Frequently Asked Questions

What can be stripped?

Pine – This strips well. Examples of commonly stripped items are doors,  cupboards, chairs, chest of drawers, skirting boards, architraves,  window frames and floorboards.

Oak – This strips  readily, but tends to go dark, as if the piece was stained in dark oak when made. Oak may sometimes split when drying out.

Mahogany & Walnut – Again, these woods tend to darken up, and have similar characteristics to oak.

Satinwood – Commonly used for bedroom furniture, it strips readily and has a  greyish tinge, sometimes exposing dark graining. It polishes up  brilliantly and looks good with pine.

Furniture that was popular  in the 1930/50’s contains a lot of thin plywood and, or, veneer. This is  difficult to strip and may warp.

What can’t be Stripped?

Mirrors – The reflective silver on the back also strips off and leaves you with a sheet of glass.

Relief mouldings – if made from plaster, alabaster or resin they will disintegrate.

Chipboard, hardboard and some plywood’s – these materials absorb water and will fall to pieces.

Veneered surfaces – the veneer has a tendency to lift off.

Polyuthane  varnish, or paint, and spray-lacquered pieces may not strip  satisfactorily or even at all. It is useful to let us test a small  section first for example a drawer.

Modern doors, skirting etc  (modern to us, is within the last twenty years). These doors may have  been undercoated with a water based or acrylic paint onto bare wood. The  topcoats of gloss paint will strip off but the undercoat will remain.  Again it is useful to let you know.

PREPARATIONS THAT NEED TO BE TAKEN BEFORE YOUR DOORS ARE COLLECTED:

Doors must be stripped of all handles and hooks.

Doors  can be marked on the top and a corresponding mark made on the door  frame. This helps you identify the correct door for your frames if we treat more than one door.

Work is usually completed within 1 to 2 days maximum, providing that there are no complications in the stripping process.

Glass in doors is not a problem.  It is possible in older furniture where the putty is brittle and loose  that you may have to re-putty in places after stripping. Very rarely  glass can crack with the expansion of the wood. With this in mind glass must be at your own risk.

Woodworm and other infestations will be  killed off in the process, and are unlikely to return. However pieces  that have been heavily infected with woodworm in the past will take longer to dry-out as the boreholes act like a sponge adsorbing more liquid.