'Easiest' way to remove gloss paint

[Softkitty2]

Hello

I'm looking to repaint the architraves in my home. They have thick yellowish gloss paint.

Ideally I would like minimal mess, is there some product out there I can use to strip it enough to be able to repaint.

Also would you recommend repainting with gloss?

Thanks

You either need to use sandpaper to remove the "shine" and get it back to undercoat, then one coat of undercoat and one coat of gloss.

Or, you use paint stripper which is likely to remove the undercoat too, taking it back to bare wood, meaning you have to prime/undercoat at least twice before the final gloss coat.

Both are going to be messy. Sandpaper is easier to clean and safer as it's just dust - if you have the vacuum head in one hand and the sandpaper in the other, you can suck the dust as you go meaning little cleaning afterwards.

I don't know about options other than gloss. I've always glossed my woodwork. If you use a good quality paint and if the wood has plenty of natural light, it should last a good many years before yellowing. Just avoid quick drying gloss or "alternative" glosses such as smell-free etc - I've tried them and they yellow more easily - you're better going for liquid gloss. For areas with little natural light, i.e. cupboard interiors, inner rooms, etc., you may be best avoiding gloss and going for a matt paint instead as for some reason, gloss paints discolour and yellow a lot quicker when they're not in natural light.

if your house is less than 50 years old, it may be much easier to take off the old architrave and replace with new.

What PigletJohn says.

Gloss is the work of the devil and why people use it (well I know why) is beyond me as it just goes yellow

It seems to be older than 50 years old. I don't know. But its all yellow and horrible I want to re-do it.

What finish would you recommend if not gloss? I'm replacing skirting boards aswell.

Satin?

An older house may have a larger and fancier architrave that is more difficult to match. Measure its width and post a pic.

If you screw it on (having drilled and countersunk pilot holes) you can paint it in the garden prior to fixing, and probably get a better finish. Touch up the wall paint or paper before fixing, so the architrave overlaps it with no visible joint.

Gloss paint is fine, if it's not 60 years old and too thick, with runs and drips. Water-based is less glossy and durable, but adequate indoors and does not yellow. It is very difficult to sand water-based paint or undercoat to a good standard, but you can wipe it lightly with extra-fine to remove dust or flies between coats.

There was a fancy interior-designed downstairs loo in the Sunday Times home section yesterday which was entirely painted in F&B gloss. It sounded horrendous. Do people really do such things?!

Replace them with custom made ones.

Not worth the bother, mess or chemicals.

Why not just under coat it then your paint of choice?

I was introduced to using a hot air stripper a few years ago by an old painter who had replced his blow torch with one. To be honest I was amazed with how easy and effective it is. It also works best on thick old gloss paint. Using a hot air gun I can strip back a panelled door back to the wood in less than hour. Use one of those shavehook stripping tools for getting into all the nooks and crannies and wire wool it over after to remove any fragments of burnt paint. I guess you should wear a mask if you are doing it indoors but there are hardly any fumes once you get the knack of just heating the paint and not burning it.

If it's all old paint, take off most, cautiously, with a heatgun, then finish with a chemical stripper.

Or replace the lot. get it matched if time is more of a limitation than money.

Have to be careful with heat guns, mind. I nearly set our last house on fire with one. The flames just suddenly flew out if the surface I was stripping

50-year old paint may contain lead, so dry sanding and heat guns are undesirable.

Modern paint strippers have had the poisons and carcinogens taken out, and don't work.

I've recently used liquid sander on my staircase as I couldn't be bothered to sand every spindle. Seemed to work fine on old gloss paint and i just applied a new coat of gloss on top to freshen it up.

You could rub down the worst bits then use the liquid?

Thanks everyone for your responses. Pigletjohn you are correct it is a very intricate and big architrave, looking at it, it seems impossible to get off.

I'm daunted by the task of starting it and being unable to finish.

For the skirting boards I will replace with new ones

Our house was built in 1890 and seems to have been painted over paint so the layers are so think. I got excellent results with a paint stripping gun (£20 from amazon). Wasn't too labour intensive and so satisfying! If your house is older use very well ventilated (think a mask is recommended too) due to the lead content in old paint.

I'm gradually replacing all the gloss in my house with water based satinwood paint. Looks better IMO and doesn't yellow. I have given the existing gloss a very quick go over with fine sandpaper and then 2 coats of the satinwood - it looks fine, although would be better to have stripped the existing gloss but I haven't got time for that with 2 small kids in the house.

photo of the architrave please.

knowing how door linings and architraves are made and assembled, there is little doubt that it will be a nailed-on moulding.

Hi piglet john here they are.. The photos doesnt show the thickness and uneveness of the surface

Dont replace them - they look lovely. Just sand, undercoat at top coat using a satin waterbased paint. The reason old houses were always done with gloss was the fashion of the day coupled with the fact that you couldn't get all the paint choices we have now. Not a mystery!

Klingstrip works. Much to my surprise! And I mean properly works, rather than creating a huge mess with limited impact on the paint.

www.stripperspaintremovers.com

I find a heat gun very satisfying but I’ve got old paint and I was worried about the lead.