Home DIY

Long handled rollers: where have they been all my life? Transformative.

I got one of those decent fibreglass extendable roller handles. Another one of those "I wish I'd bought one from the off instead of settling for a cheap one".

It's a shame the Internet is so crowded with faux marketing that you're never sure which tools /accessories are genuinely worth your DIY money.

Got seduced by the prospect of sharp lines and tried to nitromoros the panel lines.

Forgot how much of a commitment paint stripper is. Luckily I just tested one side of one door. Definitely not going to do any others.

Anyone got any tips on how best to scrape.

Long shot, but is there a low effort way to strip the panel edges? I'm happy to settle for sanding and over painting, but thought it would be worth an ask.

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Heatgun? Can work beautifully, but often doesn't.
Some people on here swear on an uv thing called cobra speed heater I'd try if I did a lot of that work.

Forgot how much of a commitment paint stripper is.

Modern consumer paint stripper is useless. Might as well soak it in baby oil. Try some SynStrip or get it acid dipped.

I knew I should have bought that middle isle heatgun :)

Tbh it's made me realise this isn't a good use of my time. The total job is a reasonable size and things keep popping up which slow me down.

A classic eg is that everytime I've used wood filler something has kicked off that's meant I've missed the sweet spot where you can cut the filler with a knife or chisel before it properly sets.

My OH would be fine with just a fresh coat of paint, so I'm going to stick to sanding and the loss of a bit of definition... it's just so nice when you see those crisp sharp panel lines after pealing off a million layers of old paint.

it won't be possible to get the MOT down and compacted

I've compacted small areas using a sledgehammer before - just hold it vertical and tamp it down with the long face of the head.

I did about 6 doors over 2-3 years with a heatgun. Not too bad, although it takes twice as long if you want it really neat and tidy. Avoid windy days unless you want a garden full of paint flakes.

Aggh! I'm such a dick head for staring this. I knew it would happen too.

Reckon I've got another couple of coats to go.

The only saving grace is that on of my kid was throwing up every hour last night so the garden is full of washing. Meaning I'm blocked from any sanding.

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These profile scrapers are useful.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MANUFORE-Stainless-Removing-Scraping-Contoured/dp/B0C23MVFB1/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?

Infrared stripping is the best way, unfortunately the tools are expensive.

Need to paint loads of woodwork around newly installed windows. Have done undercoat of Zinsser. What’s the best/toughest topcoat. Want a mid sheen maybe…

I've been using Zinsser Allcoat for basic white gloss, it's available as a gloss or satin though.

All our doors, architrave and windows were covered in multiple layers of red, navy and duck egg blue. Having scraped and sanded them with an IR stripper, I think I would get them dipped if I was to start again.

I got all my internal doors, and a Victorian front door, dipped, and it kinda fucked half the doors tbh.

The glue sometimes dissolves causing separation of the panels, and a couple of the doors became warped afterwards.

I wouldn’t do it again.

I wondered if the sand blaster attachment for Karcher would be an ideal way of 'bulk stripping' large items with complex shapes.

Nearly pulled the trigger on it but suspected it's too messy and requires more sand than was reasonable.

In the end, I'm paying for someone else to sand blast a gate for me.

This is what I heard too...and as I've just repaired part of it using glue it didn't sound fun. Also I cba with the admin.

As the doors were free maybe I shouldn't be so tight.

All for upstairs and apart from the bathroom door none are ever really closed. When I eventually find a matching 5th one for our downstairs sitting room I might be tempted to get a bit keener on the out facing side but for now I just want to get a chunk of sanding done in my lunch break so I can get a primer on tonight.

Does anyone have any particular oil/stain/paint recommendations for painting my new fence please ? Ideal if I could do the concrete posts in the same substance - Sage green for preference

Cupronol. To manage your expectations it requires repainting in the future. Colours will notice the most.

Idk about cupronol on posts, but a mates parents did all their panels and posts in a standard tan wood colour and I was taken aback at how well the concrete posts blended into the fence panels - basically looked like wood posts unless you looked closely. However, my guess is you only get to choose the colour once. As removing it will be impossible.

+1 for Cuprinol. Did a sage green fence for a client early summer and it worked well with 1 coat. Very runny paint though so cover anything you don't want splashes on.

I always used a brush rather than a sprayer as it's quite windy where we are.

I bought a specific fence painting brush, but had better luck with this sort

Idk the correct terminology, but thick and wide with lots of bristles.

I found the fence brush to be too stiff, fling the paint around a bit, and not load at the tips as well as the sort in that image.

Cuprinol held up better than the Ronseal stuff. Although the Black Tudor Ronseal has actually held up really well, so there may be a colour factor to longevity.

A deck brush that you can attach to a handle might be a good bet too. I'm guessing accuracy with fence painting isn't too important, but volume and speed and not having crouch down / reach up are.

Like decks I'm guessing you have to re-apply yearly at the least.

Usually white gloss is rated for 8 years, colours for 6. It's usually about heat, black matt gets much hotter than white gloss in the sun so it tends to crack and age faster.

When we painted our porch, I asked my neighbour what he had used and when he had done it last as it looked great still. He reccomended Sadolin Superdec Satin - When I painted it on it was noticably thick and as it drys it goes through a sort of plasticy phase. They claim its meant to be a semi flexiable paint which resists cracking. His south facing black porch looks great after 5 years so i've used the same stuff.

(skip to 33 sec to see)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uViwA8EyWMw

However, my guess is you only get to choose the colour once.

I think this is the most imporant take away from this whole conversation, i'm going to not rush into doing it.

I won't bore everyone with the location of my various bits of painted wood, but this matches my experience.