Paint Stripping on Trim: Anyone ever hire it out?

[TechieTechie]

Well, the amount of Cleveland area homes with painted original interior trim is astounding. Sad, really.

I have my eye on a few homes, but because I want a larger yard, they are bigger than I really need. And every single one has painted woodwork (well, in my pricerange). Which means a lot of trim to strip. And, given my experience with the Smelly House, I am seriously considering hiring out the painted trim stripping (so that I can get the first floor trim done, and refinish the HWFs on the 1st and 2nd floors before moving in). Outsourcing this would be a lot easier, particularly since it's just me and the dog.

Anyone ever done this? I know it's easy to strip trim (I do have a silent stripper that I used on Smelly), I just don't think I want to. I've got a kitchen to un-remuddle, baths to do, failing exterior paint to deal with, and a yard that looks like a jungle. Plenty to keep me busy.

TIA

[Gothichome]

Jen, depending on the quality and style of the trim you may be able to just replace it with new. How old are the homes you are looking at, Victorian, craftsman, mid century? Those may be hard though to find a good match.

[1918ColonialRevival]

If you are looking at houses built in the 1900-1930 range, which was right around the peak years of Cleveland's growth, a lot of the trim of that era was originally painted. Especially trim found in Neoclassical and Colonial revival style houses.

Stripping trim is a messy and time consuming job, as you already know. For someone who has experience to do it right, you'd spend thousands in labor hours alone.

[phil]

I hired a commercial stripper but she just wanted to dance around the living room seriously though. It really is a labor of love. In my attic it was missing so I opted to just buy really long fir planks. you can build out the backside edge to prevent buying full 1 " stuff. then get away with 3/4" which is more common. I usually strip it but I needed a lot so that was faster but expensive. you can buy the 1/4 round easily. and stuff like the strips that hold the windows in I don't bother stripping, its easy just to run off some new ones. Ive even made casings hollow, jut 1/4" material with some fancy joinery to cover the fact they are hollow. no one sees inside there and strength isn't an issue. I try to use reclaimed old growth where I can. keep your eye on "materials" in Craigslist. I found one guy that replaced all his trim with new MDF crap and gave me all his original stuff that left me with lots to work with.

using power sanders, or a thickness planer you can get the paint off faster than nit picking. I use the tablesaw blade on the edges, take slight bit off. re-cut the round overs. If they are thinner I make that up on the backside. Its still lots of work and some dust.

a good option might be to focus on the bones, the mechanical the roof etc and leave that fiddly stuff to the last. It doesn't mind waiting. I pulled all mine out of the living room, Just finished the drywall to the floor and to the window frames. that made the room usable. Now I'm slowly working on stripping each piece and putting it back, but I do that as time permits. I bought a dust collector hoping I can do some in winter because the fans blow all the heat out otherwise and my only space is in the basement. In summer I want to do other stuff. I' just give it a coat of dainish oil and turps and put it back. later I can do more coats like that in place with windows open in summertime. I'm building it out about 3/8" so later I can put wainscott or panels and not bury the trim. I find if I do a lot of that stuff I just want to switch jobs after a while , have a break from it. I'd limit how many things you take on at once or it becomes a slippery slope of good intentions until you feel swamped.

[Munch517]

I keep thinking there has to be a better, more efficient way to strip paint than what I've been doing, I'm always interested to hear people's methods. I can't imagine hiring any reasonably competent person would be even remotely affordable, if you do find them send them my way next.

There are tools that can remove paint with a laser now and I've seen ones that work on wood. Trouble is that they cost in the tens of thousands of dollars, that's one of those technologies I expect might become affordable within the next decade or so.

[Kashka-Kat]

Whoa, Im going to say be super cautious about idea of replacing trim - wood even into the early 1900s was still high quality old growth wood and simply cannot be replaced (except possibly via salvage yard at no small cost, even assuming you get lucky and find enough in one place thats right size etc. ) However some modest houses only had thin simple straight trim out of lower grade wood and as stated above, may have originally been painted so replacing that would be OK IMHO, since it would not be a decline in quality.

Some people say remove the trim and take it somewhere to be stripped - again Id be SUPER CAUTIOUS cos removing it is likely to cause damage to the plaster. The trim kind of has the effect of holding the plaster in place firmly against the lath so if you pull it off it will loosen and you may find a lot more of it falling off than youd like- that trim is often held in place with some big honkin nails so the act of yanking them out may contribute to large area of plaster failing. Actually thats another argument against replacing trim - the amount of plaster repair or replacement thats needed may far exceed any time you save by not stripping the wood..

So... what to do....I would approach it with the idea that the whole house would not need to be stripped, at least at first. I would start with living room/dining room/other main floor living areas/staircase but leave kitchen, baths, bedrooms painted for now (often old houses originally had unpainted good wood in the main more public areas of the house and lesser quality sometimes painted wood in the other areas)

Realize that you might get lucky and find a place where they didnt do a good prep job so the paint would come off VERY easily. If there is a thick layer of shellac the paint will come right off in large sheets with heat gun. I had a house once where the cheap ugly latex paint literally melted right off with hot water and a scrub brush. If you post pics and details of wood and the condition we could tell you best approach. Before you proceed it should be possible to determine if it had originally been painted - if so paint will be stuck deep in the pores and would be pretty much impossible to completely remove, in which case I would just get it back to be a smooth paintable surface and repaint.

Good question - Ive had the same issue as I start looking. Its only been in last 10-20 yrs that people have madly been slapping white paint on everything - often cos realtors tell them that buyers want that.

[mjt]

However some modest houses only had thin simple straight trim out of lower grade wood and as stated above, may have originally been painted so replacing that would be OK IMHO, since it would not be a decline in quality.

If it was originally painted, why do you want to strip it? Much like the idea of painting everything white is silly, so is the idea that all trim must be stained/varnished.

Different periods and architectural styles did things differently, regardless of whether the home was modest or not. For example, compare the "great hall" of our house with the great hall of one down the street. Both are by the same nationally renowned architect 2 or 3 years apart. One is a Richardsonian Romanesque with varnished trim originally and the other is a Georgian Colonial Revival with painted trim originally.

[phil]

I keep thinking there has to be a better, more efficient way to strip paint than what I've been doing, I'm always interested to hear people's methods. I can't imagine hiring any reasonably competent person would be even remotely affordable, if you do find them send them my way next.

There are tools that can remove paint with a laser now and I've seen ones that work on wood. Trouble is that they cost in the tens of thousands of dollars, that's one of those technologies I expect might become affordable within the next decade or so.

just have a crack at it. pry off a board carefully, strip it put it back then worry about the next thing. . dont be afraid. the techniques vary and so do the shapes, so if you can post a pic we can offer suggestions.

If you think the wood is irreplaceable then it's worth sharing a picture. Ive never found a board in my 1924 home that can't be replaced or replicated. If you want to save cracked plaster that's another skill you'll pick up as you go. The thing to avoid is setting expectations that are out of reach. try heat gun and a carbide scraper and go for it. once you have most of it off break out the belt sander, you'll have your board down to bare wood in no time, then you can sand it a bit more nicely by hand, apply a nice finish and put it back. the experience you'll get from that will decrease your fears and you'll either love it or hate it. Just start with a little board in the back of a closet. With experience you will know more than we can put in words. While you are at it you will be thinking is there an easy way? , and you will read up a bit and find and think up all sorts of ideas and techniques. then if you have more questions just ask, there is a wealth of experience and varied opinions here and we are all happy to help.

[phil]

when I did my attic, since it had no baseboards. I bought planks of edge grain knot free fir. it was tight grain. If you get the planks a tad wider than you need you can use that strip ( from the same board along behind the top edge and then since it's from the same board you wont be able to see the joint.

do the same on the bottom edge , now your 3/4" plank is 1 inch or what you like.

In my other rooms I'm either replacing what was there or using salvaged ones. one was 19 feet long and had outlet cutouts. I did a beveled miter and with the strips clamped it up and installed it.

the existing was all flat grain fir, so in actuality the wood I used for the attic was of higher quality than original. That was fast because it was all new lumber.

I only did that because it didn't already exist but It would be a fast way and an acceptable result.

to me the wood in houses is like chrome on cars. now its all chromed plastic if it even has any, some paint the chrome on old cars because it's cheaper. If you are lucky to have a 57 chev or something the chrome is a big part of why it's nice. new houses are like that they ave more fake wood than real wood. pictures of what wood looked like. I even see laminate with a photograph finish with short joints all along it. !

I feel it really sets an old house off to unpaint it, show off the contrast, the ribbon and detail of the wood. It's a beautiful feature. I can see the point of saying it was always painted but even if it was, I don't feel unpainting it is damaging unless it's a museum.

I guess you can hire anything out that you like to if you are in a financial position to do so, but that's no fun to me.

how about teaming up with someone local and starting a work sharing thing? then you aren't doing it all alone. No cost but you can help them back or pay them to keep it fair.

part of the satisfaction and fun is showing others your accomplishments. The dog is good company but he is hard to impress in this way I know everyone wants to social distance but maybe you can let one person into your bubble. I know some are social distancing to the point of it causing depression and anxiety so I guess it's a balance.

[Gothichome]

MJ, that is a really nice entrance you posted, do you have a pic of your entrance to offer. It would be nice to compare the differences in styles between a light airy colonial revival and heavy looking Richardsonian.
Phill, yes, there is a certain satisfaction in doing it yourself.