Beam renovation

[Esther]

Has anyone successfully stripped paint off old beams. Tried wire brush and paint stripper but very hard work. Has anyone tried a peel away paint stripper or sandblasted the beams themselves?

 

[livias]

Don't sandblast or you will end up with a crunchie bar effect
A peelaway type stripper is the thing to use. It takes a long time to do and is boring and messy (I am looking at a house full old oak timbers painted black which will need to be stripped one day :roll: ) but you do get up speed as you go ... There are various different products depending on what type of paint you are trying to strip. I will be buying a trial pack
http://www.stripperspaintremovers.com/trial_packs.htm
from my friends at Strippers Paint Removers to do tests to find out which one is right for my paint

Anna

 

[plasticpigeon]

I've had success with Peelaway (not on beams but on a bay window), but on oak, make sure the poultice you use is not caustic based or your beams will turn black. Make sure it is just solvent based, so Peelaway 7 is the one to use, not Peelaway 1.

 

[noj]

It's very boring and very messy - I've just completed my main room using kling-strip and lots of scrubbing and washing

It did do a great job though at getting the paint off...

I believe others have enjoyed a less painful experience with the jetwash/vac tool that strippers sell but I thought that was potentially too wet for a space were living in at the same time

 

[angrybird]

I was fortunate enough that the beams had originally been lime washed and then glossed in black! so the paint came off quite easily with a paint scraper and again lots of washing and drying.

 

[Zebra]

I used whatever Strippers of Sudbury recommended to get white gloss paint off, I can't remember whether it was Kling-Strip or something else. It was fine, a bit messy but not too bad. You lather it on, cover it with cling-film if I remember correctly, then wash the lot off. Or something like that. Anyway, it has not a scrap of paint remaining, and is undamaged.

 

[skier-hughes]

I used klingstrip and their vacwash. Not that messy, we weren't really living in the rooms at the time, but one was a kitchen which needed to be used for some things.
I did the kitchen first, then decided it'd be best to do the bedroom before doing anything nice to the kitchen.
Beams now look great.