DIY question - stripping wood

[merlina]

I live in a little old country cottage.

 

At some point in the past, someone has stripped the doors and cupboard fronts and frames (which were painted) and there is lovely wood underneath.

 

However, the door and window frames are still painted. Assuming that they are likely to be made of similar/nice wood, I'd like to strip them to roughly match the doors.

 

My question - is this doable? How would you do it?

I've assumed it will be some combination of heat gun/serious chemicals?

(I think the doors were taken down/outside to strip which isn't possible for the frames)

Could I (a complete DIY novice) tackle this?

 

I don't know what the other wood is 'finished' with - it's probably varnish of some sort? It's sheeny, rather than glossy, if that makes sense

[soapdragon]

If the wood is likely to be good it will look wonderful! I have stripped with both chemicals and a heat gun (looked like something out of Star Wars!) The chemicals are messy and smell nasty; disaster if you drip the gunk onto anything else which means you can only 'do' a bit at a time if you are stripping' in situ' so time consuming. With the gun I was always a bit worried about scorching the wood so it probably took me longer than it perhaps should have done!

 

 

The gun seemed easier on fiddly moulding tho. Either way, the results were good but the whole process was a long one but worth it!

 

Good luck!

[The Dogmother]

That depends,; if you are stripping the outside of the window frames, then you'd need to coat them afterwards with something to prevent rot. Depending on what you use to seal them, it could end up looking even less attractive than the paint. When stripping windows, it's best to use chemicals to avoid cracking the glass with a heat stripper.

 

Doors and larger items are usually removed and stripped in acid baths, this costs around £30 per door, but I understand that the price will be going up soon when new legislation requiring licensing comes in.

[merlina]

thanks

 

I should have been clearer - I meant the inside of the window frame, (and inside door frames) not the outside

[majorbloodnock]

Personally speaking, I wouldn't strip paint with a heat gun if the objective is to expose the grain. It's far too easy to scorch the wood, and scorching goes deep, meaning it's a permanent scar.

 

Stripping wood with chemical paint strippers is not difficult, although a little fiddly in some cases. However, it's worth bearing in mind that it's only really worth stripping mouldings if they are complex or are unusual woods; if you can find more moulding of the same shape at your local timber merchant's, it's probably going to be easier to take off the painted moulding and replace it.

 

Irrespective, though, you will make a bit of a mess. The stripper will take the paint off, but you'll still have to make friends with a lot of sandpaper to get the bare wood back to a good enough finish to oil, wax or varnish. It's well worth it, though.

[Chickendoodle]

Be careful if you do use any heat on the paint. No doubt there will be some lead based paint in the lower layers and this is pretty toxic to breathe in - make sure you wear a good mask

[sjp]

it doesn't always follow that the wood on windows and door frames is suitable to stain as neither the heat gun or paint stripper will remove old pink wood primer completely as it soaked into the wood so it's best to do a test area first. also if the wood work was originally stained and varnished and the house is fairly old then you'll need to use a paint/varnish stripper as a heat gun will turn the old Shellac varnish to treacle also bear in mind that it's dam near impossible to lighten stained wood other than in a caustic bath and most old stained wood is dark

[Angie]

I did my hall , stairs and the spindles,skirting boards,doors, door frames everything many years ago. I used my hot air paint stripper from black and decker as much as possible , then wire wool and metholated spirits, amazing how much paint was removed and the wood grain came through with wire wool. Took weeks of doing a bit around work and family but the end result was so worth it. ( I didn't try any chemical strippers as i was worried for the children so resolved to do it hard graft.)