Stripping/restoring wooden door

[Gad-Westy]

We live in an early 20th century flat. It's got lovely oak panel interior doors that have unfortunately been painted in layer after layer of gloss.

I'd like to strip them back to the bare wood and then treat them to keep them looking good.

I've had a go on a small area with a heat gun and the vast majority of paint come off very easily but it leaves a white finish behind which I assume is the gloss that is between the grains that the scraper misses. The sander just about cuts through it but its hard work.

Just wondering if I'm missing a trick.

Would I better using paint stripper or a mixture of heat and stripper?

What type of scraper should I be using? At the moment it's a wooden kitchen spatula. This will definitely not work on the beading parts so any suggestions appreciated.

Once I'm down to a nice bare wood, what should I be using to treat the door?

Thanks in advance.

Edited by Gad-Westy on Wednesday 22 September 08:36

[Zeek]

I've done a lot of these. For very fine work, I use proper dental tools!

The quickest way is to mix caustic soda with wallpaper paste, slap it on, leave it in the garden for a while and hose it all off. Leave it a few weeks to dry properly, then wax.

All that said though, I'd just pay someone to dip them for me now

[Gad-Westy]

Zeek said:

I've done a lot of these. For very fine work, I use proper dental tools!

The quickest way is to mix caustic soda with wallpaper paste, slap it on, leave it in the garden for a while and hose it all off. Leave it a few weeks to dry properly, then wax.

All that said though, I'd just pay someone to dip them for me now

Cheers Zeek. I'm a bit wary about having them dipped. I had some wardrobe doors dipped a while ago and they came back in a right state.

Does your caustic soda method take literally all the paint off or would you normally have a couple of goes at it? Just hose it all off, with no scraping necessary? Sounds appealing! How long would you normally leave the mix on before hosing down?

[Zeek]

Gad-Westy said:

Zeek said:

I've done a lot of these. For very fine work, I use proper dental tools!

The quickest way is to mix caustic soda with wallpaper paste, slap it on, leave it in the garden for a while and hose it all off. Leave it a few weeks to dry properly, then wax.

All that said though, I'd just pay someone to dip them for me now

Cheers Zeek. I'm a bit wary about having them dipped. I had some wardrobe doors dipped a while ago and they came back in a right state.

Does your caustic soda method take literally all the paint off or would you normally have a couple of goes at it? Just hose it all off, with no scraping necessary? Sounds appealing! How long would you normally leave the mix on before hosing down?

It depends how thick the paint is, and what type. I've left it on for 30 mins or so in the past to clear a couple of doors with about 15 layers of lead paint on them, although I think you get better results by doing it in stages... less chance of the wood soaking it up in places that way. You can wipe the wood down with acid (vinegar) to neutralise the caustic soda after if it looks like the wood has taken much in. You'll know when the door is ready - just like with normal paint stripper...

It's not the cleanest way of doing it though. I usually only do it now on furniture, where it is really difficult to get in with scrapers and heat guns. It does work well as a cheap paint stripper. Maybe just substitute the hosing part for 'scraping into a bucket' for the sake of the greenies!

[B17NNS]

Chap near me does caustic and non caustic dipping for £20 a door.

Not worth getting your hands dirty.

[Gad-Westy]

Cheers, I'm starting to lean towards the idea of handing it over to the pros. Have a price of £25 locally and about a week turn around. He says it would be properly neutralised and ready to sand and wax. Tempting. Any chance that my door is going to fall apart or is this a fairly risk free process?

[Penny-lope]

B17NNS said:

Chap near me does caustic and non caustic dipping for £20 a door.

Not worth getting your hands dirty.

Don't suppose he'd fancy a drive up to Dundee would he?

[rovermorris999]

IMHO dipped doors never look the same again. It's likely to bugger the glue in the joints. Messy and time-consuming though it is, I'd rather DIY with caustic just on the surface.

[W66OCH]

My dipped Pine doors were a bit hit & miss, some came back with the slightly warped centre panels, I have found Nitromoors/Sander a longer but better option perhaps oak doors will fair better in the vat