[Closed] Tool time. House refurb DIY man-knowledge required

2, then 1, then 3, and then probably 4...

Either 1,3 or 4.
Just wouldn't bother stripping the paint. Alot of effort for something which may end up looking worse.

A sheep skull with dreadlocks.

I like it - planning for failure. We're on the same page here.

Started off with heat gun approach, toyed with taking back to bare wood and varnishing. However a lot of effort, horrible job. Started to notice plenty of infilled sections where old (30s I'd guess) electrics had been, which knackered the look. End up just sanding and repainting. The areas where we just sanded and repainted look better to this pedants eye. Luckily I suspect no one else will notice 😉

Good luck!

Lead in paint. Google it.

do you have a cellar?

We did more or less the same as you.

Bought a Victorian terrace and took it back to brick, all the lath was taken down as well the plasterboard put up. We did that on purpose so the walls could be insulated. We also kept what we could of the woodwork but a lot of it was damaged by 110years worth of wear and tear, so we saved what we could and got rid of the rest. I did all the carpentry myself, luckily there was a good wood yard nearby and the we're really helpful.

If its a run of the mill terrace you can still get the architraves, I made the skirts using mdf planks and staff bead, so they matched what we had to take out. All the off the shelf stuff wasn't high enough and he pattern didn't match.

The stairs, I stripped with a heat gun and nitromors, it took about 4 days solid from start to finish. The wife and the dog were away so it was just me. I bought lead testing kits off the Internet but they were inconclusive so I used heat anyway and wore a mask. Also had spindles turned to match the missing and broken ones.

I really enjoyed doing it and would happily do it again. The house is now good for another 100 years, more than can be said for new builds.

I tried 4, and ended up pulling great lumps of plaster off. Patched them but it was a ballache, and I'd hate to have to strip and replaster a house with the black soot plaster. My mate did it and it literally made him cry

They won't come off easily!

They will be painted in lead based paint.

I'd recommend nitromors and a scraper/wire wool. Then sand the trickier bits.

It may end up being more cost effective to rip them down and replace after replastering.

We found a world of weird and wonderful day in ours.

Electric palm sander,different grades of sandpaper (rough to smooth)and a good face mask.
Very rarely do i need the heat gun and modern Nitromors is pathetic,may as well just wee on it all

I'm working my way through a similar project. I tried using Nitromos but it didn't go through all the layers. I eventually switched over to using a heat gun to remove most of the paint, then paint stripper and finally sanding down with an electric sander.

When B&Q started setting Nitromos in smaller tins I switched to [url= http://www.paintstripper.com/paramosepaintvar.html ]Paramose Paint and Varnish Remover (thick)[/url]. It's just as good and works out about half the price.

You [b]must [/b]get a mask before using either the hot air gun or paint stripper, I use a [url= http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_EU/OccSafety/Home/Products_for/RespiratoryProtection/ReusableRespirators/4000_Series/ ]3M one like this[/url]. You will also need rubber gloves and ware a long sleeved top - the hot paint will burn and chemical burns can be a problem. I'd also suggest ear defenders as the hot air guns can be quite loud.

It is without doubt one of the least pleasant job I have done but the end results are fantastic.

Victorian terrace....

I stripped all the paint off everything using a hot air gun and a huge amount of elbow grease. Took me years, but all the wood is paint free in the whole house. Apparently lead poisoning is only really bad for children, and I appear to have survived unscathed.....

hot air gun worked for me on the stairs where the belt sander with the roughest grit i could find failed. - the palm pad sander didnt even touch it.

Nitromors - as above - might as well piss on it these days - will have more stripping effect.

I used the same mask as Graham as well.

Rustins stripper is much better and cheaper than Nitromors, but they're still not as good as the old stuff.

Apparently lead poisoning is only really bad for children, and I appear to have survived unscathed

Yup this is my impression from the research, but if you have kids, then only a tiny amount of lead can be dangerous..

If I did it all again, I'd just bin all the painted skirting boards, Dado rails etc and replace with new stuff. My local Builder's merchant sells the stuff with Victorian designs and once stained it looks identical to the original stuff and saves hours of labour.

Until you can see the state of the plaster and the extent of future work its difficult to say. Fitting new skirting boards can be appealing, however fitting them can be a massive PITA, especially external mitres in a house that isn't square. Also the plaster at that level is often shot so may be worth running a course of 'browning' at that level so you've got something decent to screw the boards in to.

Heat gun / belt sander is best, but to get the stuff out of the curves in the skirting / architrave will need some kind of stripper or wire wool.

You do know you can get pre-painted MDF skirting board?

So, all the blown plaster is now off.... That is a job I [u]NEVER [/u]want to do again. Most of the skirting & picture rail (that survived) doesn't look so bad so is going to get painted over. Good call on the primed MDF skirting, I'll be raiding the Timber Merchant's down the road and going crazy in a few weeks!

I'm gutted to report that I found no shamen sheep heads or sacrifices in the walls. I even had a good rummage around in the chimney to look for stashed pay-books / child's skulls but, alas, nothing.

Take samples of the profiles to a joinery shop an get new ones machined