Hello.

I want to strip down some door frames and a bannister, which seem to have accumulated many layers of gloss paint over the years. They’re looking very tiered so, I want to strip it down before I repaint.

What is the best / quickest way of doing this? Is it worth buying a heat gun? Any advice?

Thanks

From experience, although I’m in no way DIY orientated, heat gun and a scraper just leaves a horrible sticky mess that looks worse than before you started.

I’m in the middle of repainting our skirting boards in preparation for new carpet, and the easiest thing I’ve found is one of those electric sander things. Cost about £30 from B&Q and it’s done a grand job so far.

Having said that, if you’ve got an old paint brush with thick bristles it can be used to get under the layers of gloss and it just peels off. You’ll probably still need to sand to finish off though.

Nitomorse , needs plenty of ventilation though and burns the skin so be very carefull .

Heat gun and a decent scraper will get it spotless.

Buy a Tungsten Carbide Wood Scraper

I stripped my front door last autumn for a repaint for winter:

New Front Door (Paint) by brf, on Flickr

Heatgun everytime!!! Forget a electric sander…

Both is best. Heat gun to get the gloss off. Followed by nitromors and wire wool to left the varnish left behind. It’ll look so good you won’t want to paint it again…

Heat gun is the way to go, just don,t get it to hot as it turns to liquid. Once the paint starts to lift it will come of eaasy.
WATCH THE CARPETS 😳

Mid way through doing this myself. Heat gun all the way. Tried nitromorse for a bit but it was a faff and took longer.

You could get them dipped somewhere which will bring the paint off but doors assembled with a lot of glue wont like it plus there will be a lot of sanding down after. I’d just wash down, sand and paint.
Or buy new doors. 🙂
Sorry. Door frames you said. Urmm. New house. 🙂

Heat gun is best it’s what I use every time, used a sander it’s slow and extremely messy method.

Great help, as usual. Thanks chaps. Looks like I might be getting a new toy then.

Border collie puppy

It’s made a good job of stripping our woodwork – the bottom 12″ anyway………. 😕

don’t go to a dipping stripping place, the chemical process heats the glue and the door is never as strong, usually not fitting right when you refit

Footflaps serious? Cos I tried doing my doors. Oneside easy (with a electric gun). The other (lead paint?) Was like chewing gum.

Did you encounter this?