Stripping wooden doors/staircase/door frames-melbourne

Hi there
I'm new to this Board so apologies if someone dealt with this.

Just bought 1920s house in Melbourne and would like to restore the original wooden doors/ frames and staircase.

I know that acid stripping can bleach colour out of wood if not done properly but have done hand stripping before and it takes ages.

Does anyone know of someone who can acid strip in Melbourne? Or some other way of stripping doors that doesn't involve massive amount of time and work? I appreciate that will probably have to do the staircase by hand but doors?

Also, is there any way to find out if paint is lead based? I've got young children in house.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Howdy Rhonie

Can't help you with the stripping, but with kids in the house, this Aus Govt article is a must read and answers your lead paint questions. You might als like to check out this one.

Cheers and good luck.
Phil

Hi Rhonie, you certainly have asked all the correct questions, especially in context of both the concerns over lead based paints and your children.

In terms of hand stripping, and I have restored the wooden joinery of my two early colonial houses, so I know a bit about this sort of thing. So, bearing in mind that pretty much all old paints that were used included lead based pigments, there are definitely risks in terms of exposure to both lead fume and dust. Lead fume because if, (as I have always done) is heat gunned off the old paint, this will be liberated to atmosphere effectively as a smoke. Secondly in cleaning up, with paint strippers, and steel wool, all the residual paint materials will also liberate dust. In terms of cleaning up thereafter (with the vacumn cleaner) you need to be really fascidial to ensure you get rid of all such dusts. Washing down afterwards could also be a smart idea.

The other key OH&S protection you can give to yourself of your family if you do paint strip by hand is to have as many if not all doors and windows open to provide good ventilation and the person doing the work must wear a mask, and I don't mean just one of those flimsy dust masks but a proper one with a canister on the front which will strip out fumes such as lead or anything else. These are readily available from hardware stores, paint stores etc. But of course given you have children this may simply not be practical, unless you can do this work when no one else is at home and you have time thereafter to properly clean up afterwards.

Ok, having said that, the other option is yes to remove all the architraves, skirtings and doors and by all means have them dipped. Dippers use a caustic soda based solution. Two problems with this, there is a lot of mucking around to remove and replace said joinery, and secondly, dipping will definitely bleach your timbers. In respect of doors (be they 3 or 4 panel doors), the animal glues that were used in their construction will be damaged and this can lead to looseness occuring in the joints. Also depending on what sort of timber your joinery is constructed from, bleaching, discolouration, let alone cracking and furriness of the timber surface are all possible problems to contend with.

Having said that Baltic Pine from my experience is probably the most stable of timbers to have dipped. The worst is cedar, such that I would strongly advise no one ever to dip cedar. Timbers such as oregan and Kauri pine can be variable in how they come up from dipping.

Hand stripping regrettably will always result in the least damage (that is unless one is uncareful in heat gunning off old paint, thereby burning the timber surface under the paint, and of damage to timber surfaces/mouldings in using what ever tools you use to peel the paint away with. I normally for instance use paint scrappers of differnent shapes as well as a variety of small screw drivers etc to tease paint out of joints, indentations etc.

The other thing I have found from experience is that in repolishing one's timberwork afterwards (and I only ever shellac finish all my timber joinery), is that there will be a significant difference in the final colour/effect achieved. Hand stripping will result in your timberwork having a gorgeous colour whereas dipped timbers tend to be duller in colour, (unless one add's a timber stain, and this in itself can introduce a range of problems.

Possibly one compromise in your situation could be, to say progressively remove, restore and re-install your joinery but to hand strip outside or in a shed/garage (so long as well ventilated). That way you avoid bleaching etc but should not expose your family to the issues of concern re fumes and dust from the old paint. I know it is a slow and tedious process but from my perspective (having tried all methods) it will result in the best finish.

As for the staircase, yes alas I suspect you are correct, there is little option but hand stripping. In that case please do follow my advice re ventilation, cleaning up as you go, and perhaps if possible to do this when the family are not around.

Hope this all makes sense.

I will attach some pictures of the joinery (baltic pine as well as cedar) and a kauri pine I have restored completely by hand to demonstrate what I am talking about.