Advice for Taking Paint off Staircase Spindles

diddlybit

We bought a house about a year ago and most of the woodwork is covered in layers and layers of thick, heavy gloss paint.

We came up with the great idea that we would strip the staircase, varnish the spindles and repaint the banister. We didn't realise how difficult and labour intensive the job would be and weeks onto it, we have only have managed to do one fifth of it.

Any tips or advice on stripping the spindles would be greatly appreciated. We are currently using a heat gun on. We haven't tried paint stripper yet because we were worried that it might affect the stain on the spindles (they are stained reddish brown, but the banister is pine.)

What would be the quickest and easiest way to get the paint (and the brown varnish underneath the layers of paint ) off?

cheif kaiser

Heat Gun followed by paint remover. Use the heat gun to remove the outer layers of paint and then use the paint stripper to remove the coat of varnish and get into the corners. I found Nitromors paint and varnish remover to be the best, just stipple in on and then rub it off with wire wool, a basin of warm soapy water helps this process and neutralises the nitromors or you could also use white spirit. Just a word of warning, don't go near the nitromors with the heat gun as it can cause it to give off highly toxic fumes. It's a tedious process but no real shortcuts (in my opinion and I have done a few!). It will be worth it in the end

By the way what temperature is your heat gun ? I would suggest you get one at least 2000w and keep it on it's highest setting, a sharp paint scraper also helps.