Home Our old house - need help!

[Elmorton]

Yesterday afternoon, DH and I started stripping the paint from the trim in our bedroom (house is circa 1925, but the paint was likely applied less than two years ago when the house was flipped, since there is only one layer). We started out using a chemical stripper and then our neighbor brought over a heat gun. We have two windows nearly finished (we think! - this relates to my ?) and two doors and the baseboards to go. The room is very small - 13x9.

Three questions:
1) When do we stop scraping? On the first window (the chemically stripped one) there''s still a few bits left that we''ve tried and tried to get off. We also wiped it down with the scrubby side of a sponge/denatured alcohol.

2) How should we proceed next? Baseboards? Doors? How long is this going to take? We have friends coming at the end of the week...are we SOL?:

3) What are the next steps we should be taking? This is our first house and neither of us have ever done a project like this. We figured out the stripping stuff from old house reno blogs, and our neighbor showed us how to use the heat gun, but past that, we still need a little hand holding. Stain recommendations? Other steps we need to take? Any tips would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[Festy]

What a great and excruciating project! I want to take on our dining room but am so completely intimidated. I was going to recommend taking the doors off the hinges and laying them on sawhorses to make things easier. But then I noticed you have guests coming (are they staying w/you?) and might want some doors on your bedroom!

The other thing you can do is take them down and have them dipped...by someone who does these things. If you end up leaving them on, I''d do the baseboards last. Usually best to start at the top with these things. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[sap483]

We have an old house and have been renovating ourselves for the last two years. Here are my thoughts.

I would recommend sanding the trim, baseboards and doors. It will smooth and prep the surface so that the paint or stain you apply adheres better. It will also remove any leftover paint. Since you've already stripped most of the paint, you probably will want to use a finer grit of sandpaper on your sander. Do take the baseboards and doors off if you can. After sanding, make sure you clean off the service well before applying paint or stain.

As for your guests, it depends on how many hours you can devote to the project this week. To do a good job, you're going most likely need to apply two thin coats of primer and two thin coats of paint (tip: if your trim has knots and you want to hide them, put about 2-3 thin coats of shellac on top of the knots before priming). If you stain it you'll have to apply multiple thin coats of stain until it gets to the color you want, plus a sealer (there are also products that combine the stain and polyurethane; however the color selection is more limited). You'll have to allow several hours of dry time in between coats of paint or stain. Also, if it's very humid out, the dry time is a bit longer.

Hope that helps

 

[Steel]

Do you plan on painting the wood again or are you removing the paint to get a more natural (wood) finish?

 

[purrfectpear]

I believe she''s staining.

A sander sounds good until you realize that she has very old baseboards and molding and I''m guessing they''re more intricate than modern molding?

Stick with the heat gun as it''s working, and sand by hand after.

I don''t think you''ll get it all done and dry by the end of the week. Go ahead and do the scrape/sand and leave it unfinished until the guests leave. That way you won''t be tempted to rush the job

 

[Steel]

Thanks PP.

I am surprised that the chemical stripper is not giving you better results. Is the wood very dented? Not having seen it I would continue with the heat and scraper (gently) and then with the chemical stripper. But be careful to get a strong stripper (

) and make sure to leave it on for as long as recommended (but be sure to check it regularly to make sure it does not dry on the wood). Then use a wire wool (and gloves) to remove the stripper. Then wipe with the neutraliser. Repeat as required. Then use a high grade sandpaper to finish.

I ditto PP to take your time. Do as much as you can before the guests arrive but do not rush. Better to apologise for the finish than regret a hastily applied one!

About stain it depends on what the rest of the house looks like. Are you thinking natural or dark? It is a great idea to use the reverse of a piece of wood you will be finishing to ascertain how the stain will take. Best also to colour swatch the same way you would with paint - to make sure it suits the wood, space and house.

 

[Elmorton]

Thanks all!!!

To answer the question - I am staining afterward. I just realized this morning that the woodwork in our guest room is super shiny (shellac I think after reading blogs) so I think it would look best if our bedroom matched that. Should we shellac everything after we stain it? I stained some other stuff in the house (a railing and a nighstand - nothing huge) and it was shiny when I was done, but not the same as the other woodwork in the house.

Our guests this weekend are one of my close friends on Friday night and then DH''s brother on Saturday night. I''ve already called my friend and explained that she may have to sleep on the couch instead of in the guest room, and she laughed and said it''s fine, and DH''s brother will roll with the punches, too - but man, I really wanted to be done before people came!! Luckily, we have a lot of stuff planned with them, so we won''t be in the house much anyway. I''m a bit of a neatfreak, so having my dresser drawers siting in the dining room is already driving me nuts. But DH and I agreed that you are all right - there''s no sense in rushing this and our guests will understand our disorder.

So - the update: Last night we use the chemical stuff on the window that we''d heat gunned, since we hadn''t tried to heat off the stuff in the ridges and there was still a little paint left on it. We globbed it on and then waited 15 minutes before going back in. This time, the job went a LOT easier. DH figures that we did the second window in about 3 hours of total work whereas the first window took probably 5. The wood underneath all this paint is simply gorgeous...it kills me that someone would paint it. Anyway, so I think that''s going to be our standard plan: 1) Heat gun 2) Chemical stripper 3)Denatured alcohol (I found a blog tip to put this in a spray bottle and it went great!) and then before we stain, we''re going to hand sand everything with fine grit (thanks Sap!).

We''re going to try to take the door of the closet off tonight and start in on that. I have a feeling it''s not going to be very easy, because everything (screws, the stem of the door knob) was painted over, too. Luckily, we don''t have anything intricate in the woodwork - just some ridges. The baseboard is completely flat, but I''m nervous about using the heat gun since it''s so close the the carpet. I love my DH, but since we''re both novices, I trust him with that heat gun about as much as I trust myself (which is not at all). I''m convinced we''re going to set something on fire before this is all over.

Thank you also for your tips about the staining. Do you have any tips about matching the stain with the rest of the house? I''m really nervous about picking the right color.

I''ve been taking a bunch of photos, so maybe I can get one of these to attach.

Again, thanks so much for your help and advice!!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

El, it''s going to be a PITA, but you should really remove the baseboards before stripping them. Especially if you have carpet.

 

[Burk]

Date: 5/5/2009 10:08:43 AM
Author: Elmorton

Thank you also for your tips about the staining. Do you have any tips about matching the stain with the rest of the house? I''m really nervous about picking the right color.


I''ve been taking a bunch of photos, so maybe I can get one of these to attach.


Again, thanks so much for your help and advice!!

We have an older home and when we renovated our kitchen we had to replace some crown molding, therefor having to match the stain. My DH took a piece of our current crown mold in to our local paint store and they matched it for us.

 

[Elmorton]

Date: 5/5/2009 10:38:47 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
El, it''s going to be a PITA, but you should really remove the baseboards before stripping them. Especially if you have carpet.

Please....no.....

Does it make a difference if the carpet is going to be replaced probably later this summer anyway?

I''m guessing not? OK, so now I need some tips on how to remove baseboards. Thanks Hudson for the heads up, even if it''s not what I wanted to hear!!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Take a straight edge razer and run it down the length of the baseboard where it hits the paint (razer down towards the floor). This will ensure that there is no paint sealing the space between the BB and the wall,the paint could chip. Then take a pry bar (also called a crow bar) and very gently try and pry the boards off the wall. There might be a special tool for this, check at Home Depot. Use a hammer to pop the nails out the front and then strip/sand/paint as required. I''m sure this isn''t absolutely necessary, but trust me. The difficulty you have taking them off the wall doesn''t compare to trying to strip/sand/paint them on the wall. If you choose to keep them on the wall, just make sure you carefully tape/plastic over the carpet.

 

[Elmorton]

We have the door about 3/4 of the way done - still going to keep working on it tonight even though it''s already almost 9:30. Ugh...

I uploaded my before and after pics to the computer so far, so I thought I''d show y''all the process. Also, my dad and grandma were apparently commiserating and called me to say that they don''t think we should take off the baseboards because that could cause the plaster walls to crack or be less stable. Eeek. So I think the baseboards are staying - we''re just not sure yet what route we''re going to take in terms of heat gunning or chemicals, and my dad is trying to talk me into some crazy sander. So we''ll see how that goes.

Here''s the picture of the two windows, and you can see the baseboards - pretty simple. The wood that we''ve been unearthing on the door is just gorgeous, but I haven''t taken any pics quite yet (I''m hoping that by documenting all this it will be a reminder to DH and me to NEVER do this again!!). I can''t wait until everything is finished.

 

[iluvcarats]

I know this doesn''t help you now

, but for future projects, there are companies around here that dip doors and trim, and it isn''t that expensive. you just bring it them and they do it. Maybe you have one near you?

 

[somethingshiny]

You''ve gotten a lot of good advice, but I wanted to add one thing. Using steel wool BEFORE sandpaper will remove residual paint from the nooks and crannies of the wood with less work. If you use sand paper first (on old wood) you increase the chance of melting the paint into the wood. (lots of friction creates lots of heat and lots of pressure causes paint to melt into the wood and become nearly impossible to free)


Also, it''s MUCH easier to strip if it''s removed from the wall. You can then increase your ventilation by placing it outdoors. Most of the old boards are easily removed. Just run a box knife across the top to loosen any paint that is adhering it to the wall and pry up gently.