Old Paint Residue

**James Fox** · 15th August 2010, 03:25 PM

Chaps,
Just restoring two sets of triple sash windows that are planned for install into the front of the house.
Taking off the oil paint on the exterior with the old heat gun was, as usual, fairly simple, the green gunk clogged up the scraper a little but all was removed leaving a fairly clean timber.
Taking off the oil paint on the interior was even easier as the paint literally fell off (well came off in nice sheets, so to speak, no pressure on the scraper required). Interestingly though the residue is very dark brown and shiny(ish) and sticks like the proverbial...it clogs up 80grit immediately and one can see one using rolls and rolls of the stuff over the course of the project.
I have tried, in a sample area, a gel paint stripper, Turps and Meths and will try a few more products to determine if there is anything that will shift it a little faster than hours and hours of abrasion.
One is assuming that the residue will need to be removed completely in order to provide a good substrate for the new undercoat? OR does it? The residue is not powdery more tacky.
I am sure that some of you out there may have come across this in the past and wonder if you could provide some advice.

Kindest Regards
James

**woodie2** · 15th August 2010, 11:54 PM

In another life I was a painter. When I was painting there were undercoats know as bind back. Bind back was a product that was like water and you painted the Bind-back on and it BINDS the surface to the wall. In the end you could paint your two coats of undercoat on then two coats of top coat on the wall.

Ask at the paint store, they will let you know or phone an old painter in your area and ask them some advice.

Good luck.

Mike

**James Fox** · 16th August 2010, 10:55 PM

Thanks Mike,
Appreciate your time and advice. I will discuss the residue with a painter of a suitable age - my age - who still has all his marbles (I am sure there will be a few around still)

Kindest Regards
James

**munruben** · 17th August 2010, 10:28 AM

Maybe it just need some time to settle down and dry out so you could lightly sand it and apply a good primer, allow that to dry and again a light sanding. Let us know how you get on with it. If you intend to varnish the timber, you wouldn't apply a primer of course. Good luck with it.

**Big Shed** · 17th August 2010, 11:13 AM

Just guessing here, as you have not provided a lot of information.

If this is a house from the early 1900s and we are talking about architraves and other architectural interior trim, then it is probably a bitumen based finis. These were used extensively around that time.

They are hard to remove completely as the bitumen/tar has penetrated in to the timber. Softening with mineral turps followed by scraping will remove most of the material on the surface.

Clear finishing is usually not an attractive option. If painting you will need to seal the surface as the bitumen/tar tends to "bleed" through subsequent coats. A good stain sealer or a bright aluminium paint will do the job, followed by undercoat and topcoat. Once the sealer or aluminium paint has been applied, a good waterbased undercoat would normally be recommended, but solvent based can also be used, depending on your choice of topcoat.

**munruben** · 17th August 2010, 11:24 AM

Good point Fred, just to add to that though, if sealing the timber with an aluminium paint, don't use a bitumen based one or you will get the same problem. Bitumen based aluminium paint (Silver frost) was used a lot in the 60's on galvernised iron roofs as an anti corrosive coating and although was good for that purpose, if you tried to put another coat of oil based colour roofing paint over it without letting it weather for a fair while, it would bleed through or cause the top coat to craze.

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