floods and on occasion steam from showers or boiling water.

Your interior finishes are most likely on either furniture or interior woodwork and completely solidly adhered. And because that means all kinds of nooks and crannies as well as big wide and long areas to strip, you’ll need the right tools to get the best results in the shortest time.

Most local hardware stores can provide you with the most basic of tools. Some you’ll need are the 5 in 1 painters’ tool, chip brushes, putty knives, bronze brushes, scratch pads, wide profile paint scrapers and carbide scrapers. Note, I recommend carbide scrapers for the heavy duty work. Your need to sharpen the blade is kept way down, and carbide for the normal DIY’er is pretty to sharpen difficult anyway. It also should be noted that carbide blades are susceptible to damage just like a carbide blade on an electric hand-held or table saw.

Items you may need to visit the specialty store will be dental picks to get into those small, really small pockets of finish in ornate woodwork.

Refinishing woodwork by hand is labor intensive but the feeling of accomplishment when you apply that new finish over your recently stripped work sends little shivers of joy up and down your spine. However, it may just be the pain from being hunched over from the long hours of scraping and cleaning off.

Paint stripping by Toxic Chemicals.

I will not recommend these products for anyone who is not a professional finisher. Their possible side effects from long term exposure have been found too high a trade off for the results. Chemical burns, as in using any chemical for removing of finishes, is extremely high and without proper precautions and training the possible issues to skin damage or worse, eye damage is too much for them to be used by the regular DIY’er.

These products contain nasty ingredients and are highly flammable malodorous and toxic solvents. Some of the names you can find on such professional grade removers include methylene chloride, toluene, benzene, naphthalene and acetone. These chemicals require users to work in highly-ventilated areas, wear protective gloves, eye wear and respiratory gear.

You must, repeat must, collect all waste in metal containers (because they will dissolve plastic). Disposal of such products are highly regulated by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the agency specifies strict and special disposal precautions.

WARNING: Fines are heavy if you dispose of these chemicals by ordinary means.

Though they have their places in industry, the regular homeowner or DIY’er should avoid these products if you can. There are safe chemicals you can use and we’ll go into some of the benefits and precautions.

Paint stripping by Safe Chemicals.

Safer chemicals have become popular in stripping finishes due to the safer nature of their ingredients.

The most popular eco friendly strippers are Franmar Soygel and 3M Safest Stripper Paint and Varnish Remover.

Described as nontoxic with no strong fumes, these strippers are water-base, biodegradable and nonflammable. I have used Citristrip paint stripper (MSDS sheets) to strip large areas of paint off exterior masonry in Boston, MA.

I found it to be easy to use but a bit slow in the stripping process and the timing of placement to removal was critical or you had to power wash the product off. This created another containment and control issue, but I digress.

These products are not as “hot” and the fear one may have of hurting someone who intrudes in your work area is not as great. Less worries of damaged lungs from fumes is not as great using these products, respirator should still be used as precaution.

This should be common sense but ALWAYS read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions and precautions for the products you’re using BEFORE you begin to use them.

You should work with these products in a high-ventilated area and wear chemical resistant gloves and good eye covering protection. Though they are safer, precautions should still be taken when you use them. You should, as a regular measure, ask the manufacturer or the vendor for the MSDS to see what issues are involved when using these chemical products.

Though safer, it’s good to know what may be a concern in short or long term usage for yourself and others that may be in the area when you’re doing your work.

Happy Stripping …

If you’re in the Arlington, Belmont, Lexington, Newton or Winchester Massachusetts area and could use some assistance in your project, contact us here for a free evaluation of your project.

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