how far to go with Stripping?

[LaurieFairyCake]

I'm thinking about getting the oak 30's doors stripped but not the really deep skirting/picture rail/door covings

Will that look weird?

[seeyounearertime]

I have no idea but you might want to change that topic title

[StepAwayFromTheThesaurus]

We have oiled doors but all the other woodwork is painted white. It looks nice.

[PotatosMum]

Umm... Yeh, you're going to get a lot of confused people on this thread

I'd be concerned that it would look odd if everything but the door was painted.

[wowfudge]

I've seen lots of places where only the doors and stripped and it looks fine. If you are thinking of doing the skirtings, etc it might be cheaper to replace them with new. You might also find that while the doors are oak the other woodwork isn't. If it's quite a grand house the downstairs public areas might have oak, but upstairs and the kitchen, etc could be pine.

[LaurieFairyCake]

Thanks very much for your replies. It's just a ground floor flat and the skirting boards are ten inches deep. The picture rails are quite deep and moulded too. Basically all the woodwork looks original and the best of its type

I think I will get the doors done first and see how it looks for a bit before attacking the 10 inch skirting with a heat gun. It also may have lead based paint underneath the layers - don't fancy that health hazard.

[OTheHugeManatee]

Be aware that a heat gun can damage the wood as well, leaving you with a sirface that is too mottled to be exposed anyway.

Personally I think painted architraves/skirting with stripped doors can look quite nice and wouldn't touch trying to strip picture rails and skirting. You'll be there for ages and it will still look messy.

[BumbleNova]

we are taking back the skirting boards etc to the original wood. We also have lead paint - i recommend Klingstrip. its great.

[AgathaF]

We've always stripped skirtings and architraves, as well as doors. I love the look of waxed or oiled wood with lovely white walls. It would be a real shame to take out old, deep skirtings and replace with modern ones.

[wowfudge]

You can match the pattern of the old skirtings and mouldings - there are companies who provide a bespoke service if your skirtings, etc aren't a standard pattern.

[Cakescakescakes]

We have stripped oak doors and white painted woodwork (picture rail, skirting etc). It looks nice :)

[Cakescakescakes]

It's painted satin Matt white so not shiny gloss.

[dotty2]

We had stripped doors and white painted woodwork in our previous house - done by the previous owner. It looked nice, but I prefer painted doors myself. Don't get them dipped though - they do tend to warp a little and none of them shut properly.

[PigletJohn]

With the ten-inch skirting I will guess that it is a large Victorian house. The doors will be pine of a quality that was never intended to be seen, and they will have a surprising number of holes, patches, repairs and filler where different locks, latches, bolts and handles have been fitted over the years.

The mortices will probably be loose and would benefit from being remade by a sympathetic joiner. He can remake it rectangular instead of the trapezoid shape it has probably settled into. Cheap is not the word.

[PigletJohn]

oops, 1930's not Victorian. They will be factory-made doors and fairly even, with less layers of paint and fewer holes, but may be a bit thin. If they have large square panels it will be ply.

[whois]

Stripped doors and white painted woodwork looks nice I think.