by pbp »
Tue Feb 10, 2009 12:18 pm
Hi Dan
Let me tell you that Caustic Stripping is a good way of getting the paint off your doors, but unfortunately the companies that use this method will immerse your doors for such a long time they will end up saturated with caustic.
This will result in the doors probably never drying out in places, joints coming apart in about 6 months time and total discolouration of the timber. If the doors were left to float in the tank and worked on one by one until the paint had been removed then I would recommend it. (also the caustic is usually heated to boling point which also does damage, but if they heated it at a lower temp they could leave it in the tank longer)
This only relates to pine by the way and never consider having any hard wood stripped in caustic. The other method is solvent stripping but with the high dangers of this method (result being solvents coming out of the wood for weeks after into your home) is not one I would advise.
Doors are probably one of the worst things you could consider stripping as they have so many coats of paint on them, and it is so hard to remove it from all the mouldings.
I would consider caustic stipping, but go and see how they work and thier results first, otherwise buy some Home Strip (projects page under paint stripping) and do it yourself by hand.
