Grrr, Arrgh.

[rivka]

I wish to register a complaint against the company that made our paint stripper. Their instructions claim that if you spray the stripper on with a little squirt bottle, the paint will just come right off. "Let the stripper do the work," the instructions advise condescendingly.

Right.

There are at least four layers of paint, probably more, on all the wooden surfaces in our bathroom. Everything below the top layer is lead-based. God knows how old the oldest layer is. This paint simply. Does. Not. Want. To. Come. Off.

The paint has defeated one of our pairs of work gloves. It has defeated our first paint scraper. It sits there on the woodwork secure in the knowledge that it's been around a lot longer than either of us, and doesn't have to come off just because we say so.

wcg came by and advised us to throw out the instructions and paint the stripper on with a brush. That's working a little better. We're still nowhere near getting all of the old paint off. (wcg also helped a little, God bless him, and reassured us that it really is possible to have things go this badly without having fucked anything up. I mean, I guess that was reassuring.

Paint is everywhere. It's in my hair and on my clothes and encrusting the soles of my shoes so badly that Michael took a wire brush to them and still couldn't make them fit to wear outside the painting area. Thick slimy clumps of paint mixed with stripper. Everywhere. We filled two trash bags with foul cruddy newspapers and other detritus, and we're not even done.

Bill estimates that we've got perhaps another six hours of work before we can start painting.

Here's the really cool part: Michael and I have been working on this all afternoon and evening. (He's just finishing up the last of the minimal clean-up we're doing in order to be able to shower.) It's been twenty times harder than either of us anticipated, so most of the day has been a frustrating failure experience for both of us. And yet we haven't even snapped at each other, much less had a fight. Neither one of us has done anything to make the other's day even slightly harder. We've cussed out the work and the entire universe, but we haven't taken it out on each other.

We utterly amaze me.

Comments

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

you can paint it on, cover it with tinfoil, and leave it overnight. i estimate you're going to want to do that real soon now. :)

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Interesting trick. I've never heard of it before, but it makes sense. The foil keeps the stripper from drying, right?

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

yup! it's what my dad recommended to me when we were working on our bathroom. er, on that portion of our bathroom.

[ranunculus.livejournal.com]

Which kind of stripper are you using? The really foul toxic one or the orange based no less foul, but much more environmentally friendly one?

I've used both. The orange one takes a little longer, but is just as effective. My routine was to tape plastic to the floor to protect it. Lay newspaper over that. Spread stripper on with a brush, let stand for at least an hour, and then use a putty knife to remove it. With each stroke put the resulting glob into a large size old yoguart container. With the orange stripper you can wash your tools in water at the end of the day. When you are done you can put the lid on and dispose of it. Use the blue dish washing gloves, they are tough and won't be melted by the stripper. If you can stand it, use a respirator so you don't breath all that gunk. Wear "work" shoes in the space. Remove them if you leave the bathroom. Lead can be tracked all over the house, and is hard to clean up.
Good Luck!

[melebeth]

You're stripping lead paint?

Are you wearing a respirator or something else to avoid breathing in the dust? I don't think you're supposed to strip lead paint yourself, although I could be paranoid and wrong.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5054.html

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Yes, we're both wearing approved-for-lead-paint respirators.

[melebeth]

It's the mom gene. I had to ask :)

Cause, ya know, I like the insides of your brains. They're pleasantly chewy.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Well done both of you. I hope the rest of your weekend goes somewhat more pleasantly.

[scottscidmore.livejournal.com]

Something that sometimes works is using vegetable oil, possibly with the addition of kerosene, brushed on thin and then covered with foil. Leave it for hours, even a day or so. The oil soaks into and softens the paint. Wipe it down, wire brush it a bit to break the surface, then use the stripper. Repeat as needed. We used lard once, back at the Mad House, to remove multiple layers of oil-based paint without resorting to solvents until final clean-up (which removes the oil that's gone into the upper layer of wood.) You can do the last layers with a drying oil, traces of which are compatible with oil based paints; if you're not using those then you'll need to stick with solvents for the last layer(s) of paint.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

Neither one of us has done anything to make the other's day even slightly harder. We've cussed out the work and the entire universe, but we haven't taken it out on each other.

We utterly amaze me.

You are both massively cool. And to be commended, admired, and emulated.

[mittelbar.livejournal.com]

2nded.

From one Old-House resident to another

[curmudgn]

Feel free to pitch questions and Stuph in my direction; as an Old House Owner I've dealt with (or have Old-House friends who have dealt with) a bunch of the same things you're dealing with, or soon will be.

As far as the paint goes, I haven't found any eco-friendly stripper that can out-do pure-dee methylene chloride, liver-killing as that junk is. I have something like nine layers to get through in the older part of Our House. This is one reason why, when I'm stripping house parts, I take them out in the yard and work on sawhorses. (Granted, right now this is easier for me to do in Texas than for you to do in Maryland.) I may wind up having to use 3M's Safest Stripper indoors anyhow, because of the fumes from using methylene chloride in enclosed spaces. A friend of mine swears Safest Stripper is just as effective as Bix. I ain't so sure. Interior paint stripping at Chez W is at a standstill for a few years more, until M is old enough that any lead dust I may set free won't stunt her brain.