Stripping old paint

[MrsPussinBoots]

I've been planning to strip the old paint from my stairs, bannisters, skirting etc for a year and now need to get on with it. Any tips? Hopefully this picture will work.

I've got severe asthma which is triggered by dust and strong smells so may need to get someone in. But I'd like to do it myself.

Is an electric sander best? I'm going from cream to white paint if that makes a difference.

What age is your property? If old there could be layers of lead paint so you would need to check.

I attempted to sand our stairs right back (1930s) and gave up in the end. It was easier to just give them a sand down and paint over. I used a combination of a Black and Decker Mouse sander, a heat gun and Nitromors. I originally wanted the bannister back to the wood and oiled but found the wood was quite dark and I didn't like it so just painted it all white instead.

It's tedious doing it yourself and created a lot of dust, I'd get someone in to do it.

I used nitromors to strip back 40 years of paint off my stairs. It has a smell whilst you're dabbing it on but if you have the windows open I don't find it strong at all. Then you just scrape it off. Could this be an option for you?

I did ours many years ago; it cost a fortune in Nitromors and the newel posts almost finished me off, but the bannisters and spindles have needed very little maintenance since. It takes a long, long time, makes a lot of mess and you'll wonder why you ever started doing it. If you are severely asthmatic it might be worth getting a few quotes for the work.

Thank you both, I'm off to investigate nitromors. Is it easy to use?
The house was built in 1917ish.

Peelaway is also good, you likely have got some lead paint in there due to age of house, but there aren’t really testing kits around so it’s hard to know! Chemical stripper is ok for lead, heat definitely a no no and sanding not great as blows it around.

Nitromors you just dab on a nice thick layer and leave it. I went up to 90 minutes before scraping. It says 45 on the tin. It's a hard slog but better than sanding with the risk of lead paint. I'll post some photos of before and after in a moment

I did mine with a heat gun. But yours doesn't look too bad. Could you just sand then paint over? Are you having carpet on the stairs?

You don't need to take the paint off on the steps, well, if you're having carpet that is.

This stuff is amazing and no strong smell either!

Peelaway is the business. It's expensive but so much easier than nitromors or using a hot air gun. I have stripped much paint of many houses and wouldn't use anything else now.

I found Peelaway much better than Nitramors.

If you're repainting why do you need to strip them? Just give them a light sand ( quick rub over with paper) to rough the surface so the paint has something to adhere to and paint over.

Thanks everyone, good to hear about things other than nitromors. I've read it's not as good as it used to be.

To answer a few questions, I'm not putting a carpet down to start with and want to make sure it's not obvious where there currently is and isn't paint. I'm less fussed about the bannisters.

If it's a short term fix before covering with carpet, I'd just lightly sand (use wet and dry sandpaper to minimise airborne particles, and wear a mask) and paint.
Fully stripping, neutralising, priming and painting takes a lot of time.