I am finally ready to refinish my front door (130 years old with MANY layers of old paint). Did a little research on the peel away 1 system and it looks too good to be true. So, before I spend a couple hundred bucks on the product, I thought I'd get some expert advice! If you don't recommend peel away, can you recommend something good? I don't want to create any lead dust or fumes so sanding and heat guns are out of the question! Any help is appreciated. Thanks!!
Hello Renovator:
I first became aware of this product when I was working as part of a team restoring Morris High School in the Bronx, NYC a few years back.
As the building was built in 1904 (IIRC) lead paints and other contaminants like asbestos were an issue.
Keep in mind that this project was closely monitored by the NYS DEC, OSHA and others. Peel Away was our only option at that time and was approved for use by the supervising agenicies.
I managed two crews, one that did plastering and another that stripped and refinished some of the magnificent woodwork and trim in the building.
In many cases much of the trim had to be replaced as it was in such bad shape, but we were able to use Peel-Away to restore all the embossed steel wainscoting on the stairwells.
Did it work well? YESSSSSSSS! Keep in mind that there had been many coats of paint applied over the years and I was skeptical when we did the first application. We brushed on the stripper, applied the peel sheets and came back the next morning to pull them off. I was nothing short of stunned; one could actually see the embossed pattern in the steel. My recollection is it removed about 98% of 90 years worth of paint on a textured surface--never an easy task.
In some cases we did a second application and returned 24 hours later--something we should have done on the first goaround but we were impatient.
We did have to apply more stripper and gently work on detailing with a soft brass brush but I was impressed nonetheless.
Regarding fumes: they were not noticeable but it was summer and well ventilated-- I'd still read any pertinent MDSS'a and take appropriate safety measures
Would I use it again? Definitely! And would do it even if it were twice the price of other options--the key being that it was the appropriate solution for the task at hand.
Note: there are at least 10 different Peel Away products; sounds like you need Peel Away 1, but I'd suggest you look at the data on their website and call their tech support folks if you have ANY questions. The reps you speak to initially are very well trained but if they can't answer the question will escalate the call and refer you to an engineer or chemist.
Now...you never asked about coverage. While they indicate one gallon will do 15 to 20 square ft and it will remove up to 32 coats of paint but I never got that much; 12 to 14 was more the norm on our project. If this is a project you are bidding on, don't forget you'll need their neutralizer or a comparable acetic acid to reduce the Ph levels after stripping, brushing and rinsing.
We initially removed any leftover cruft with taping knives, then a brush and washed at low pressure--and then used the neutrailzer, finally finishing with a clean water rinse and wiped dry.
And don't forget appropriate and legal disposal of the remains.
Don't know where you live, but the folks at Peel Away will be able to advise you of the requirements for your locality. I'm in NY and they were VERY helpful on compliance issues.
Hope this helps. I don't work for Peel Away but can say it's a good product--and one that may be your ONLY choice, especially if you are working on a government project or a commercial or rental property, depending on where you live.
Regards,
Snowman53
Hello Renovator:
I forgot to include a reply to your question is it too good to be true?
No, it's not. It really works. You'll still have to do some minor detail work--and may have to do a second application if there are more than 32 coats of paint--but it works and is worth the money, especially if one wishes to minimize lead paint issues.
Have a good weekend,
Snowman53
Yep..I generally frequent the small engine forum to give advice on snowblowers but know more about topics like this.
And it's snowing here again! Looks like we'll continue to get more snow until at least April 14th.
I am a picture painter who experiments with different types of paint so I was interested in performing a few ways to get lead paint off safely. I tried different kinds of strippers and found Peel Away #1 best for multiple layers of lead paint where you are repainting the wood. In order to minimize the spread of the lead waste throughout the house where children are present I did some research. I found a few products which chemically alter the lead paint to make it less toxic. I chose one that you add to your stripper to alter all the layers of lead and make it safe and non-leechable into the environment for at least 1000 years. Is is called Ecobond. Unfortunately you have to buy it in a large quantity costing $240. If you are doing a large job it is worth it and you will have a lifetime supply for future projects. There is a competing brand that comes with a soy oil stripper but it costs $100 a gallon so I thought the Ecobond would be cheaper even though the Peel Away #1 is over $20 a gallon in bulk. The problem I ran into was combining the Peel Away #1 with Ecobond sets off the lye in the Peel Away and hardens it up. At first I added enough water to make it spreadable again and applied that. The lye was used up in the Peel Away and it no longer worked. Next I applied a thick layer of straight Peel Away over the dry inert PA Ecobond mixture. That worked. The next experiment I tried was adding Soft Soap hand soap to the mixture instead of water to make it cling better. You could use any glycerine or glycerine type of soap to make it a better texture. At last I found I didn't need the Peel Away at all in the first layer, I could just use a 50/50 mix of Soft Soap and Econbond and apply the thick Peel Away layer over the dry Ecobond layer. After removing the paint I applied another thin layer of Ecobond mix and let dry before sanding with a hepa vac/sander. I got the Porter Cable 1/4 sheet sander for this as it seemed to have good dust extraction. For a random orbital sander I believe the new Mirka 550CV to be the best choice for dust extraction, perhaps better than the Festool. I am trying the Porter Cable on a 6hp Shop Vac because it is $450 cheaper.
The main concern I still have is the Ecobond only reduces bio-availability of the lead by 28%. But it does reduce the leeching of the lead into the soil completely. So the Hepa and special sander is still required indoors.
The other concern is the Peel Away #1 does not remove the latex on top of the lead paints. For that I tried conventional methyl chloride strippers or a heat gun. I believe the strippers are safer, but everyone has to be out of the house and you have to wear a respirator. The trouble with the heat gun is it removes all the latex and then you end up scrapping on dry lead. If you do this, spray water as you scrape the latex off the lead. I guessed the heat gun was safe on the latex because the 4 layers of latex protected the lead layer from reaching too high a temperture and vaporizing. However, it would be safer to use a heat gun that had a max temperature of 1100 degrees. I would also recommend Citrus Strip or Peel Away 6 or 7 on the initial latex for a safer, but more expensive, alternative to methyl chloride.
The tech support at Ecobond was very misleading. On the Ecobond website they say the Econbond will be formulated to use with your particular stripper. When you call they will say it works with all strippers and send it out as is. When I called back several times to ask why it wouldn't work with Peel Away #1 they never responded. They also never responded to Dumond Chemical's (PeelAway) inquiry's into the problem. The Dumond Chemical support will at first tell you never add anything to their stripper. If you persist they will give you a chemist who will be more helpful. Another person previously called my chemist about Ecobond and Peel Away #1. The chemist said Ecobond did not respond to his inquiry either. Too bad, as this would be a revolutionary product for lead removal if PeelAway #1 and Ecobond could work together.
My own limited experience with it was that if you apply just the right amount of Peel Away and give it just the right amount of time, it works pretty darn well. But more often than not it was a real mess. It's also quite expensive. Even after you're done with the Peel Away, you still need to apply the neutralizer. In the process the grain gets raised rather severely, so there's the sanding involved also.
Of course, when it comes to removing 130 years of paint, there are no good options. I tried them all in my restoration and ultimately settled on carbide scrapers and some specially curved scrapers for the molding.
Even after you're done with the Peel Away, you still need to apply the neutralizer.
That's true with the majority of paint strippers.
In the process the grain gets raised rather severely, so there's the sanding involved also.
Sanding is also a necessary step in the refinishing/stripping process although some strippers may raise the grain more than others.
Tags: does, peel, paint, work, Peel Away, Peel Away, lead paint, Peel Away, with Peel, with Peel Away
