Really basic question about sanding

[struggling100]

Hi everyone. Newbie DIY question, please bear with me!

My house used to be rented and is in a right old state. I am doing it up bit by bit as I can afford it.

I am currently working on door architraves and frames downstairs. I would like to repaint the existing ones if possible. They are original to the house, and I'd like to keep them, but they have been badly glossed a couple of times, and knocked about a good bit too. There are some not-very-good areas where they have been badly repaired, and some roughness and unevenness to the wood.

I have been trying nitromors today, but it is rubbish! (And yes, I have followed the instructions! By the looks of things they have changed the formula to remove and EU-banned ingredient). As a result, I am mostly scraping the old flaky paint off with a metal tool then sanding back with a handheld sander. It has taken me all day to do one frame.

My question is: how much paint do I need to remove to get a lovely fine finish when I prime and resand? I am hoping against hope that someone will say that I don't have to get every tiny bit off back to bare wood, or I may cry.

Totally agree about the new formulation of nitromors... Totally waste of money, and still pretty filthy to work with. For future reference, try Homestrip: it's water based, you don't have to ventilate or wear gloves*, and it actually smells kind of pleasant! Oh, and I think it works better than new nitromors.

Back to the case in hand, no, you don't really have to get every speck of paint off. Go by touch rather than by eye here... If you trail your finger lightly across the surface and feel a bump or a chip, you'll see that once it's painted. If its too gradual to notice by touch, it'll be too smooth to ruin your finish. You might get slight undulations to the surface... That's vintage!

• you still need to be careful of lead paint. Homestrip is better than sanding, because the stuff doesn't get airborne, but if you get the softened paint sludge on your hands, wash it off ASAP. Led poisoning isn't much fun as an adult, but unless it's extreme or sustained,it probably won't do you any lasting damage. If you have kids around (the younger, the higher the risk), unless your house is less than about 25 years old, you should try to avoid sanding paint in your home.

That's interesting about paintstripper - I tried to use some a few weeks ago (I can't remember the brand) and it was absolutely useless. I was expecting to burn a hole through the wood if I took my eye off it for a moment. I'll look out for Homestrip next time.

Agree with homestrip being much better, but fgs don't google it unless you have a filter on your internet or a strong stomach and no curious dc nearby.

You certainly don't have to get back to the bare wood everywhere if you are going to paint it over anyway, brownsauce's advice on touch is good. You can also run your tool over it, anywhere the tool catches you aren't smooth enough yet.

Get a hot air gun.

You can also run your tool over it Sorry Liara I did have a little giggle at this.

Ah, yes, DIY is full of snigger worthy moments.

I just assumed liara was being deliberately filthy. (Must not judge others on own standards)

Nah, just innocent as a babe too sleep deprived to even think about sex

An update... I have found a solution. You can get paint stripper with the old ingredients in. It's called Starchem synstryp and it's available on ebay. A disclaimer: it is incredibly, incredibly vicious stuff and should only be used with suitable protection, i.e. a proper P3 facemask, rubber gloves, full body armour... you get the idea. I wouldn't want to use it with young kiddies around.

Agree with hot airgun, couple of good scrapers +loss of back of hand hair+ sandpaper