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Endsleigh specialise in Home Contents Insurance for people in the UK

One glorious door

Major Projects

About a week ago, in an energetic burst of fixer-upperness, I decided I would strip the bathroom door. The paint was peeling and cracking, and I was itching to try some Peel-Away to see what the fuss was about.

So, I brought the door out on the porch and got to work on the first side. Peel-Away comes with a plastic applicator, and the goop is about the consistency of frosting. You smooth on a thick layer and then cover it with the special paper. Here it is, all wrapped up:

The application process only took about half an hour. Leaving it out on the porch in November was a bad idea, however… we think the cold slowed down the process. It certainly didn’t do it any favors. After 24 hours it wasn’t doing much, so we pulled it inside and let it sit for another 12 hours or so. Then I slowly scraped and peeled the paint away – most of the layers came off, but there was alot of leftover splotches and spots. Here’s what the first side looked like after I scrubbed off the Peel-Away:

Throughout the week, I applied 3 seperate coats of paint stripper to get the rest of the gunk off this side. It was a serious pain in the ass, but it cleaned up ok. This is before sanding:

I was not looking forward to the second side, particularly since the door had been sitting in our dining room for over a week and I was anxious to get it back on its hinges. I threw a thick coat of Peel-Away on and let it sit for 24 hours. This time around went MUCH smoother, and after scraping off the chemical it looked like this:

Lesson learned…. don’t leave the Peel-Away out in the cold, or it’ll make your job ten times harder.

Comments, Thoughts, and Feedback

tchotchke had this to say on 11.29.04:

You have way more motivation that I do! My front door, and my closet door are still waiting more stripper sessions. I get sick when I think about stripping all the wood in my house.

Kristin had this to say on 11.30.04:

Good job, and thanks for the tip about Peel Away. I’ve got lots of wood stripping ahead of me. Hmmm … that almost sounds dirty …

mindy had this to say on 12.01.04:

House In Progress (www.houseinprogress.net) wrote a great piece about the Silent Paint Remover (http://www.houseinprogress.net/archives/000108.html) – I would love to try one of those. Unfortunately, the thing costs a fortune.

Directions on making your own for about 1/10 of the price can be found here: http://www.oceanmanorhouse.com/paintremover.html. We haven’t tried it so I can’t say much about it, but it’s definitely a cheaper option if you’re handy with electronics.

Kristin had this to say on 12.02.04:

My DH is handy with electrical stuff … but talking him into doing it when there are already so many projects to be done – that’s a different story.

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