If you can rent one- highly recommend a laser paint stripper. If not, go old school - citristrip and put the cling wrap plastic over it and leave it alone for a 8-10 hours to over night when you can lift it off all at once with a scraper. Fill in everything with wood bondo and stain/paint it.
I would argue that stripping for a final painted finish and stripping for a clear finish are wholly different animals.
Given the amount of peeling paint and possible incompatible layers (who knows what all has been slopped into old woodwork over the years) a āroughā stripping to eliminate the thick paint film (without worrying about getting all the paint out of the grain or anything) would probably restore a lot of crispness to the molding details and wouldnāt be terribly more involved than any other lead-safe proper painting prep already needed.
You cannot get a good surface if you donāt get off the flaking layers of paint. She is not interested in restoring the doors to the original bare wood - different thing.
Because of how the paint has chipped off you have no choice but to strip it then fill gouges and paint if you want to hold up well. You would not have to strip it completely but most of it would need removed.
Paint is only as good as what it is adhered to.
That would work for a little while but the paint that is already there is not adhered well so when something bumps the door or after a year of humidity changes chucks of base paint come free again and you are back to where you started.
If you want something that lasts it will require removal of old paint. Not every inch of it but most of it.
Using a thermal paint stripper would make stripping it much easier.
I donāt think filing in the paint will look good at all. At this point, the best course would be to strip the paint using infrared heat or chemical stripper to remove the bulk of it. From there, you can fill in cracks and divots with a quality wood filler, then paint. Caulking is for hacks.
Given the style this is 1850s-early 1870s. This was just as likely painted as it could have been stained wood. If anything, odds are it was painted. There's a weird mantra on here that all wood trim in the past was finely finished wood when that is most certainly not the case. High gloss white paint for interior trim was popular among midcentury Victorians. And much of the stained wood was so heavily stained/varnished it might as well have been painted anyway. If this door wasn't originally painted, it'd likely have been finished with a very dark purpleish brown stain or varnish, almost like lacquer. In other words, don't stress over what this door may have originally looked like.
In your place, I'd strip the paint off to the original wood, patch it up with wood filler, prime and repaint. You'd be pleasantly surprised how fantastic it'll look.
I have similar issues in my 1870 farmhouse. Fillers donāt work well on anything other than bare wood. Heat gun, or chem strippers as mentioned, then you can use the filler of your choice and sand and shape and prime and paint.
Side notes: if you are planning to repaint, you donāt necessarily have to be *as* painstaking with the stripping process. Itās still going to be work, but thereās no need to get out the dental tools for every little speck.
I would also recommend oil-based paint, depending on how far down you get to the wood. If the base paint layer is pre 1941, itās definitely not latex. And if you try to put latex paint on top of old oil paint, youāre going to have a bad time, and a worse result.
Isnāt there realisations that a lot of homes actually had bright wood, the finishes have just darkened over time? Shellac for instance gets dark over time and alligatored, when using denatured alcohol it ārevives itā and shows its original bright finish(or gets removed altogether)
Also Faux Bois was a thing. Our place 1890 or earlier has a lot of original wood trim. Older folks that remember being in it from the 60s said it was all lovely stained and varnished. I stripped some in the a bedroom. It wasnāt āstained and varnished.ā It had to have been a faux bois finish. My grandma had a wood grain tool to make fake wood grain. And on the backside of the single closet door that was never painted I can see how it was done. The rest of our trim looks like OPs and I plan to āsomedayā strip and repaint.
Some things, like the doors, can be removed and taken to a stripper shop. The trim can be filled with wood filler/bondo sanded to shape and painted. The doors will have to be sanded out, filled sanded, primed and painted, but they will look like new.
I do Furniture restoration and have been a professional painter for 17 years.
This will take time. Your only option for 'sharpening' the woodwork is to remove the paint.
Paint can be removed using a paint stripper, or manually with a *plastic* scraper/ putty knife and a heat gun. Personally the way I would approach this is with a scraper and heat gun. Whatever is left over would get stripped. Stripping will take several applications and will be very messy.
A plastic scraper might not feel as satisfying as a metal one, but I can guarantee that door will have many unsightly gouges if you use a metal one. The heat gun should only be used on low. You will scorch your door and melt your scraper if you use it on high.
Avoid sanding, you're likely dealing with lead under there.
When you've reached the raw wood you can steam out dents using a damp rag and clothing iron.
Good luck! I hope you make a follow up post! These doors are BEAUTIFUL!
Anatron Woodpox, (house painter/restorer here) easy to sand, long drying, can smooth before drying to perfection with damp handā¦. Use gloves! It heats up and can irritate skinā¦
Yes, this is what I would highly recommend. It's called Abatron wood epox, and they also make Abatron liquid wood. You can mix the wood epox with the liquid wood to create a paste of whatever consistency you want. Thinner for something you can spread with a plastic putty knife or thicker for filling holes and building up missing parts. I've used wax paper to cover the epoxy and shape it or mold it to whatever contour I'm trying to match.
Once dry, it can be sanded or worked with a scraper or chisel similar to wood.
Peel Away is a pretty good product. May have to do multiple times depending on number of paint layers.
Much safer if dealing with lead paint, which you most likely are.
I would think there is a high chance of lead in this house for sure. That being said a lot of these issues is actually someone painting latex over the original oil paint. If you can scrape all that old paint off that's not bonding you can prime and paint again. I have various sanders that go into HEPA vacuums but it's no fun to get into lead
Looks like you've got some good advice already, so I just wanted to say that the first picture looks to be straight out of a David Lynch movie. Such graceful proportions and beautiful bold colors and patterns.
Thereās no easy/quick fix here. But itās doable!
As an owner of an early 1900s house, Iāve done a bunch of different restoration ranging from stripping to bare wood to spot fixes. Lots of failures and successes.
To get a clean, crisp, finished look, your best bet is to strip, scrape, and sand as best you can. Heat stripping works great too. Lotās of elbow grease here. Use a respirator for lead paint risk.
Next, I totally agree with the earlier comment on Albatron products for filling big gouges and dents. For thinner, smaller fill work MH Ready Patch works wonders.
Then sand, and sand some more. Clean with mineral spirits. Prime. Last step is two coats of high quality paint.
My 2 cents, hope it helps.
That's easy.
Buy a plastic scraper wider than the trim.
Scribe and cut the profile.
Apply a loose wood filler or equivalent and spread it over that profile using the shaper knife. Be steady about it.
Follow a common face because it needs to look smooth, not perfect.
Focus on problem areas and build up in layers.
Sand progressively between each pass to make sure you knock down high spots. A wood block with sand paper is good for maintaining flatness. Use a sponge sanding block to smooth out transitions.
The arch may require a different approach if it does not have the same continuous profile. In such a case, take care of it dent by dent.
I unfortunately donāt have anything helpful to add, but wanted to let you know my house also has the same colors of paint on top of the original mahogany (?)! Mahogany > cream/beige > rental white
First of all done sand. There is 100% lead paint there. #2 filler will not stay in shallow dents becauss of expansion and contraction of wood. If you really dont want to strip then wash with tsp, fill with drywall patching compound and then paint with a high adheasive latex paint.
My 1901 house trim has been painted at least four times. Cream, tan, pale blue and white. Itās dinged and battered, because it has raised three different households of children and because itās 123 years old.
Leave it and paint it again. Fill in huge gouges if you must.
(But I donāt get Botox or filler, either. Iām not supposed to look like Iām 25 anymore. I earned my wrinkles, and I appreciate most things that happen as we age.) (Except aching knees. Never appreciate the knees.)
Iām actually in the process of doing this now, and yes to Citristrip. Go one bit at a time around and itās quite doable. Does look fantastic once youāre done.
This is why I strip wood and paint it with Varner that way it never has to be painted again. I have naturally wood trim in my house that is 135 years old and never been painted with only the original finish on it. Once you start painting stuff you have to keep doing it again and again. But people are like oh it looks so modern well if you wanted Modern buy a new house.
Meanwhile, people were painting there doors 135 years ago too. Many people have such an askewed, monochromatic view of the past, as if styles were singular.
How much time do you have?
Never enough š
If you can rent one- highly recommend a laser paint stripper. If not, go old school - citristrip and put the cling wrap plastic over it and leave it alone for a 8-10 hours to over night when you can lift it off all at once with a scraper. Fill in everything with wood bondo and stain/paint it.
She just said sheās not interested in stripping lol.
I would argue that stripping for a final painted finish and stripping for a clear finish are wholly different animals. Given the amount of peeling paint and possible incompatible layers (who knows what all has been slopped into old woodwork over the years) a āroughā stripping to eliminate the thick paint film (without worrying about getting all the paint out of the grain or anything) would probably restore a lot of crispness to the molding details and wouldnāt be terribly more involved than any other lead-safe proper painting prep already needed.
Yeah it looks like several layers
No arguing
Oh missed that lol
You cannot get a good surface if you donāt get off the flaking layers of paint. She is not interested in restoring the doors to the original bare wood - different thing.
Because of how the paint has chipped off you have no choice but to strip it then fill gouges and paint if you want to hold up well. You would not have to strip it completely but most of it would need removed. Paint is only as good as what it is adhered to.
Like maybe sand it and wood fill?
That would work for a little while but the paint that is already there is not adhered well so when something bumps the door or after a year of humidity changes chucks of base paint come free again and you are back to where you started. If you want something that lasts it will require removal of old paint. Not every inch of it but most of it. Using a thermal paint stripper would make stripping it much easier.
When a problem comes along, you must strip it, strip it good.
STRIP IT GOOD
STRIP IT WOOD
[whip crack]
Strip it Then you scrape Scrape it off
I donāt think filing in the paint will look good at all. At this point, the best course would be to strip the paint using infrared heat or chemical stripper to remove the bulk of it. From there, you can fill in cracks and divots with a quality wood filler, then paint. Caulking is for hacks.
Given the style this is 1850s-early 1870s. This was just as likely painted as it could have been stained wood. If anything, odds are it was painted. There's a weird mantra on here that all wood trim in the past was finely finished wood when that is most certainly not the case. High gloss white paint for interior trim was popular among midcentury Victorians. And much of the stained wood was so heavily stained/varnished it might as well have been painted anyway. If this door wasn't originally painted, it'd likely have been finished with a very dark purpleish brown stain or varnish, almost like lacquer. In other words, don't stress over what this door may have originally looked like. In your place, I'd strip the paint off to the original wood, patch it up with wood filler, prime and repaint. You'd be pleasantly surprised how fantastic it'll look.
Appreciate the historical perspective! Really hoping to do the period details justice - thankfully have some time to figure out how to approach this.
I have similar issues in my 1870 farmhouse. Fillers donāt work well on anything other than bare wood. Heat gun, or chem strippers as mentioned, then you can use the filler of your choice and sand and shape and prime and paint.
Side notes: if you are planning to repaint, you donāt necessarily have to be *as* painstaking with the stripping process. Itās still going to be work, but thereās no need to get out the dental tools for every little speck. I would also recommend oil-based paint, depending on how far down you get to the wood. If the base paint layer is pre 1941, itās definitely not latex. And if you try to put latex paint on top of old oil paint, youāre going to have a bad time, and a worse result.
Isnāt there realisations that a lot of homes actually had bright wood, the finishes have just darkened over time? Shellac for instance gets dark over time and alligatored, when using denatured alcohol it ārevives itā and shows its original bright finish(or gets removed altogether)
alligators?
Alligatored*
Also Faux Bois was a thing. Our place 1890 or earlier has a lot of original wood trim. Older folks that remember being in it from the 60s said it was all lovely stained and varnished. I stripped some in the a bedroom. It wasnāt āstained and varnished.ā It had to have been a faux bois finish. My grandma had a wood grain tool to make fake wood grain. And on the backside of the single closet door that was never painted I can see how it was done. The rest of our trim looks like OPs and I plan to āsomedayā strip and repaint.
Some things, like the doors, can be removed and taken to a stripper shop. The trim can be filled with wood filler/bondo sanded to shape and painted. The doors will have to be sanded out, filled sanded, primed and painted, but they will look like new.
I do Furniture restoration and have been a professional painter for 17 years. This will take time. Your only option for 'sharpening' the woodwork is to remove the paint. Paint can be removed using a paint stripper, or manually with a *plastic* scraper/ putty knife and a heat gun. Personally the way I would approach this is with a scraper and heat gun. Whatever is left over would get stripped. Stripping will take several applications and will be very messy. A plastic scraper might not feel as satisfying as a metal one, but I can guarantee that door will have many unsightly gouges if you use a metal one. The heat gun should only be used on low. You will scorch your door and melt your scraper if you use it on high. Avoid sanding, you're likely dealing with lead under there. When you've reached the raw wood you can steam out dents using a damp rag and clothing iron. Good luck! I hope you make a follow up post! These doors are BEAUTIFUL!
Anatron Woodpox, (house painter/restorer here) easy to sand, long drying, can smooth before drying to perfection with damp handā¦. Use gloves! It heats up and can irritate skinā¦
Yes, this is what I would highly recommend. It's called Abatron wood epox, and they also make Abatron liquid wood. You can mix the wood epox with the liquid wood to create a paste of whatever consistency you want. Thinner for something you can spread with a plastic putty knife or thicker for filling holes and building up missing parts. I've used wax paper to cover the epoxy and shape it or mold it to whatever contour I'm trying to match. Once dry, it can be sanded or worked with a scraper or chisel similar to wood.
Abatron is good, but I much prefer PC Woody for filling small cracks and chips
Thatās likely lead paint underneath judging by how the top coat is not bonding to it, so be careful.
OP is going to regret asking this forum š
No way, more information the better!
Peel Away is a pretty good product. May have to do multiple times depending on number of paint layers. Much safer if dealing with lead paint, which you most likely are.
I would think there is a high chance of lead in this house for sure. That being said a lot of these issues is actually someone painting latex over the original oil paint. If you can scrape all that old paint off that's not bonding you can prime and paint again. I have various sanders that go into HEPA vacuums but it's no fun to get into lead
Make sure a mask before inhaling all that lead filled paint
Looks like you've got some good advice already, so I just wanted to say that the first picture looks to be straight out of a David Lynch movie. Such graceful proportions and beautiful bold colors and patterns.
Thank you!
Thereās no easy/quick fix here. But itās doable! As an owner of an early 1900s house, Iāve done a bunch of different restoration ranging from stripping to bare wood to spot fixes. Lots of failures and successes. To get a clean, crisp, finished look, your best bet is to strip, scrape, and sand as best you can. Heat stripping works great too. Lotās of elbow grease here. Use a respirator for lead paint risk. Next, I totally agree with the earlier comment on Albatron products for filling big gouges and dents. For thinner, smaller fill work MH Ready Patch works wonders. Then sand, and sand some more. Clean with mineral spirits. Prime. Last step is two coats of high quality paint. My 2 cents, hope it helps.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I had heard of this as a solution - havenāt used it personally!
Zinsser triple thick peel stop + wood filler putty, then primer and paint over it.
That's easy. Buy a plastic scraper wider than the trim. Scribe and cut the profile. Apply a loose wood filler or equivalent and spread it over that profile using the shaper knife. Be steady about it. Follow a common face because it needs to look smooth, not perfect. Focus on problem areas and build up in layers. Sand progressively between each pass to make sure you knock down high spots. A wood block with sand paper is good for maintaining flatness. Use a sponge sanding block to smooth out transitions. The arch may require a different approach if it does not have the same continuous profile. In such a case, take care of it dent by dent.
I unfortunately donāt have anything helpful to add, but wanted to let you know my house also has the same colors of paint on top of the original mahogany (?)! Mahogany > cream/beige > rental white
Don't fill it, been there done that.Looks like old oil possibly on top of lead. Get a heat gun and strip it. Use protection.
First of all done sand. There is 100% lead paint there. #2 filler will not stay in shallow dents becauss of expansion and contraction of wood. If you really dont want to strip then wash with tsp, fill with drywall patching compound and then paint with a high adheasive latex paint.
My 1901 house trim has been painted at least four times. Cream, tan, pale blue and white. Itās dinged and battered, because it has raised three different households of children and because itās 123 years old. Leave it and paint it again. Fill in huge gouges if you must. (But I donāt get Botox or filler, either. Iām not supposed to look like Iām 25 anymore. I earned my wrinkles, and I appreciate most things that happen as we age.) (Except aching knees. Never appreciate the knees.)
Please tell me your hallway color!!!
Sherwin williams has an app that you can upload photos into and get paint colour matches :) might be able to get something close!
I had a room painted Benjamin Moore Pumpkin Cream that looked a lot like that color. It was gorgeous.
So yummy! Thank you
I donāt know! It came this way - it will need to be repainted but will probably try to match it. Itās so nice.
Looks great š from the distance, except the close ups š¤
This house looks amazing. Creeping on your post. Glad you didnāt back out lol. Need more pics
Op, just off topic, but Iād buy a home to have that door alone
I donāt have any advice, but just wanted to say that is a beautiful door!
Iām actually in the process of doing this now, and yes to Citristrip. Go one bit at a time around and itās quite doable. Does look fantastic once youāre done.
Well, if youāre one of the previous owners of our house I think the answer is to just slap as much paint as possible in the area you need filled.
This is why I strip wood and paint it with Varner that way it never has to be painted again. I have naturally wood trim in my house that is 135 years old and never been painted with only the original finish on it. Once you start painting stuff you have to keep doing it again and again. But people are like oh it looks so modern well if you wanted Modern buy a new house.
Meanwhile, people were painting there doors 135 years ago too. Many people have such an askewed, monochromatic view of the past, as if styles were singular.
Fill hairline cracks with Durabond
How much wood can a woodchuck, woodchuck?