Hi again! So this is an ongoing project that I had hoped would be a weekend quickie, but it is proving to be a little more difficult than I had originally hoped. I found this table in a warehouse (a.k.a. FREE!) and thought it had a lot of potential! I haven't ever had to strip paint before, so here's my experience... so far.
To start this project, you'll need:
Paint stripper
Gloves (preferably some made for stripping paint)
Firm scraper
Bucket (that you don't mind throwing away)
Dropcloth
This table started off with a few layers of dirty white paint that had chipped and peeled, so that was the first thing that had to go. Here's what the table looked like after a light scraping (no stripper applied yet).
I went to Ace and opted for some low-fume spray paint stripper instead of the liquid paint-on kind, hoping it would be less messy (and less stinky). The kind I got happened to be orange, so I could see where I had sprayed and where I needed to spray more, and it actually worked pretty well. The only problem with this particular spray stripper is that I could only get what you see in this picture sprayed down before I emptied the can. You want to get a pretty thick layer of stripper down, so I figured I'd do what I could and worry about the rest later. Here's the table right after the first spray...
The instructions on the can said to let the stripper sit for about 30 minutes, so after a half hour, I went out to see if it had done its job. The paint was literally falling off the legs! I was pretty surprised that it would work in 30 minutes, so I thought the rest of the job would be easy.
I bought a firm scraper (you can find these in the paint sections at any home improvement store) and went to town! (TIP: Don't forget to wear gloves and yucky clothes - I didn't do either, and ended up with irritated fingertips and a new crappy t-shirt!!)
So this is where it starts to get messy. The stripper did such a good job that it literally liquified the paint, and that combined with the residual stripping chemical made a nasty brown goo that I ended up scraping off instead. It was kind of hard to get the goo into the bucket and I ended up dripping it all over the patio, so make sure you use a dropcloth when you do it! This is what the paint-goo looks like:
After I got to this point, I went back to Ace and bought the liquid stripper (the spray is a lot more expensive than the liquid) and a paint brush, and empty paint cans to hold the liquid after I was done.
Unfortunately, the liquid stripper didn't work as well as the spray.... So after waiting the recommended 30 minutes after application and not being able to scrape much of anything off, I quit. Don't judge - it was cold outside! I also thought that after a night outside, the residual goo on the table that I couldn't get off with the scraper would dry and I could sand it off, but that is not what happened. I read you are supposed to use mineral spirits to get the nasty off, but I haven't tried it yet, because it's been so cold outside, and honestly, I haven't wanted to go near the table. The goo in the bucket (after a week) was still in goo form, so it went buh-bye in last Monday's trash pickup. I think I might go at it with an orbital sander and see what happens, because I really would like to not have to deal with caustic chemicals that don't really work again. Plus, using the sander is so much fun! I also hope the sander can get through the laminate stuff that is under the nasty paint. I want to strip the rest of the table this weekend (or soon...) and get it ready for my adventures in painting, but Christmas projects might take over instead. Pictures to come (and more tips of what NOT to do :))! Have a great Friday!
