Stripping paint from skirting boards

[RaggieDolls]

I'm currently decorating some fairly sizeable rooms. It's the second time we've decorated these rooms since we moved in. DH is keen to strip all the paint off the skirting boards with a heat gun. He claims that everyone does this 'every other time they decorate'.

I'm sceptical because a/ it will take forever and b/ the wood only looks like it needs a freshen up with one coat of paint to me.

Who has stripped the paint off skirting boards? How regularly do you do this? How hard was it and were you pleased with the results?

better to sand down really well and paint. Heat gun stripping paint off is a thankless task, hard work. Buy some decent paint with good coverage instead.
would only strip paint off if the paintwork was in shocking condition and couldn't be sorted out by sanding.

I haven't, & if they did get to the stage of needing stripping completely I'd probably just replace them with new ones TBH - basic ones aren't expensive.

I second doing an all over quick sand and then paint.
I used heat gun on a wood staircase once and it took forever, there were fumes that gave me a headache and you have to be careful not to scorch walls.

I stripped a door frame last year with a heat gun and it was ridiculously hard work, should have just replaced the wood.

Would the current flooring get damaged by the heat gun?

If you can sand back and repaint then do, otherwise I'd replace them.

Thank you. You're all echoing my thoughts. Prep properly and paint or replace.

What DH calls 'being thorough' I would call 'unhealthy perfectionism'

Absolute madness to strip skirtings and facings. Far easier to just replace them with new and paint. They're not expensive.

It is easier to replace, but if you care about the environment and not adding to landfill waste, it is much better to sand quickly so new coat of paint can grip and repaint.

I bought a dustless sanding kit from Mirka to do a big project refurbing a large pine dresser, which is brilliant. fits onto a Henry hoover. Good if you like gadgets

restexpress.co.uk/View/20816/mirka-abranet-hand-sanding-starter-kit-70x198mm?msclkid=4455484576e81b08d03017af54c8f71f

That looks right up his street @wufti. I'll buy him off with one of those.

how old is the house, and what size and design are the skirtings?

@PigletJohn, the house was built in the 70's and are a standard design, 60mm or so high. I'm certain the skirtings aren't original and have been replaced. I'd say they have been replaced post 2000 at a guess. They certainly differ slightly from some of the wooden door frames.

it would be much less effort to pull them off and fit new. The new ones can be primed and undercoated before fitting, which reduces the amount of floor-grovelling.

If they’re only 20 years old or so I can’t see why they’d need more than a quick rub down. I’ve used a heat gun to strip window frames before but it was a messy, horrible task.

Omg do not strip them! I did a few door frames and it was hellish.

Word of warning for new ones too though, it’s still a huge process to do them - ours came ready primed and we should really have done another coat of primer but didn’t due to time constraints. Even just doing two coats of paint on 6 inch skirtings in a full house took sooooooooo long!

Heat gun will ruin your carpets too if you have them. Luckily it was ok that mine got ruined.