Stripping a cast iron fireplace of paint (photos)

[mimos4]

Inspired by another thread about Peelaway, I'm considering using Peelaway 7 to get rid of the gloss cream paint on this cast iron Edwardian fireplace. As for the wooden bit above the metal fireplace, I think I'll just sand and repaint.

Is that a good idea? Is there a better solution? Have you done something similar and have tips?

We're having new carpet fitted in a few weeks, so I'm keen to do this before that happens.

Thanks in advance!

Bump!

We took ours off the wall and sent it to get dipped. It was dirt cheap and came out brilliantly.

Thanks for the reply. We can't easily do that ourselves, and I don't think it would be very cheap once builders are factored in, plus cost of restoring where it joins the wall.

not used peelaway but we spray painted ours recently (over various layers of paint/rusty cast iron) after sanding and cleaning. Came out looking really lovely... so you might not necessarily need to strip it? Would be much less messy and you could prob do it in situ

@Anna92 spray painting it in black? How did you protect the walls? I've never spray painted before!

@mimos4 ours wasn't on the wall so it was easier - but we just bought a can from wilkos and sprayed it on the lawn. I think you can get better cast-iron effect ones from places like rustoleum. But I reckon you could just tape around it while still one the wall with decorators tape and spray it (it has quite a narrow spray). Just make sure it doesn't pool on any of the ridges and peel the tape off straight after so it doesn't pull off the paint.

and yes we did it black - can't figure out how to attach a pic

Thank you! That can be our plan B if Peelaway doesn't work!

Good luck!

The paintstripper of choice on instagram currently appears to be Kling Strip. Trouble with sanding something old is you have to mask up in case of lead in the paint.

We used Peel away 7 on two fireplaces and they came out brilliant! It was a lot of hard work though, more than you think.

This is the best picture of it I could find. Occasionally I would use this black polish on it but I can't remember what it was called.

@ChiefInspectorParker could you please talk me quickly through the process? In my head, I need to tape up the wall around the fireplace, apply the Peelaway (750g should be enough? It's a small fireplace) and plastic sheet, leave for a couple of days, and then pull away, and finish off with a toothbrush. Or is it a lot messier? And goggles in case it splashes??

Peel away is very messy!! It might be a good idea to order the tester and try it first. There are 2 types.

I would also try a more conventional paint stripper first as I found those to be less messy and quicker. They may not work though. The worst bit is if you have a lot of detailing as the paint gets stuck there.

@CuteOrangeElephant are you able to describe a bit more your process please? In what way was it harder work than expected? I'm not great with DIY (except painting) so am a bit nervous.

We used peelaway a long time ago. We also used steel brushes like these in a drill:
www.toolstation.com/wire-cup-brush-with-arbor/p24723
The flat, disc-shaped one is great for getting paint out of grooves.

It's really worth doing. The fireplaces had been painted with black gloss paint before, but stripping them back to bare cast iron and polishing them up with black lead looks so much better.

@mimos4 it wasn't difficult, but you have to use wirewool to scrub very dilligently. It took a long time but the work itself wasn't hard. We used these directions: www.littlehouseonthecorner.com/edwardian-fireplace-restoration/ .

We did have a Dremel which helped somewhat but went through a lot of the wirewool attachments!

We are not great at DIY but this was very doable and worth the effort.

Ahh dammit; we’ve been sanding our fireplaces… our new house has three that are covered in black paint & splashes of other paint. Lead didn’t occur to me 🙈

Off to explore the two options mentioned!

@TakeYourFinalPosition

Ahh dammit; we’ve been sanding our fireplaces… our new house has three that are covered in black paint & splashes of other paint. Lead didn’t occur to me 🙈

Off to explore the two options mentioned!

I've no idea why some 20th-century generation started painting bare cast iron in the first place! Using black lead is so much easier, apart from looking much better and being easier to maintain. Once you're back to metal it takes ten mins with a tube of polish, an old toothbrush and a buffing rag.

We followed the instructions in the link that @CuteOrangeElephant posted and it worked really well in the end. It was just a lot of work. Our fireplace has an enormous amount of detailing though so I think yours might be easier to do. It depends a bit on how many layers of paint you have also.

@CuteOrangeElephant @Callisto1 thank you both. Was the wire wool needed after you've removed the Peelaway, to remove the rust? Do I even bother to masking tape the walls or just accept I'll need to repaint?

A PP mentioned Kling Strip as an alternative. It seems cheaper and claims to be the original. Has anyone used it before?

Also can I ask how much of the stuff was needed for one fireplace?

We've used peel away on a couple of ours. Fantastic results. It is messy. Put plenty of polythene sheeting down on the floor and newspaper on top in layers to roll up and dispose of. You'll need wire wool too, lots of it to get into the nooks. You may need to do some scraping as well. It's so worth it though.

@AgathaX thank you! Did you protect your walls too, and how? I'm not too precious about the carpet as we're replacing it in a few weeks. Hence doing this now!