Best Way to Strip Paint off a Door

[pdlandgang]

I just scored 10 - 90+ year old pine/fir doors.  Most of them are covered with I don't know how much paint in every color of the rainbow.  Can anyone recommend a good paint stripper or a process that will work, without destroying the wood and taking forever to do.

These all came from a townhouse in Washington DC that is being renovated.  I should be getting about 10 more doors soon plus any real 2x4's and any other workable material that they pull out.

Thanks for the help.

 

[wow]

My first concern would be whether any of the layers are lead-based paint? If they are it may dictate the process, and you're gonna have to be very careful when you remove the old stuff.

Better get a test kit...

 

[nclemmons]

I had 20+ doors dip stripped a few years ago when doing a remodel.  Worked great and saved me from chemicals and the hazards.  Out of maybe 25 doors, only 2-3 needed anything more than finish sanding.

 

[bigjonh]

If you're in DC there's a place called The Stripping Workshop. I know, I know. They are old school, no website just a phone number. They got it down to a science.  If your doing all of them it will take along time. The last ones I did, also dc row house salvage, took a combination of marine stripper and sanding.

 

[Scott B.]

Sometimes we use a product like this for multiple layers...

http://www.wmbarr.com/citristrip/default.aspx

It is especially helpful in the panel details. Lay it on heavily with a chip brush and cover with lightweight plastic for 24 hours. Then scrape off into a bucket with a putty knife, wire brushes etc. You do end up having to sand afterwords. It is messy and time consuming.

The other option is low grit Rotex on all the flats and just use the strip gel in the details.

Or, bonding primer and paint.

I'd only strip if the wood grain is worth chasing after. Otherwise, paint and let the historical style be the feature. 

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

I'd only strip if the wood grain is worth chasing after. Otherwise, paint and let the historical style be the feature.

I agree.  95% of the time, the time it takes to strip, would pay for the exact thing to be duplicated.

 

[AlexThePalex]

The other option is low grit Rotex on all the flats and just use the strip gel in the details.

That's how I would do it. But I'd use 80 grit as the lowest, perhaps 60, but not lower or you're adding lots of scratch marks that you don't want.

I'd only strip if the wood grain is worth chasing after. Otherwise, paint and let the historical style be the feature.

Agreed. Just paint the doors. Stripping them completely is a lot of work, depending on the style and the amount profiles in it it could take 5 or more hours to strip one single door.
 

 

[Vondawg]

Gotta agree with neilc have them dipped, by the time you do a good job (4hrs a door at min.) Times 20 and you've got some serious time in them..plus stripping detail comes from a lot of "doing it " over the years, and even then old soft grain and repairs causes even a good carbide scraper to mess things up. If just painting then the master "ScottB" is right on..let the historic be the feature and paint me up.

 

[WastedP]

When we bought our house three years ago, my daughter's bedroom did not have a door.  There was a pile of old doors in the garage, and one of them was a match.  The original house was built at the turn of the century, then an addition was built in the 20's when it was plumbed.  So this is the only interior door on the ground floor.  The jamb and casing had been replaced at some point with stained hemlock.  The door in the garage was painted, I bought an RO 125 last summer, so I figured I'd make short work of it.  I went at it with 100 grit in rotary mode.  It didn't take long to see that the wood under the paint was cedar.  I should've guessed, given how light the door was.  At that point I figured, in for a penny, in for a pound, and finished it out, fairly gingerly.  I used stripper and a scraper to clean it up.  I found a stain that was a pretty close match, and then sprayed it with water-based poly (Varathane, I think. Stuff left over from some other project).  The reality is that it was probably worth it for one door, and I like the look of the cedar.

If I had a dozen or two doors, I'd sand one to see if it's good looking fir, or just blah pine, or what.  If the wood grain is worth showing, I'd pay to have them dipped.  There's a furniture repair place on this side of town that can do it.  It's not real cheap, but the results are better than what I can do, and I'd rather have four or five hours of my life per door than the money.  If the wood grain is dull, I'd throw another layer of paint on it.

 

[wow]

Just thinking out loud, but wouldn't sanding the profiles on 20 doors be a good excuse reason to pick up an LS130?

 

[Scott B.]

Just thinking out loud, but wouldn't sanding the profiles on 20 doors be a good excuse reason to pick up an LS130?

Not really, unless you just plain want one. It is too big and doesn't do inside corners well. You can get it on some parts of profiles like these, but it comes with the risk of striping. Whatever you commit to, you have to do consistently.

This was one of a rare batch of antique oak doors we stripped a couple years ago. 4 total. This was after the initial flat sand strip, and just before chem app in the deets.

[attachthumb=1]

 

[socaljohn]

Just for the sake of information, does anyone have an idea what it would cost to have "a" door dip and stripped?  20 door batch? Thanks.

 

[wow]

Scott, THOSE doors I would spend 4-5 hours each to strip. And I don't even know what I'd do with them! But they sure are gorgeous...

 

[Scott B.]

Scott, THOSE doors I would spend 4-5 hours each to strip. And I don't even know what I'd do with them! But they sure are gorgeous...

Yes, those were worth doing. And they are very pricey to do, even with the best methods. Customer has to really want them.

At the other end of the spectrum, we had a guy show up at our shop last week with an antique door in the back of his truck. When we explained the process and potential costs, he picked up his door, grumbled "I am wasting your time" and promptly left.

 

[Scott B.]

Just for the sake of information, does anyone have an idea what it would cost to have "a" door dip and stripped?  20 door batch? Thanks.

If you can find a place that is set up to do it, I have heard that it runs about $100/door.

 

[WastedP]

This was one of a rare batch of antique oak doors we stripped a couple years ago. 4 total. This was after the initial flat sand strip, and just before chem app in the deets.

[attachthumb=1]

I would be willing to devote all the time needed to clean up a QSWO door like that, if I had one.

If it belonged to somebody else, I don't think they could afford what I would have to charge for that kind of time.

I would love to find a door like that for my home office.