How to Strip Paint from Wood

Stripping wood is a home improvement chore that not everyone has to do. Some people are perfectly fine with painted wood, and even enjoy it. But others like the beauty of natural wood, and prefer a stain. For older homes, there is often very interesting and unique woodwork, but it's also more likely that one of the previous owners didn't like the bare wood and decided to paint. If you choose to go for a more natural look, here are some tips to help you along.

First, you'll need to prepare the area and gather your tools. Paint stripping is horribly messy, and can also be dangerous. If you live in one of those older homes, you are putting yourself at risk of lead paint exposure. But stripping the paint is one of the safer methods of lead paint abatement if you do decide to remove it- provided you do it properly.

The tools you will need are a scraper, which should be a flat blade with a handle. Some will have small pointed areas, while others will simply be a flat rectangular piece of metal. Which kind you need depends on what type of work you're doing. If you have a lot of trim, the blade with the point might be useful, whereas if it's flat, you might get more use out of a flat blade.

In addition, you need thick leather gloves, some drop cloths (canvas are preferable to plastic), some tape, eyeglasses, thick, long sleeve clothing, paint stripper, and a lot of patience. This is not a quick task, and depending on the size of the area you are doing, you could be working on it for several months. Pick one area, and go little by little.

Tape any areas you don't want to remove paint from. This means you need to cover the walls next to the woodwork. This step can be avoided if you can remove the woodwork from the walls safely, but sometimes it's easier to remove it in place. Lay down the drop cloths, and put on the gloves and long sleeve clothing. You will need the protection from the stripper, because this is extremely caustic stuff.

As far as the type of stripper to use, I recommend getting the most powerful available. There are some that work within 15 minutes, but you also need to be advised that if you get even a small drop on your hand, you'll feel it burning before you even knew you dropped it there. The more powerful, the more caustic it will be. Once at the store, I was warned by an employee to make sure and remove all rags immediately, and store the paint stripper outside because it could spontaneously combust. And he said to wear eye protection because when opening the can, the fumes can escape too fast, and create a mist of paint stripper that will fly into your eyes, permanently blinding you. He's not kidding. This is a chemical designed to eat paint, and after watching it work once, you'll know that it's very serious stuff.

As for using it- simply brush it on (do not use a foam brush), and wait. After about 15 minutes, assuming you got a thick enough coat, you will come back with the blade and scrape the paint off, revealing the bare wood underneath. It works extremely well, and extremely fast, but it can be quite messy and dangerous work, so caution must still be taken.

Obviously, grooves and smaller areas will be an issue, so decorative trim is going to be much more difficult than a nice, flat plank. But with time and patience, the results will be worth it.

Once you finish, you will need to sand the areas before they are ready to stain. Again, be very cautious about this step, because if any lead based paint remains, you are creating an extremely dangerous situation.

Removing paint is a fairly advanced chore, but one that many homeowners can handle. By taking the time to do it properly, you can refinish the wood in your home and have beautiful, stained woodwork.