Thread: Skirting Finish

I've just finished striping my skirtings, doors architraves etc. Mine were Baltic pine covered with 120 years worth of oil based paint.

To get a good finish you will be amazed at how many hours you will have to spend - particularly if the skirtings are detailed... If you have to work on the walls and or get the floors polished I would recommend taking the skirtings off - but be careful not to crack them. They are probably fastened to the wall with nails into wedges between bricks in the wall and skew nailed into the floor which can make it difficult to lift them.

Then you can get them dipped - non caustic is probably the go.

If you want to do it by hand my method was as follows.

Heat gun and paint scraper to remove as much paint as possible. There will still be some residue in the grain though. To get rid of this you apply a coat of paint stripper - leave it for about 10 mins and then scrub with steel wool (the course stuff you buy at the supermaket is fine) and hot water. The hot water will cause the stripper to bubble and spit a bit so wear gloves and glasses.

Once dry you have a long road of sanding ahead of you. Start with 80 (even courser if need be) then 120 then 240. Then refinish with 3 coats of satin polyurethane sanding lightly with 320 between coats.

This works well for Baltic - not sure how jarrah would go - no doubt much harder to sand but you might not damage it as much with the steel wool - try an inconspicuous corner first.

Be warned though that once you start you have to finish and it will probably take years if you want to do a whole house.

If the existing varnish is not too bad you might be able to just cut it back with fine wet and dry and or cutting compound and recoat straight over the top...I'd probably have a crack at this first

Cheers

WestCoast,

Thanks for the informative and valuable reply which has helped me decide how to go. As much as I understand the pain about doing a whole house I want a good job and will turn the thumb screws and progressively work through the house.<O</O
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Kind Regards
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Mark