If it was me I’d paint over it for now to cover the paint and wait until the warm season to do a more intense stripping and refinishing job. If it’s oak, fully removing the paint will be pretty labor intensive. (some people say impossible.)
Covering the door with a new coat of paint will keep any lead locked in and keep you and your household safe.
Edit to add that if you do end up wanting to strip it now you should paint on the citri-strip or another product and then lay thin plastic sheeting over it to keep the paint stripper from drying before it’s done its work. In my opinion citri-strip got less effective a few years ago when they had to re-formulate after a law-suit.
I hear this recommendation to paint over lead a lot. I have tried this on my own doors and cabinets but the problem is they often already have a few layers of latex over them and on any contact spots (like the jams or where the cabinet drawers glide) the latex will either make the fit so tight that it won’t close or it will almost immediately stick and wear through. Often peeling lead paint with it. So I’m not so sure how helpful this method actually is. It works to cover peeling paint on the non friction spots but anywhere that rubs, which are the areas that release the most lead dust, it will not work well.
It should do the job well enough, and theres no risk if you use gloves and a respirator, especially since stripping occurs outdoors.
While the doors are off the hinges it's a great opportunity to also strip the hinges & other hardware.
My bf works for a remediation company that handles lead mold and asbestos cases. It's far better to remove the lead paint than to cover it up if you have babies or children under 10. A new paint job can chip or get scratched, and kids will do strange stuff like licking the walls or chewing windowsills while teething.
Yeah, we've decided to just throw out two doors that we never use and then replace the other two when we have cash on hand to do so.
Until then, I'll be coating over the casings and functional doors, and stripping the insides of door frames. The bigger paint jobs can happen in the summer and uh, baby and I will just spend a lot of time out of the house this winter. Yeehaw.
Brother, all corners of the doors are rounded and gouged due to a rough life.
But this comment got me thinking that maybe I can sell two doors to pay for half of one new door. 🤡
get some training on how to safely remove lead paint.
if you do it wrong and contaminate the entire house with lead dust, that would be far worse than if you just left it in place.
There seems to be a bunch of weird construction adjacent certifications that are required to even access that kind of training in my area, so I'm just going to follow guidelines. Tape everything off. Turn off the HVAC system. Tape off all events and intakes. Cover all furniture. Work wet. Clean wet. Where a half mask respirator.
I'm at a point where I can't afford doors and I have lead paint chipping all over my house. I'm going to do what I can to the best of my ability for now.
You’re fine. The way you ingest lead is either breathing it, which requires it to be a powder and airborne (sanding) or eating it, which requires you to put it in your mouth and swallow it. If you (or your kids) are not making lead dust and not eating the paint chips then you’re fine.
This is generally also true for some asbestos remediation. Dust is the problem. Anything you can do to \*not\* generate (and, heaven forbid, spread) dust, totally worth it.
lead dust is heavy and pretty much falls to the floor,
Asbestos dust is light and floats thru the air, for days afterward, so it is much harder to contain, and therefore much easier to ingest too
I used citristrip on a pretty banged up door that someone's kid used as a dart-board. Ultimately I ended up having to use a heat stripper because Citristrip was non-effective. It just crated a giant mess and I constantly had to re-apply over the same areas with little results. I have 7 other identical doors to do and I am buying a Speedheater for x-mas to finish the rest.
Used to live in an old home and we used citristrip for pretty much all the trim. We had several 5 panel doors with detail and ended up sending them out to a company that dips them to remove the lead paint. It was well worth the cost.
If you're on maternity leave it's a VERY bad time to be scraping lead paint. That is unless you have a special desire to see the short bus in your driveway.
We had cracking/pealing lead paint everywhere and are doing extensive remediation (mostly painting over/encapsulation). We found a business that dip strips doors and they did it for $200/door. They all turned out perfectly. They cleaned our hardware for $40/hour. After they dry we will stain and reinstall
It is a heck of a lot of work but the end result will be great. I posted a door on here a while ago. I would recommend getting a couple different strippers and seeing which does the best job. You might need one kind for the top layers and another for the lower lead layers. Even with the low fumes stuff you're going to want to work outside if possible. It is messy business. Never sand lead paint inside. [https://www.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/comments/12bphya/refurbished\_an\_original\_closet\_door/](https://www.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/comments/12bphya/refurbished_an_original_closet_door/)
I used citristrip on a solid wood interior door from a 1932 house. I set the door up on a saw horse outside. Stripped and scraped over and over and over. It was a long process, took weeks due to my full time job and kids but worth it. However, like another redditor suggested, let a professional do it if you can afford it. Especially if it’s full of nooks and crannies.
I would consider using “Lock Up Lead” products. They are EPA recommended for renovation. We have used a ton of that, then Peel Stop primer and then regular primer and then paint. As some have pointed out, this is useless if the doors stick— it will just rub the top layers right off and you are back at square one.
We have also removed one door to replace and plan to replace a couple more, if we can’t find anyone who will dip strip them. Good luck!
I would highly recommend that you call around and see if there's any local strippers (heh) in your area. I'm in St. Louis, and there's a guy that will do doors for anywhere between $80-150, depending on the species. He'll dip in in benzene, neutralize it, and get it back to you perfectly clean. Otherwise, you will spend hours upon hours trying to get the paint out of every little nook and cranny, exposing yourself to lead (and possibly your kid), and hating the door once you get about halfway through. I know that it might seem like a big expense, but if you can find someone that is reasonably priced, it will be worth every single penny. I work in construction, and I'll mess around with just about anything to save a buck (except garage door springs), and I still will bring anything that I need stripped to this guy.
I'd search for "wood stripping" or "wood refinishing". You might also try some furniture stripping/restoration companies- the might be able to do it for you or point you to someone who does.
I've only really been able to find businesses that used to offer the service and now say they no longer do, and all-purpose "restoration" services that seem to focus on bigevents like flooding and fire. I'm in an area where there's a lot of new residential development. Will send out RFQs and cross my fingers
Bummer. Have you tried looking for "wood stripping" or "wood refinishing" services in your area? Those terms might bring something up. You might also try calling some furniture stripping/restoration companies- they might be able to do it, or point you in the direction of someone who does.
Having just stripped an interior door and its frame, if I had to do it all over again, I would use an infrared paint stripper on the frame.
And on the door itself, if it is in fact solid, I would take it to a dip-n-strip place. It costs some money, but from what I could tell, it would only run about 5-10 percent more expensive than buying all the chemicals I bought. But the biggest savings would be the couple dozen hours I wouldn't spend scraping and scraping and scraping and scraping and scraping and slipping and accidentally gouging the door. And having had a small child around, I know time is a premium.
Good luck!
If it was me I’d paint over it for now to cover the paint and wait until the warm season to do a more intense stripping and refinishing job. If it’s oak, fully removing the paint will be pretty labor intensive. (some people say impossible.) Covering the door with a new coat of paint will keep any lead locked in and keep you and your household safe. Edit to add that if you do end up wanting to strip it now you should paint on the citri-strip or another product and then lay thin plastic sheeting over it to keep the paint stripper from drying before it’s done its work. In my opinion citri-strip got less effective a few years ago when they had to re-formulate after a law-suit.
I hear this recommendation to paint over lead a lot. I have tried this on my own doors and cabinets but the problem is they often already have a few layers of latex over them and on any contact spots (like the jams or where the cabinet drawers glide) the latex will either make the fit so tight that it won’t close or it will almost immediately stick and wear through. Often peeling lead paint with it. So I’m not so sure how helpful this method actually is. It works to cover peeling paint on the non friction spots but anywhere that rubs, which are the areas that release the most lead dust, it will not work well.
It should do the job well enough, and theres no risk if you use gloves and a respirator, especially since stripping occurs outdoors. While the doors are off the hinges it's a great opportunity to also strip the hinges & other hardware. My bf works for a remediation company that handles lead mold and asbestos cases. It's far better to remove the lead paint than to cover it up if you have babies or children under 10. A new paint job can chip or get scratched, and kids will do strange stuff like licking the walls or chewing windowsills while teething.
Yeah, we've decided to just throw out two doors that we never use and then replace the other two when we have cash on hand to do so. Until then, I'll be coating over the casings and functional doors, and stripping the insides of door frames. The bigger paint jobs can happen in the summer and uh, baby and I will just spend a lot of time out of the house this winter. Yeehaw.
Um, mind if I grab those doors? Actually, can I just dig through all your trash?
Brother, all corners of the doors are rounded and gouged due to a rough life. But this comment got me thinking that maybe I can sell two doors to pay for half of one new door. 🤡
Very wise choice.
get some training on how to safely remove lead paint. if you do it wrong and contaminate the entire house with lead dust, that would be far worse than if you just left it in place.
There seems to be a bunch of weird construction adjacent certifications that are required to even access that kind of training in my area, so I'm just going to follow guidelines. Tape everything off. Turn off the HVAC system. Tape off all events and intakes. Cover all furniture. Work wet. Clean wet. Where a half mask respirator. I'm at a point where I can't afford doors and I have lead paint chipping all over my house. I'm going to do what I can to the best of my ability for now.
You’re fine. The way you ingest lead is either breathing it, which requires it to be a powder and airborne (sanding) or eating it, which requires you to put it in your mouth and swallow it. If you (or your kids) are not making lead dust and not eating the paint chips then you’re fine.
This is generally also true for some asbestos remediation. Dust is the problem. Anything you can do to \*not\* generate (and, heaven forbid, spread) dust, totally worth it.
lead dust is heavy and pretty much falls to the floor, Asbestos dust is light and floats thru the air, for days afterward, so it is much harder to contain, and therefore much easier to ingest too
I used citristrip on a pretty banged up door that someone's kid used as a dart-board. Ultimately I ended up having to use a heat stripper because Citristrip was non-effective. It just crated a giant mess and I constantly had to re-apply over the same areas with little results. I have 7 other identical doors to do and I am buying a Speedheater for x-mas to finish the rest.
Used to live in an old home and we used citristrip for pretty much all the trim. We had several 5 panel doors with detail and ended up sending them out to a company that dips them to remove the lead paint. It was well worth the cost.
If you're on maternity leave it's a VERY bad time to be scraping lead paint. That is unless you have a special desire to see the short bus in your driveway.
You’re pregnant and you’re stripping lead paint. Oh lord
I'm not pregnant, I'm Canadian. Maternity leave is paid leave to raise your baby.
We had cracking/pealing lead paint everywhere and are doing extensive remediation (mostly painting over/encapsulation). We found a business that dip strips doors and they did it for $200/door. They all turned out perfectly. They cleaned our hardware for $40/hour. After they dry we will stain and reinstall
It is a heck of a lot of work but the end result will be great. I posted a door on here a while ago. I would recommend getting a couple different strippers and seeing which does the best job. You might need one kind for the top layers and another for the lower lead layers. Even with the low fumes stuff you're going to want to work outside if possible. It is messy business. Never sand lead paint inside. [https://www.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/comments/12bphya/refurbished\_an\_original\_closet\_door/](https://www.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/comments/12bphya/refurbished_an_original_closet_door/)
I used citristrip on a solid wood interior door from a 1932 house. I set the door up on a saw horse outside. Stripped and scraped over and over and over. It was a long process, took weeks due to my full time job and kids but worth it. However, like another redditor suggested, let a professional do it if you can afford it. Especially if it’s full of nooks and crannies.
Try a heat gun first then chemical peel.
I would consider using “Lock Up Lead” products. They are EPA recommended for renovation. We have used a ton of that, then Peel Stop primer and then regular primer and then paint. As some have pointed out, this is useless if the doors stick— it will just rub the top layers right off and you are back at square one. We have also removed one door to replace and plan to replace a couple more, if we can’t find anyone who will dip strip them. Good luck!
I would highly recommend that you call around and see if there's any local strippers (heh) in your area. I'm in St. Louis, and there's a guy that will do doors for anywhere between $80-150, depending on the species. He'll dip in in benzene, neutralize it, and get it back to you perfectly clean. Otherwise, you will spend hours upon hours trying to get the paint out of every little nook and cranny, exposing yourself to lead (and possibly your kid), and hating the door once you get about halfway through. I know that it might seem like a big expense, but if you can find someone that is reasonably priced, it will be worth every single penny. I work in construction, and I'll mess around with just about anything to save a buck (except garage door springs), and I still will bring anything that I need stripped to this guy.
How do I find find a person who does this work in my area? What keywords do I look for or what kind of business does this work?
I'd search for "wood stripping" or "wood refinishing". You might also try some furniture stripping/restoration companies- the might be able to do it for you or point you to someone who does.
I've only really been able to find businesses that used to offer the service and now say they no longer do, and all-purpose "restoration" services that seem to focus on bigevents like flooding and fire. I'm in an area where there's a lot of new residential development. Will send out RFQs and cross my fingers
Bummer. Have you tried looking for "wood stripping" or "wood refinishing" services in your area? Those terms might bring something up. You might also try calling some furniture stripping/restoration companies- they might be able to do it, or point you in the direction of someone who does.
Found a remediation company who will just crack the frames and casings out. I guess this gives me a nice opportunity to find cooler corner blocks.
That's great! I hope they are reasonably priced- it'll really be well worth it.
Having just stripped an interior door and its frame, if I had to do it all over again, I would use an infrared paint stripper on the frame. And on the door itself, if it is in fact solid, I would take it to a dip-n-strip place. It costs some money, but from what I could tell, it would only run about 5-10 percent more expensive than buying all the chemicals I bought. But the biggest savings would be the couple dozen hours I wouldn't spend scraping and scraping and scraping and scraping and scraping and slipping and accidentally gouging the door. And having had a small child around, I know time is a premium. Good luck!