Paint Stripping - any tips?
sw1966
I have a bathroom where the previous owner painted straight over an earlier paint job and now the top layer is peeling off. I also want to lose the bottom coat too and start again. Any good tips for stripping paint as fast and easily as possible. Where I live I cannot hire any tools but I do have a good steam cleaner (not tried it yet) and I have been using a hand tool! Advice would be appreciated!
catwoman708
I'm guessing someone painted over an oil based paint (often used in bathrooms) with latex paint and now its peeling, or is just peeling because of the humidity.I don't personally have much experience with chemical paint removers, and have found them to be messy, smelly, and you still have to scrape and sand.For sheet rocked walls, I'd just keep at it with a wire brush/paint scraper, then finish it off with sandpaper (1st coarse, then finer), or a screen pad (for drywall "sanding"), being careful not to sand off all the texture (unless you're also going to retexture). For wood trim, you can try scraping and sanding, or a heat gun and scraper. The heat gun is like a high-heat hair dryer type appliance. You aim the heat at the area (about 6" distance or as directions indicate) until the paint starts to bubble, and scrape with a metal scraper tool. Then follow up with sanding, priming, and repainting. Its very tedious, but the end result will be much better.If you don't get all the underlying paint off, don't worry, just get all the flaking areas off and smoothed. If using latex paint, you should probably use a primer coat. If you prep the area good with sanding, then wipe down residue with a damp sponge & let it dry, and use an oil based paint, you could probably skip the primer. I'd definitely recommend the oil based paint in a bathroom, it covers better, don't usually need a primer coat, and will hold up to the humidity and last much longer without flaking. And a good working exhaust fan is very important to help keep the humidity down.
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