<p>^^thank you! I am not a poly fan either. But understand its practicality for some people.</p>
<p>Our old house was 1914 - it was oak downstairs and pine upstairs. We used peelaway on our son’s room to remove the lead paint. The pine was not as pretty as the oak downstairs, but it was all one piece - easy to have a stained finish. If your paint is peeling off anyway, you may want to remove it even if you end up deciding to repaint. </p>
<p>Since you probably have lead paint you should read this before proceding: [Preservation</a> Brief 37: Appropriate Methods for Reducing Lead-Paint Hazards in Historic Housing](<a href=“Technical Preservation Services (U.S. National Park Service)”>http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/briefs/brief37.htm)</p>
<p>I live in an Edwardian style apartment (this is what I was told, I’m no expert), and we started stripping some of the wood trim 15 years ago when we first moved in. Well, it was so much work, we (I) gave up, and so we have all these bare patches. It is the most tedious work ever, and my molding is pretty straight, no intricate carvings. That will be very difficult, whether you use paint strippers, heat gun, or peel-away, which is super messy. The only room that is comnpletely stripped is the dining room which has oak panels, and that we contracted out. It took a team of 5 men over a week.</p>
<p>One thing I discovered is that the doors are cherry (or similar) veneer, but the door frame trim and other moulding is all cheaper wood, possibly maple? They were clearly meant to be painted. I think most Victorian trim was meant to be painted, so you may find some mismatches in the wood (unless they are entire paneled rooms which usually was left unpainted, I believe). Also, interestingly, everything in our kitchen is oak, including the kitchen side of doors, but the same door, on the dining room side, has the fancy veneer. I don’t think it was unusual for builders to cut costs this way.</p>
<p>One note, if you do decide to do it yourself, be careful to get good tools. It’s easy to mar the wood.</p>
<p>A modest suggestion: select a section of trim adjacent to the hinge side of a door that is usually open so you don’t see that piece very often. Tackle that. See what you find. You could completely strip and refinish that section and then extrapolate the amount of effort and the eventual results if you took on the rest of the house. If you decide not to proceed, you can repaint that section and that’s that!</p>
<p>I have never heard of Peelaway, before. I have used the Safe Stripper from 3M, which is an okay product. </p>
<p>I need to add crown molding to my front room. I have pondered a natural finish, but it is so common to use white. Lots of things to consider. Staining it could be interesting, too. It is nice to see the grain of the wood, for most types of woodwork. Sometimes painting is the only alternative, especially when matching the pieces up.</p>
<p>LGM is right, much of this woodwork was designed to be painted and it is not unusual to have it mixed though out the house, ie the dining room and parlor might be varnished, and the rest of the house painted. This is why you may very well find different woods in different rooms. Lesser woods like pine or birch were almost always painted, while walnut or mahogony were most likely varnished. Oak could go either way. Later Victorian homes are more likely to have painted surfaces, because paint and in particular white paint was seen as more sanitary.</p>
<p>I have heard of people taking their trim down and having it “dipped” but am not sure how this works. If the walls are lathe and plaster, can you remove window & door moldings, baseboards, etc. without causing damage?</p>
<p>Bela: This is not my period, but what you are describing is my concern, too, for zoosermom. What a wonderful place you must have! Your dining room sounds magnificent. Do you still have original kitchen cupboards, butler’s pantry? </p>
<p>sorry cross posted with lololu and it is her period!
It is pretty interesting to hear how people live.</p>
<p>Another option, if you decide you want to really strip it all, is to remove the trim from the wall, strip it, varnish and then replace it. If you are going to paint it, strip it, then reattach and paint it on the walls. This actually somewhat more efficient and it the best way to deal with heavily detailed woodwork, but it is not a task for the faint-hearted. You have to be really careful when removing the trim from the walls or you can splinter it. </p>
<p>If you do this and have a lot of cash, you could take the pieces down, take them to a pro and have them dipped and refinished, but just make sure they are using a safe stripper. Many places that dip pieces use a very caustic stripper that dries out the wood.</p>
<p>Cross posted with alh - Yeah, you can take it down, but it is difficult to do without shattering pieces. I would rather go with the hard slog of stripping it on the walls then take the chance of ruining a major piece.</p>
<p>^^I’m worried about damaging the plaster. My woodwork is fairly simple and indestructible. My plaster much more fragile lol</p>
<p>Zooser, if this is in NYC, it will be pretty easy to guess what is under everything if you know the history of the house. If, like many in NYC, it’s a home that was a worker’s home in the past but now has become an upper middle class area, chances are the mouldings and other detail work is paint grade and was not meant to be beautiful stripped. If in it’s day it was the home/neighborhood of those with resources, it’s likely to be beautiful under there.</p>
<p>zooser, remove a piece of base or door leg casing from a closet. Flip it over, and you’ll see the original wood, and be able to identify the species, grain and grade. You might also see if it was stained/varnished by any overslop that migrated to the back side.</p>
<p>You may have oak, mahagony, potentially cherry. </p>
<p>You are in for a tedious, time consuming and frustrating job. The results may end up well worth it for quality wood.</p>
<p>It sounds easier to rip it all out, buy new and start over.</p>
<p>I don’t think I would have the patience to do this project at my house!</p>
<p>My apartment is in a building that was meant to be middle to upper middle class, I believe, but the wood trim is still mixed, depending on which room it is in, and whether it was meant to be painted. So, even in high end old apartments, you can’t count on all the wood being the same grade. </p>
<p>alh, yes, we have the original kitchen cupboards, butler’s pantry, and maid’s room, (was D’s bedroom at one point!) but it’s all pretty modest. Still, it’s really beautiful to have all that old stuff.</p>
<p>I have neighbors who stripped all the molding and varnished it, rather than repaint it. It gives the apartment a sort of arts and crafts feel to have so much bare wood. </p>
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<p>Plaster is easy to repair, but it’s a dying art. We have all plaster walls and I love them. These old buildings are so solid compared to anything built within the last 40 years or so. We never hear our neighbors, whether upstairs, downstairs, or next door.</p>
<p>Back to original topic, zoosermom, stripping the entire house could be an endless job. You can get a nice effect by picking strategic areas to strip and refinish. For example, we have wood doors (varnished), with a painted doorframe. Doors are very easy to strip – especially if you take them off the hinges and have them done. It looks really nice, the contrast between the gleaming wood door and a painted frame. (we have those original crystal doorknobs too – beautiful against the wood) If you have all bare wood, it could start to look a little heavy.</p>
<p>I was thinking about this: it’s possible with a Victorian house (actually, it’s probable) that at least some of the paint on the woodwork is lead-based paint. You may want to get it tested before you start stripping it. There are safe ways to strip lead paint–and there are ways that will make you very sick.</p>
<p>bela: you are so lucky!</p>
<p>littlegreenmom: Please, please, please - if you ever remove trim from an old house, store it in the cellar, or attic or outbuilding just in case the next owners want to put it back LOL</p>
<p>dmd is right, if your house was painted prior to about 1970 (date depends on area of the country to some extent), you most likely have lead based paint. My idea is don’t even bother to test, just treat it as if it is lead based.</p>
<p>If it’s paint grade wood it will never look great stripped and then treated with oil/stain/varnish. Get a professional to help find out what is under the paint first. Different rooms and different floors may vary as well. Find out what you have first before you do this project!! And yes, the issued with lead based paint can be explained by a professional as well.</p>
<p>Hi Zoos -</p>
<p>I have stripped wood - it is REALLY time consuming. Like CRAZY time-consuming. Also, if the trim is very old, you need to take precautions for lead paint removal (fumes and dust can create quite an issue, and it may be better to keep all old paint encapsulated).</p>
<p>I bet you’re all right and I’m sure there is lead based paint. Which means definitely get a professional. Thankfully, it’s in impeccable condition, so I’m not worried about dust. Perhaps hubby will inquire of a professional this summer and make a PLAN (there are only a few things that I love more than a plan.)</p>