Any decorators/of you who are good at DIY about?

[icebearforpresident]

DH and I have been working in our hall getting it ready to redecorate.

Any suggestions on how to remove gloss paint from a wrought iron balustrade? We tried sanding it and didn’t get far, now hammering & scraping with chisels! It’s doing the job but is exhausting. As you can see from the photo they’re also really detailed so we can’t get into bits to remove the paint all over.

We can’t afford to have them removed and cleaned, need to be able to do it ourselves.

Have you tried a chemical paint stripper?

Or applying bit of heat

Heat gun and a wire brush, or Nitromors stripper?

I'd use a heat gun on it, and if that doesn't get everything out of the nooks and crannies you could use some paint stripper on the last tricky bits.

It looks lovely, OP - I'm envious.

... you need the right tool to use with a heat gun - makes the job much easier. They're called shave hooks.

Definitely heat gun. I find paint strippers worse than useless these days. Think the formula must have been changed. It used to be good.

Heat gun but just check for lead in the paint first.

Local (small, independent) DIY shop gave me a bottle of white spirit when I asked for paint stripper, it’s done nothing!

DH thinks his dad has a heat gun, trying to find out now. I’m assuming a hairdryer won’t do the job, lol!

We’ve lived here years and I always hated the balustrade. The original plan was to sand off the worst of the drips that were hanging (many years of dodgy DIY painting) and stick another coat of gloss on. It’s only now we’ve started that we’ve seen the potential of it and we’re determined to do it right. I almost wish we hadn’t started though it will absolutely be worth it.

I got a heat gun from argos. They are quite cheap. Wesr a mask when doing it because of the fumes.

Heat gun and wire brush. And a lot of patience...!

Paint stripper, wire brush, heat gun all great ideas. Whichever way you do it, it's gonna be a right ballache of a job but they'll look fabulous once they're done op!

If you don't manage to get all of the white paint off you could always paint in a dark wrought iron colour.

Can you remove all the spindles? Uprights and get them sandblasted, quicker in the long run

My god they look fiddly!!
Beautiful but fiddly
How many of them are there?

I agree - proper paint stripper and a heat gun (not at the same time!) are my go to items.

I stripped an ornate bell pull a few summers ago and for the fiddly bits also used little wire brushes that fit on a dremel type tool. You might want something bigger for all those though!

Just be careful with the heat gun in case there's lead paint underneath!

Yes. I would think lead paint is almost guaranteed now you're down to the metal in places.

I feel your pain OP. I have 7 door frames to strip ready for our new doors and facings to be fitted later this month.

Will wait till the kids are back at school so that the house can air while they’re at school.

I have an update for you all. Someone suggested coating in a removal gel, Wrapping in cling film and leaving for 24 hours. It’s working, although some are about to get their 3rd coat.

There are 24 of them. I’m in hell.

HOWEVER, the ones that are completely stripped back to the iron look amazing. The plan is to paint them black.

Photo was taken earlier today.

Not using a heat gun at all by the way, just a shaving hook, wire brush and scouring pads

They look incredible OP, well worth the human sacrifice!

They look great :)

Can anyone else see a little row of people holding up the long part of the spindle though...?

@SoupDragon, I actually grew up in this house , DH and I bought it from my parents 6 years ago, and when I was a kid I thought the exact same.

I can't not see them now :)

They are done 😄

forgot the photo