Cleaning Old Paint Of Off Woodwork
I have a house I bought. The last owners painted everything.. I am currently putting a clean coat on but the previous painting wasn't done very clean. The taping was poor and paint is all over the woodwork and everywhere else. What can I use to remove this paint without removing the stain? :-(
[addsig]
Try using Tri Sodium Phosphate (TSP). It is available in the paint dept of your local Home Depot or Lowes. It will work best for latex (water based paint).
It is a white powder. Follow the directions for mixing. I would use about 2 cups in a 3 gal bucket. Use warm - hot water so it dissolves well. Sponge on the solution repeatedly, keeping the area wet. Wait about 3 - 5 minutes or until the paint build up softens. Then rub the surface with medium or finer steel wool # 00, 0 or Medium until the paint is removed. Maybe even use a Scotchbrite pad. The idea is to use a pad or steel wool that will remove the paint but not the underlying finish. The TSP is almost harmless. Read the carton.
If that doesn't work you can try the other paint remover solutions on the shelf. Try "Goop" paint remover, (orange spray bottle) would be my next choice, but these will most likely begin to remove the stain or finish.
Don't spray these on as it will affect surrounding areas. Use a sponge or cloth. Try a small area first.
Thanks. Appreciate the help. Will the paint come off easy? I have some spots that may be hard to get to. They are in a corner.
ddmott: I use an old toothbrush to get in little corners.
Stoooooooop. Dont put the tsp on the wood work. It sounds like you are removing excess paint buy a bad paint job. tsp is to prep surfaces to take paint. The way to remove paint from a surface you want to keep is by using denatured achohol. the tsp will degloss the varnish not remove paint.
TSP is almost harmless? That's not what the labels on any of the TSP I use says, not in the least. I've never used TSP to remove paint, nor heard of using it for that before.
What is denatured achohol?
Quote:
On 2005-01-18 13:28, jstrompainting wrote:
Stoooooooop. Dont put the tsp on the wood work. It sounds like you are removing excess paint buy a bad paint job. tsp is to prep surfaces to take paint. The way to remove paint from a surface you want to keep is by using denatured achohol. the tsp will degloss the varnish not remove paint.
[addsig]
I'm not sure if this tsp or not but I have always used Goof-Off for small areas. Also at lowes or HD
So that stuff on the label about wearing rubber gloves to avoid skin irritation and the thing about if you get in your eyes to flush with water for 20 minutes and seek immediate medical treatment is just there for the lawyers?
Hey, ya learn something everyday!
Denatured alchol is made to take off paint with out damaging most surfaces. But test first like on plastics or rubbers. For the tsp it will work on some thing just like water will remove day old paint. but cured paint is tough. If you want to use the tsp dilute it cause if you notice tsp has a sandy texture that will scratch and degloss so dilute a lot, but i think that will still waste your time. There are so many different scenerios so let me know the exact problem like how long the paints been there and the areas.