Last time I gabbed about my new house it was all – look at these pretty kitchen inspiration images. But things have changed quite dramatically on the house renovation front and I have much to report.
Since I have so much to share for just one post, I’m only going to touch upon what I’ve been working on the past few weeks (aka couple months).
I’ve been stripping woodwork:
Stripping woodwork:
Stripping more woodwork:
(Outside looking in.)
And look… my mom has also come to help me strip woodwork:
And guess what I’m planning on doing this coming weekend? Stripping woodwork would be an excellent guess.
Back Story:
Pretty soon after we bought the house, my mom and I spent a day cleaning out the (creepy) attic. Once we were done, my mom went downstairs to *just see* what kind of woodwork we had underneath all 4 layers of paint. I had some stripping supplies at the house and she removed a section of paint from our pocket doors to reveal we had southern yellow pine.
For all of you peeps reading here’s a mini history lesson for you on wood… Southern yellow pine was used quite often back in the day – until we ran out of it in the US. We used it so much it was all gone. Between then and now, some great people in Georgia decided to plant some more trees for me. But it’s only available in Atlanta, and they don’t ship anywhere. It’s precious wood for us vintage homeowners – so removing it and tossing it into a landfill was just not an option.
Once my mom saw I have southern yellow pine in our house, she made an executive decision and we are now stripping my entire first floor’s painted wood surface to reveal the lovely wood that it is.
One of my handy skills is that I do know how to strip and refinish woodwork. The (now) old school way is to use chemical stripper and apply it – wait for 20 mins or so – and then strip it off along with as much paint as you can get. Apply & Repeat.
For my woodwork, this was a three-time or a four-time application of the stripper.
This is manual labor & takes time and patience. I’d say in an evening’s worth of work with the chemical stripper I’d get about 12-18 inches of wood stripped. It took me an entire 14 hr working weekend to do the perimeter of a window (not even the interior sections) with the chemical stripper.
Window is now completed, but this is my victory (aka defeated) pic since this window took so long:
But… I have now learnt the NEW way to strip wood and let me tell you it’s amazing! It’s called Infrared Heat stripping.
Apparently this is THE way to strip woodwork quickly. (This video sold me.)
How IR Paint Stripping Works:
You hold the heating element over your woodwork and allow the heat to melt & release itself from the varnish that is underneath it all. After that you can strip all layers of paint right off the wood & only need to apply 1 layer of chemical stripper to get the stain and varnish off.
The one caveat with this is that there should be a layer of varnish on your woodwork underneath the paint otherwise the paint won’t be peeling off quite as easily – more rough scraping is required & more chemical stripper after the fact.
Where I generally get 12″ done in 3 hours, I can now get 48″-60″ done in the same amount of time (not including the varnish chemical stripper portion). Once I got on a rhythm with this new paint removal process & had my mom to help me last weekend, I can now say I’m at least 1/2 way done 3/4’s of the way done with the dining room.
This built in bookcase unit in the corner was my first Infrared Paint Stripping test section and the bottom of the door on the right wall was done with the IR heating gun also – done much better than the test section.
The more often my mom (or Felix) has come to the house to help me work on the woodwork, the more we’ve been progressing at an every speedier pace – well… comparatively speedy than if we were just using the chemical stripper for everything.
I don’t want to jinx myself, but I feel like we’re nearly done with the woodwork in the dining room; two more full weekends and I think we’ll be done!
Paint stripping is just ONE of the projects we’ve been tackling since early November. I’ve been stripping woodwork while Felix has been working with my step-dad Bob on all things heating, gas lines & general infrastructure to the house. Much much more to come.
FYI: I’ve been better at taking quick instagram photos of the house when I work if you want to follow me to see more.
In: House Adventures
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