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STRIPPING LEARNING CENTER |
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CATEGORIES:
MULTI LAYER
REMOVAL - GRAFFITI - COATINGS
AND SEALERS
MULTI LAYER REMOVAL
The secret to stripping
paint is patience and the right stripper.
Stripper Cream has three main uses; multilayer paint removal,
graffiti shadow removal from porous masonry substrates (block,
limestone, brick) and black crust removal from limestone and
sandstone. As a multilayer paint remover, it is designed to
sit on the surface for an extended period without drying and
soften many layers of paint.
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The brick pictured here is from an historical
building that was a train station. All these layers of
paint, including the thick milk paint layer closest to
the surface were stripped with one application that was
left to sit overnight. The cleaned surface was rinsed
with low pressure in a sink.
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It is important to apply the stripper heavily
enough to dissolve all layers of paint. The most expensive
part of paint stripping is the application and commonly,
the repeated rinse down. Learning a few simple techniques
in these two areas can turn paint stripping from a nightmare
job to one you will find manageable and profitable. Our
first area of concentration is the application.
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APPLICATION
Apply from in to out and down to up. When using Stripper
Cream, always use a high solvent roller! You will
find these at professional paint stores. They are not
much more expensive, but they can stand up to the stripper
and do not unroll or delaminate. A cheap roller can
cost a lot of time and waste a lot of stripper, which
is money. Dip half the roller in Stripper
Cream and roll up to spread it out.
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Remember, this is not paint and you are not trying to spread
it thinly. Thick is better as this leaves adequate caustic in
an area to get through multiple layers.
The Stripper Cream will
work more quickly in warmer temperatures, but many historical
jobs with thick paint have been done in the dead of winter.
Applying the stripper must be done at temperatures that are
above freezing. If the temperature drops overnight, the stripper
will still function.
We do not recommend covering everything during a stripping job,
but you should cover anything that might be immediately harmed
by the undiluted stripper during application. If you get the
stripper on anything, especially people, wipe it off with a
dry cloth, spray on vinegar and then rinse with water. Do not
add water first, or use a damp cloth, as water will activate
the stripper. Do not get the stripper on grass or plants during
application. They will not be killed, but they will brown. Make
sure you get a heavy concentration of stripper under the eaves,
windowsills or on porch areas where the paint has been sheltered
from the weather. These areas always take a little more work
and a heavy coat of stripper is a good way to start. Generally
there will be an overall browning of the paint when it is ready.
Following the easy part, which is letting the stripper
work, you begin to do scratch tests with a putty knife
or screwdriver. If everywhere you scratch you see a substrate
(what’s under the paint), you are ready to start taking
it off.
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To start rinsing, you can use a pressure
washer or a garden hose. Do not spend a lot of time on
the initial rinse. Its purpose is to reactivate the caustic
and quickly remove all the totally softened paint. In
most multilayer stripping jobs, there are areas that just
do not release immediately. These need to be quickly exposed
without spending much labor.
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Start the rinsing program at the top and
work down. After you have prerinsed down a few feet (from
5 to 8’) quickly apply another application of the stripper
cream diluted 4:1 with water. Allow this to sit on the
surface as you proceed prerinsing down the wall. You now
have a very well soaked wall that will wick in the liquid
stripper.
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back to the top with the pressure washer and test to see
if the wall is ready for final rinse. Basically you should
see 99.8% release when you pressure wash. If you don’t
see this, lightly rewet and work on the next section.
Any section, such as under the eaves, that is highly resistant
to stripping should just be recoated with the undiluted
stripper. A lot of caustic, in this process, can be sucked
into the unpainted masonry which, especially in historic
jobs, can be very porous. |
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Normally, these will need repointed and you would remove the
resulting caustic efflorescence after pointing by using NMD80
at 4:1 dilution. Should pointing not be needed, allow the wall
a few days to thoroughly dry and clean it all with the NMD80.
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©
Copyright 2002 by EaCo Chem
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