Stripping paint from door frames?

Morning all,
I dont imagine there is an easy answer to this one but any suggestions will be of value.
I own an old home, the door and window frames have lots of grooves etc and have been painted many times in the past to the extent that they have lost definition because of paint build up.
I would like to remove most of the old paint before repainting but the work will have to be done with the frames in place, to compound the problem there is carpet throughout that I do not want to damage.
I have a belt sander and an orbital but these dont look to be of much value for this job, I am prepared to buy another piece of machinary if it will speed the job up.
Any idea's to make the job quicker, easier, faster and cleaner would be appreciated.

Jon

The only way to remove what you speak of with out damaging the wood work is probably by a heat gun and scraper or various scrapers. Electric heat guns are easy to use and if you exercise patience you will get a good result. Beware of old buildings and paint which may contain lead. You will have to seek further advice if this is the case. Take care as not to burn the place down.

Kind Regards

Mike :D

The heat gun is the solution I'd go with as well. A cheap one from Bunnings won't set you back much. There's a set of attachments they sell which fit on the end of the Ozito brand. They are designed to direct the heat in different ways and cost around $20. They are also well worthwhile. I'd also lift the carpet up around the area you are working on. It shouldn't be too hard to put back and is better than trying to protect it.

I had the same problem in the past with doors with lots of grooves
I tried the heat gun but it did not work well on the grooves mainly because the heat soften the wood and the scraper was damaging it (even with small scrapper)

So I used a combination chemical stripping and heat gun
I used the chemical for the grooves and the heat gun for flat surfaces or not so detailed surfaces
It takes a long time

I have recently discovered that by using an orbital sander directly on the door frames on the flat surface with an 80 grit paper, it removes everything and leaves a clean surface
The next part is to sand it again with a finer grit
While if you use a heat gun, you have double job
But of course you can not use always the orbital sander

there is a good tool you can buy. It is called the Fein Multimaster Start Plus which is a delta sander with lots of attachments. Seems to be designed for the pros and seems to be efffective
apart of sanding, it can also scrap paint, cut, etc...
The base is detachable
The problem is the price: $500
Justtools in melbourne is selling it

first thing I would do is try a product called MODOSTRIP, available from the larger hardware stores from memory......well-ventilated area as it is far strongert than selleys etc. This stuff is very fast acting and I think, reasonably priced - get the 4 or 5 litre tin if you can. Repeated applications work best. To give an example took the paint off a 120 yr old window in a couple of goes, then finished it all up with a combo of sanding and heatgun.


Here is the link to the importers -Mario Fiorentino is the owner and a good chap.

http://www.ausmanufacturers.com.au/modostuc/

have fun

Go the heatgun for sure, its all in the technique. You have to heat the paint up but no so much as it starts to burn. It will become soft & this is when you place the scraper on the hot paint & start pushing. If you do it right, the scraper will push through to the timber then all you have to do is get the flow going by keeping the paint heated ahead of the scraper. You should be able to strip in one smooth motion as opposed to the chipping technique. If you're doing it right you'll get long strips of paint coming off. Stop & clean the scaper when it inevitably gets a bit gummed up with paint.

I would also suggest you get one of those scrapers which have a few different profiles, including a curve, and a pointy bit. I suppose they have a name ??? The pointy bit is great for getting the softened paint out of the grooves.

Whether you use heat or a chemical stripper, you will have to sand. I use wet and dry folded over a piece of plastic cut from a margarine container lid to get into the grooves.