How To Scrape Paint Off Window Trim

How To: Remove Paint from Trim and Molding

Use this handy guide—and an even handier tool—to restore the clean lines of forest trim that has been gunked up by layers of paint jobs from decades past.

Photo: istockphoto.com

Walls framed by baseboards and crown molding exude unmistakable character and polish, well-nigh notably in historical homes adorned by ornate crown moldings, built-in bookcases, and pocket doors. Decades of pigment, however, can detract from the craftsmanship of these beautiful elements, blur their clean lines, and obscure the woods's natural beauty.

Whether you're trying to restore antiquarian wainscoting, window casings, or a once-cute built-in bookcase, the virtually crucial—and, unfortunately, also the toughest—office will probably be stripping the quondam paint from the sections of decorative trim earlier applying stain or a fresh glaze of paint. Don't go discouraged. While removing layers of pigment from intricate trim is labor-intensive, the correct tools and techniques (and a little patience) tin can return even the most elaborate moldings and custom woodwork to their erstwhile good looks.

Tools & Materials

• Protective goggles
• Respirator mask
• Work gloves
• Drop cloth
• Chemical paint stripper
• Paintbrush
• See full listing «
• HYDE Quick-Release Profile Scraper
• 80-dust cream sanding cake
• lxxx-dust sandpaper
• 120-dust foam sanding block
• 120-dust sandpaper
• Rotary tool with sanding bit
• Wood bleach
• Cotton Rags
• Tack cloth

STEP 1: Protect yourself and the room, and ensure adequate ventilation.

First, pull on your protective gear—old wear, goggles, a respirator mask, and solvent-resistant gloves—and then start prepping your work area.

Mantle a chemic-resistant tarp or drop cloth over the floor equally well as over any large effects that can't be moved or built-ins that aren't part of the chore. While a few of the newer paint strippers on the marketplace are low-VOC, which means that they contain fewer volatile organic compounds, many emit toxic fumes, so acceptable ventilation is essential. Open a window and employ fans to create a cross cakewalk, and if your stripping projection is on the larger side, consider erecting barriers to reroute pes traffic around the project surface area—especially if you're living in the house while you're working on information technology.

The upside to stripping paint from trim is that yous tin do a piddling chip here and there, every bit fourth dimension permits. You won't have to set aside an unabridged weekend and work from dawn to dark, but you should however steer your household members away from the piece of work zone in the meantime.

Pace ii: Brush a pigment stripper onto the molding.

Next, utilise paint stripper to the trim or molding with a natural-bristle paintbrush. (Plastic bristles can melt when dipped in stripper.)

The trick to dissolving onetime paint successfully is to follow the manufacturer'due south instructions to the letter. Not all strippers work the same way. Some ambitious strippers soften pigment in as picayune equally 30 minutes, while others require hours of wait time and repeated applications. Some are runny, and some accept a gel consistency. Brand certain, no thing what type of stripper you're using, to apply it carefully to all the creases and tiny nooks plant in detailed trim, working it in with the tips of the bristles.

Brush on only as much stripper as you have the time to scrape after the pigment loosens. If the stripper dries before you scrape it abroad, you'll take to reapply it.

Find trusted local pros for any home project

+

Photograph: hydetools.com

Pace iii: Scrape away the softened paint.

Once the solvent has ready for its required amount of fourth dimension, pare abroad softened paint with a contour scraper, such as the HYDE Quick-Release Contour Scraper (view on Amazon). This handy tool replaces a dozen carve up scraping devices thanks to its six swappable stainless steel blades—each featuring ii distinctly dissimilar scraping tips—that will fit virtually every size curve and contour you volition encounter on wood trim. And with the tool's quick-release feature, it'southward a cinch to switch blades. One time y'all have affixed the appropriate bract for the section of trim you lot're working on, begin scraping the softened paint, keeping one difficult-and-fast dominion in heed: Pull, don't button! Past pulling the blade at an approximately 45-degree angle, y'all will safely remove loosened paint without excavation chunks out of the wood.

If the trim has multiple layers of erstwhile paint, as is common in many historical homes, yous may have to repeat stripper awarding and scraping until you reach blank forest.

STEP 4: Sand the molding in the direction of the grain.

Sand the trim with eighty-grit sandpaper or, better however, an 80-grit foam sanding cake, which more hands fits itself to the curves and creases constitute in trim work. Always sand in the direction of the wood grain to avoid leaving cross-sanding marks. When the wood is no longer rough and the stale bits of residual paint accept been rubbed off, switch to 120-grit for extra smoothness.

For intricate wood rosettes or detailed trim ornaments that you tin't adequately sand with sandpaper or a foam sanding block, you tin can endeavor using a handheld rotary tool fitted with a pointed sanding fleck. Proceed with great circumspection, though, as one slip tin can gouge the forest. Brand sure the lighting is good, apply extremely calorie-free force per unit area, and take frequent breaks until the job is complete.

STEP five: Bleach the forest molding if you lot plan to stain information technology next.

In some cases, the erstwhile paint may go out behind a tinge of color on the wood grain. If you plan to utilise a smooth layer or two of fresh paint, this seeped-in color won't affect your projection. Merely, if you're going to stain the wood, y'all volition start demand to bleach information technology. Woods bleaching removes color stains, but it also lightens the natural wood grain. If y'all're refinishing a walnut staircase, for example, plan on applying a quality walnut stain afterwards to restore the woods's natural tones.

Choose a woods bleach formulated to remove pigment-based color, rather than household bleach, which irritates skin and mucous membranes and removes just dye-based colour. Have the same prophylactic precautions with the wood bleach that you lot took when applying the stripper, and follow the manufacturer's application instructions closely. Near wood bleach products come in liquid form, which is then wiped on with a clean rag and left to dry. As bleaching wood raises its grain, lightly sand the color-free trim once more until information technology's smoothen enough to wipe a tack cloth over the surface without snagging. Make sure the forest is thoroughly dry earlier applying stain or other blanket.

This post has been brought to you past Hyde Tools. Its facts and opinions are those of BobVila.com.

Source: https://www.bobvila.com/articles/how-to-remove-paint-from-trim-and-molding/

Posted by: riveraheivices.blogspot.com

Share this post