Paint stripper - Tell me which one to buy and how to use it

[MrsMorgan]

I want to strip the paint off the banister and spindles of my staircase. What do i need ?

get nitromors....but read the instructions ,get some safety goggles and some thick long gloves.Its very good but be careful with it
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Thank you

I tried to do this and my strong advice is to take out the spindles and take them to a place where they dip them in a tank of strong alkaline solution and the spindles will come out lovely and paint free. These places usually strip doors so you may find them advertised as door strippers. Standard paint strippers are not up to the job of removing layer upon layer of paint. They are caustic, harmful to the environment and potentially toxic. This is not a job to do this with children around. I tried a lot of different products and the one that worked best was from Homestrip. They used to stock it in Focus DIY but I think only on the internet now. Unfortunately I found this product too late and I got professionals in to do the work in the end because I got so sick (literally)of it. Advice is just to sand it a bit and repaint. The bare wood just made my house look darker!

i do agree with fineally...it is a labourious job even with the nitromors. If you can remove them,it will be much quicker to get them dipped.It depemds how much time you have on you hands

I agree with fineally, if you can get away with it, lightly sand it to give it a key then paint it.

I have done it both ways, I started to strip the newel post which I did and then some spindles, it was awful, messy, and I even used an enviromentally friendly stripper so it didn't stink like Nitromorse but in the end a builder friend saw it and told me to just sand it and paint it.

I have done the sand and paint at 2 houses, from very dark stained/varnished wood, just sanded to remove the varnish coat, and then over an orange pine one.

You will have to use an oil based paint though as the water based satin paints won't stand up to the knocks (that was from a professional decorator)

Even if you strip the spindles after removing them you will have the newel posts and the handrail, and make sure you don't damage the wood with the metal scraper.

Thank's, I think you are right, sanding is going to be easier and less messy.

It can't look any worse than it does right now anyway lol.