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dipping doors....yes or no....
- Thread starter woolpack
- Start date
another_richard
Member
- Messages
- 142
- Location
- South coast
Same question, same number of doors.
Anyone help?
Anyone help?
Lime
Member
- Messages
- 2,749
- Location
- East of England
You will regret dipping an old door.
Many fall apart, shrink, split and distort.
It may seem a quick way of doing a tedious job but hand stripping gives a better result in the long run.
There are several ways of stripping off the paint/varnish of yesteryear.
I have often used a heat gun but some skill and care is needed to do a good job.
Examine the door shapes and mouldings and try-for-size beforehand what you intent to scrape off the paint with.
Some doors require several different shaped scrapers to do a good and effective job.
Do the intricate mouldings first.
The biggest mistake many beginners make is to start stripping the "easy" flat places.
That will make stripping the difficult areas much harder as the already stripped wood will scorch.
Use the old paint to protect the easy parts while tackling the more difficult.
Also it is far better to try and get all the layers of paint off in one go so ensure the heat is applied for long enough.
Alternatively, other posters on this forum have used poultices to remove old paint and will be able to advise you on that.
Many fall apart, shrink, split and distort.
It may seem a quick way of doing a tedious job but hand stripping gives a better result in the long run.
There are several ways of stripping off the paint/varnish of yesteryear.
I have often used a heat gun but some skill and care is needed to do a good job.
Examine the door shapes and mouldings and try-for-size beforehand what you intent to scrape off the paint with.
Some doors require several different shaped scrapers to do a good and effective job.
Do the intricate mouldings first.
The biggest mistake many beginners make is to start stripping the "easy" flat places.
That will make stripping the difficult areas much harder as the already stripped wood will scorch.
Use the old paint to protect the easy parts while tackling the more difficult.
Also it is far better to try and get all the layers of paint off in one go so ensure the heat is applied for long enough.
Alternatively, other posters on this forum have used poultices to remove old paint and will be able to advise you on that.
Penners
Member
- Messages
- 17,294
- Location
- Suffolk, England
An emphatic no, for the reasons that Lime has already explained. Bad for the wood, bad for the glue joints.woolpack said:yes or no to dipping?
It all depends on who does the dipping, and with what.
Aeons ago we had some doors stripped by a really good firm (sorry - far too long ago for me to remember who they were). We did what they said: neutralised them with vinegar, rinsed thoroughly, applied wax with 0000000000 wire wool, and they were wonderful.
More recently we had more doors stripped (different area, different firm) and it was a disaster.
If I had to do it again I think I'd go for the poultice method (Strippers of Sudbury). It worked a treat on our sash windows.
Aeons ago we had some doors stripped by a really good firm (sorry - far too long ago for me to remember who they were). We did what they said: neutralised them with vinegar, rinsed thoroughly, applied wax with 0000000000 wire wool, and they were wonderful.
More recently we had more doors stripped (different area, different firm) and it was a disaster.
If I had to do it again I think I'd go for the poultice method (Strippers of Sudbury). It worked a treat on our sash windows.
Penners
Member
- Messages
- 17,294
- Location
- Suffolk, England
I agree with Moo, but be careful which of Strippers' strippers (try saying that with a mouthful of Rich Tea biscuit) you use on softwood. Ask their advice before you buy.