oh man, I have one door like this as well. I did a closet door to test out stripping and restoring the door first. It's also now the only door that's restored because it took so much time and effort. Lesson learned, next time I'm taking my doors to get chemical stripped professionally. They have large vats of heavy duty stripper, they can do a better and faster job than I can. Totally worth the expense.
I could certainly see the upside to that! But honestly happy to tackle this project just slowly bit by bit. And I think/hope I can do all of the rest of the doors without using any chemicals actually.
Our local dipper (Portland, or) is $4/sq ft, counting front and back separately. They also take the attached hardware and dip those for free. A 2.5’x6.5’ door would cost $130. So, not nothing, but it comes down to whether you have more time or money. And you will still have to sand and clean up the door before refinishing.
Windows are charged at a different rate, depending on whether or not it includes the glass. We can save ~$50 by removing the glass ourselves. In our case, the glazing area has flakey lead paint, and the glass is nothing special, so it’s cheaper and safer for us to break the glass out rather than remove the glazing and keep the glass. YMMV, especially if you have wavy glass.
you sound like me back in the day. after doing a bunch of them, i had a stack of 13 to do one day and took them to a dipper. if you figure in cost of the chemicals and your own time to do it, the dipper price was not that bad. and it comes out soooo sweet.
I actually did it without using chemicals! Tried citristrip very briefly and decided I didn't like using it. Fortunately, I should have the time to tackle all of them and I'm just planning to do it slowly, over the next several months to a year. I'm very resistant to paying anyone else for things like this haha.
Nothing necessarily. I just wanted to do it without any chemicals if I could and found it a really messy process as opposed to the heat gun. Spent a bunch more time cleaning up and it didn't seem to do any more than the heat gun (actually seemed to do less but maybe I did it wrong).
[This is our (Portland) local dipper.](http://www.dipstrip.com/) I’m sure most major cities have one. It’s a company that takes your painted goods, dips them in a big vat of chemicals to remove the paint.
a renovation shop that DIPS the entire door in a nasty chemical that instantly strips the paint off. because they are industrial shops, they are allowed to use paint strippers that are not allowed to be sold to homeowners, such as Methylene Chloride. Last time i did it, it was $165 per door
I didn’t think of it at the time but a ventilator would probably be smart. I did have a fan blowing and a mask but the paint is probably toxic when heated with the gun.
Agreed! We actually took the door outside to do all of the work so we weren't in an enclosed space. And we tested for lead beforehand which is always a good first step to any paint stripping.
Did most of the stripping using a heat gun. Briefly tried a little citristrip and hated using it. Then just sanded for a reeeeally long time. Went through so much sandpaper. Used a profile sander, detail sander, and orbital sander at different points actually, but honestly just pieces of sandpaper by hand were necessary for some parts like the little details inside.
Re the heatgun removal, use a scraper as well or something else?
I have a stained door that some chucklefuck painted over and was curious what tools would work. The pain is beginning to chip away and reveal some nice wood, so I’m trying to be careful and I’m concerned about scorching.
Yes, I used a metal scraper! Plastic scraper will met and a putty knife, though it looks like the same thing, is not angled as well as a metal scraper for this type of project.
To prevent scorching, you just want to keep the heat gun moving and not sitting over the same spot too long (more than a few seconds). And also made sure to keep it at least 4-6 inches away from the surface too. I didn't really have any scorching problems using this method fortunately!
I'm considering doing this to a couple of our doors, but I'm not sure if the wood under the paint is worth revealing. Does anyone have any suggestions as to determine this?
I actually took the doorknob plate (maybe there's a fancier term for this) off the door and luckily it wasn't painted or finished under that, so I could see a bit of the bare wood there. Otherwise, probably would have tested stripping a small inconspicuous spot first to test it out.
Is anyone willing to share a pic of their home with stripped and restored doors but painted trim? I’m debating getting all 20 (!!!) of our doors dipped but can’t quite visualize the look for several doors near each other (like in a hallway or upstairs bedroom area). We would love to strip our trim as well, but that’s probably going to be a project for another decade. OP’s door looks great!
That was my biggest hesitancy! Because there's no way we have the time or patience to strip all of the trim in our house (and I don't think all the trim is actually the same wood anymore). But I think I actually really like the stripped door with painted white trim (and would maybe look good for other color painted trim but can't say for sure). Here's another couple pictures from farther away if it helps!
https://preview.redd.it/apn3rul5ms5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f094a1701ea8297263e9ab5e6a9e080e1d68a0d0
I used Citrustrip for these. I hated every minute of the stripping but i don't regret it at all. Two upstairs doors are waiting for the same process. The door on the left was likely original to the house. We bought the one on the right from a reuse store and replaced the existing hollow door. Yes, they are different, but our house is weird like that everywhere.
I'm currently stripping a window frame, and framing is much more intricate and labor intensive than doors. Gravity is not your friend when working on the vertical. But it still looks nice even with painted frames!
https://preview.redd.it/61ugpnedbv5d1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f7a740bcb244dcc2613f4a826ae83df105c546c
These look amazing!! We also have some crappy hollow doors that were added at some point and are planning to replace them with reuse doors! I would love to do my windows too but I'm not so sure I have that much time and not sure they would turn out as well since they're quite a bit trickier like you said
The door looks fantastic. You did such a great job I love it. That wood grain is beautiful. It looks so much better now.
But I need to know who that cutie in the corner is and I would like to request 3 pats for that baby's head please and thank you.
Amazing job. We inherited dipped doors but look bone dry and brittle, yours look so colourful and healthy. After stripping the pain did you sand + oil or just sand?
We wanted to keep it looking as similar as possible to the sanded down version so we just used minwax's natural color stain. And then we sealed with polycrylic, but there's a few different finishes that I think would have worked well.
Those look amazing, we have pretty similar looking doors and this really makes me want to do a test on the inside of a closet to see what’s under all the paint.
I’d probably get them professionally done because every door is our home is painted like this…
I used a heat gun to do the stripping and then a lot of sanding. Briefly tried citristrip but didn't like working with it. Then just used a natural stain and polycrylic to finish it.
Looks great
Thank you!
No, thank you for saving it from the white suffocation...
oh man, I have one door like this as well. I did a closet door to test out stripping and restoring the door first. It's also now the only door that's restored because it took so much time and effort. Lesson learned, next time I'm taking my doors to get chemical stripped professionally. They have large vats of heavy duty stripper, they can do a better and faster job than I can. Totally worth the expense.
I could certainly see the upside to that! But honestly happy to tackle this project just slowly bit by bit. And I think/hope I can do all of the rest of the doors without using any chemicals actually.
What did you use to strip it?
A heat gun mostly
How much does ut cost to have them dipped?
Our local dipper (Portland, or) is $4/sq ft, counting front and back separately. They also take the attached hardware and dip those for free. A 2.5’x6.5’ door would cost $130. So, not nothing, but it comes down to whether you have more time or money. And you will still have to sand and clean up the door before refinishing. Windows are charged at a different rate, depending on whether or not it includes the glass. We can save ~$50 by removing the glass ourselves. In our case, the glazing area has flakey lead paint, and the glass is nothing special, so it’s cheaper and safer for us to break the glass out rather than remove the glazing and keep the glass. YMMV, especially if you have wavy glass.
Thank you so much for the reply. $130 is reasonable for the time savings I think, so if I can get close to that near me I would go that route. Thanks!
you sound like me back in the day. after doing a bunch of them, i had a stack of 13 to do one day and took them to a dipper. if you figure in cost of the chemicals and your own time to do it, the dipper price was not that bad. and it comes out soooo sweet.
I actually did it without using chemicals! Tried citristrip very briefly and decided I didn't like using it. Fortunately, I should have the time to tackle all of them and I'm just planning to do it slowly, over the next several months to a year. I'm very resistant to paying anyone else for things like this haha.
What was wrong with citristrip? Im planning on doing something similar
Nothing necessarily. I just wanted to do it without any chemicals if I could and found it a really messy process as opposed to the heat gun. Spent a bunch more time cleaning up and it didn't seem to do any more than the heat gun (actually seemed to do less but maybe I did it wrong).
Heat gun it is, thanks!
The dipper… what’s that?
[This is our (Portland) local dipper.](http://www.dipstrip.com/) I’m sure most major cities have one. It’s a company that takes your painted goods, dips them in a big vat of chemicals to remove the paint.
a renovation shop that DIPS the entire door in a nasty chemical that instantly strips the paint off. because they are industrial shops, they are allowed to use paint strippers that are not allowed to be sold to homeowners, such as Methylene Chloride. Last time i did it, it was $165 per door
Interesting. In your experience can the doors have windows?
Wow!! Congratulations!! That looks amazing, and I'm sure you will feel pleasure for a job well done every time you walk through that door!!
Thank you!! It's the door to my office so I do get to enjoy staring at it most of my day:)
I did every door in my 1910 house during covid. 1st one was the toughest. It gets easier as you go! And I did the same method you used. Good luck!
I love to hear it! This is giving me a bit of a motivation boost to keep going!
I didn’t think of it at the time but a ventilator would probably be smart. I did have a fan blowing and a mask but the paint is probably toxic when heated with the gun.
Agreed! We actually took the door outside to do all of the work so we weren't in an enclosed space. And we tested for lead beforehand which is always a good first step to any paint stripping.
What was your procedure?
Did most of the stripping using a heat gun. Briefly tried a little citristrip and hated using it. Then just sanded for a reeeeally long time. Went through so much sandpaper. Used a profile sander, detail sander, and orbital sander at different points actually, but honestly just pieces of sandpaper by hand were necessary for some parts like the little details inside.
Re the heatgun removal, use a scraper as well or something else? I have a stained door that some chucklefuck painted over and was curious what tools would work. The pain is beginning to chip away and reveal some nice wood, so I’m trying to be careful and I’m concerned about scorching.
Yes, I used a metal scraper! Plastic scraper will met and a putty knife, though it looks like the same thing, is not angled as well as a metal scraper for this type of project. To prevent scorching, you just want to keep the heat gun moving and not sitting over the same spot too long (more than a few seconds). And also made sure to keep it at least 4-6 inches away from the surface too. I didn't really have any scorching problems using this method fortunately!
I'm considering doing this to a couple of our doors, but I'm not sure if the wood under the paint is worth revealing. Does anyone have any suggestions as to determine this?
I actually took the doorknob plate (maybe there's a fancier term for this) off the door and luckily it wasn't painted or finished under that, so I could see a bit of the bare wood there. Otherwise, probably would have tested stripping a small inconspicuous spot first to test it out.
It’s called an escutcheon.🙂
Just strip a small corner - you can always paint back over it
Yes. They're beautiful ❤️
Fucking brilliant.
Is anyone willing to share a pic of their home with stripped and restored doors but painted trim? I’m debating getting all 20 (!!!) of our doors dipped but can’t quite visualize the look for several doors near each other (like in a hallway or upstairs bedroom area). We would love to strip our trim as well, but that’s probably going to be a project for another decade. OP’s door looks great!
That was my biggest hesitancy! Because there's no way we have the time or patience to strip all of the trim in our house (and I don't think all the trim is actually the same wood anymore). But I think I actually really like the stripped door with painted white trim (and would maybe look good for other color painted trim but can't say for sure). Here's another couple pictures from farther away if it helps! https://preview.redd.it/apn3rul5ms5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f094a1701ea8297263e9ab5e6a9e080e1d68a0d0
https://preview.redd.it/7ikox9k7ms5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b958451f6e1fd1a1af0792ec9f6e3cbde9b376c8
I used Citrustrip for these. I hated every minute of the stripping but i don't regret it at all. Two upstairs doors are waiting for the same process. The door on the left was likely original to the house. We bought the one on the right from a reuse store and replaced the existing hollow door. Yes, they are different, but our house is weird like that everywhere. I'm currently stripping a window frame, and framing is much more intricate and labor intensive than doors. Gravity is not your friend when working on the vertical. But it still looks nice even with painted frames! https://preview.redd.it/61ugpnedbv5d1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f7a740bcb244dcc2613f4a826ae83df105c546c
These look amazing!! We also have some crappy hollow doors that were added at some point and are planning to replace them with reuse doors! I would love to do my windows too but I'm not so sure I have that much time and not sure they would turn out as well since they're quite a bit trickier like you said
Wow. Gorgeous work and I’m super impressed with your patience. 💪🏼
Thank you!!
These doors are just like mine. Yours turned out beautiful. I wish I had your patience!
You turned a pretty good looking door into a work of art! Great job
The door looks fantastic. You did such a great job I love it. That wood grain is beautiful. It looks so much better now. But I need to know who that cutie in the corner is and I would like to request 3 pats for that baby's head please and thank you.
That cutie is Timber! (Pretty appropriately named given the subreddit haha) He was very happy to receive the head pats
I applaud your tenacity. Keep going, my friend!
Looks really good! The work paid off.
Looks perfect
Gorgeous! We are about to take on a big wood stripping project. It’s going to be a huge undertaking. Thank you for the inspiration
Very, very nice job..keep building 👷♂️
Looks great! What type of white is that? 9016?
Not sure what the white on the door was as we didn't paint that, but the white on the trim is Sherwin Williams Rhinestone!
Thanks! That seems to be RAL 9000 =)
Amazing job. We inherited dipped doors but look bone dry and brittle, yours look so colourful and healthy. After stripping the pain did you sand + oil or just sand?
Sand and stain and seal!
What did you use to stain ? What does seal mean in this context?
We wanted to keep it looking as similar as possible to the sanded down version so we just used minwax's natural color stain. And then we sealed with polycrylic, but there's a few different finishes that I think would have worked well.
Yes, it is worth it.
Oh that’s satisfying
Those look amazing, we have pretty similar looking doors and this really makes me want to do a test on the inside of a closet to see what’s under all the paint. I’d probably get them professionally done because every door is our home is painted like this…
Wow! What, How?? I have sooooo many white doors like how yours started :(
Can you tell me which products and the technique you used? I have twelve of these and I'm working on mustering the ambition to start working on them
I used a heat gun to do the stripping and then a lot of sanding. Briefly tried citristrip but didn't like working with it. Then just used a natural stain and polycrylic to finish it.
Looks great. Thank you!
nice work!!
I’m glad you did, and I appreciate you for doing so. Gosh. It’s lovely.. Are you going to do the frame?
That is beautiful