# 90 cabinet doors to strip paint!! How to do fast?



## laanguiano (Jun 15, 2010)

Taking on a job to refinish a kitchens latex painted cabinets. 90 doors and drawers!!! Ahhh.

I used chemical stripper, sandpaper , and card scrapers and it took like 2 hrs for one door.

What's the quickest and best way to do it for such a large job?


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)

You can buy paint grade doors pretty reasonable. No way I'd head down your path.


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## kdc68 (Mar 2, 2012)

*+1 AlaskaGuy*
You can buy paint grade doors pretty reasonable. No way I'd head down your path

Buying new would also give you a chance to make changes in the style of door and drawer fronts (ie from flat panel to an arched raised panel) . Another added bonus to renovating the kitchen….


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## Buckethead (Apr 14, 2013)

What if this is for a client? Then our friend is stuck. My guess is they are raised panel doors if it took 2hours to strip one door. 2×90=180. Massive project.

Not something I do, but I might try a couple methods to speed the process. A belt sander, a power plane, outsourcing… THAT'S IT! Outsourcing!


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## skipj (Mar 6, 2012)

I like what buckethead said, outsource AND i'll take the job. At my hourly shop rate thats a nice chunk of change.I am doing a kitchen now. Refacing the face frames and building new drawers and doors.


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## RockyTopScott (Nov 16, 2008)

Soda blasting. If you do this alot, it will save time and $$$


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## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

find a furniture stripper company
one with a 'dip tank'

so much for a sq. ft.
they dip
strip and brush 
and rinse them

you just need to lightly sand to knock down the raised grain
before your new finish
get a bid
and add your cost for it too


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## laanguiano (Jun 15, 2010)

Here's a picture of one section of cabinets and the finished product. It took at least an 2 hours for that one door.


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## kdc68 (Mar 2, 2012)

*Adrian A*.... I retract my previous post about buying new….and changing the style…. That is a beautiful door….Hopefully you find an efficient and fast method to strip the paint. Others have posted sending them out to be stripped. That may be the best method in terms of their cost versus your time


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## cabmaker (Sep 16, 2010)

How about new doors, much quicker.


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## laanguiano (Jun 15, 2010)

He likes the ones he has and I'd rather save on lumber and just refinish them. More profit : )


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## Charlie5791 (Feb 21, 2012)

Try a heat gun. Aside from vat stripping by a pro stripping shop, I don't see any way around you having to diddle around with the profile. But a heat gun might peel latex right off. Depends how many coats and what was on it BEFORE the latex.

Oh and I've seen vat stripping really mess up stuff. But might be your fastest option.


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

Heat stripping if it is just latex may be the best way. Small heat gun and a very stiff bristle brush to grab the paint as it bubbles. Otherwise the soda blasting doesn't sound like a bad idea, pick up a cheap kit and try it.


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

When I did that a long time ago I sent them out to get stripped. As long as they are solid wood and not PB veneered they can tank strip them. Mine turned out beautiful. This was back in Illinois in my second house about 25 years ago!


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## fge (Sep 8, 2008)

we recently stripped face frames in a kitchen with simple paint stripper, no problem. Since we can build a set of doors in our shop we could almost build new doors easier than stripping.

But in the past we have built a small shallow tub out of wood scraps and lined it with plastic tarp and filled it with lacquer thinner in order to strip a set of stain grade doors. Maybe submersion of the door inside paint stripper or lacquer thinner will help.

i am glad i dont have your job.


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## renners (Apr 9, 2010)

I would send out a test door for chemical stripping and make a decision about how to proceed when you get it back. If the paint won't come out of the pores, you will still be left with lots of sanding. Same with stripping with a heat gun, try it first and see if that will work. The scrapers you have, have you got one shaped to the inside moulding? If not you could make one, might speed you up a bit. Nice job on the refinished door btw.


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## 1thumb (Jun 30, 2012)

Doors are beautiful. Don't screw them up. insert smiley face here


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## Finisherman (May 3, 2013)

I might have a couple of suggestions for you. If it were me doing this job, I'd go find myself a rubber tub of the kind that's designed for mixing concrete. I'd fill the tub with a couple of quarts of liquid stripper, like circa 1850 and immerse several of the doors in the tub and then leave them in there until the old paint and finish are completely softened. Then, simply scrape off the sludge and use plenty of lacquer thinner and a green scotch brite pad to wash away the stripper residue. What you're really doing here is creating your own miniature version of a dip tank. Remmber to let the stripper do all of the heavy lifting. At least this way, you can do several doors or drawer fronts at a time. It's hard work, I know, but at least you won't run the risk of damaging the surface like a power sander or scraper can.

Speaking of dip tanks, if you contract out the job, make sure that the oufit that you're dealing with uses a cold dip process. Some stripping shops use a hot solution of lye to strip finishes, and that would most likely be the "kiss of death" for that beautiful wood. Make sure that the stripping outfit guarantees their work. Ask for references.


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

I was going to do the "tub" thing myself but with kids and pets around I didn't want to take a chance on leaving it outside and inside there was just too much odor!

The place that did mine used cold strip but were forced out of business, a couple of years after they did my doors, because of EPA violations.


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## NormG (Mar 5, 2010)

I like the commercial stripping shop. Makes the most sense


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

I would go with a professional paint stripping company. They use a chemical stripper and there is a danger joints could be damaged by the chemicals. 90 doors/drawers? That must be one big kitchen. My kitchen is pretty big and I have less than 20 doors/drawers.


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## laanguiano (Jun 15, 2010)

Its 90 in total (Drawers plus Doors), and if you look close in the pic of the one example, there are double stacked drawers on the bottoms. He has them on 3 walls, then on his island there are drawers and doors on BOTH sides of the island. I know crazy.

Id never heard of dipping, but that does sound risky. I'll take one door to a company for a sample. The drawers arent too bad, Im able to sand clean with my orbital sander. ill probably get a Festool RO90 to help with speed since ill be getting some cash with this project.

Renners: good idea with a custom card scraper. Ill give that a shot.

James 101: good thought on then drum sander. Didnt think about that since the flat parts were "easy". but in doing them all that will save time… and i do have a drum sander 

Ill go buy the harbor freight soda sprayer, and give it a test run on the doors. Ill probably run the frame through the drum sander, then make a protector from hardboard over the flat areas, then give the soda sprayer a try on the raised panel section.

The chemical stripper i used (Kleen Strip *sp) worked okay, but geez it was deadly. That stuff is invisible death. My skin was dry as a bone, but somehow somthing got on my skin, and boy did that sucker burn.

Ill probably do all the face frames on site with the RO90 Rotex, combined, with my RTS 400.

I thought about getting the LS130 to help with some moldings… but no wood store stocks them for me to try out the effectiveness of em.

Thanks for the suggestions and compliments. I should post a pic of the red stain of minwax on this door vs general finishes red gel stain. Minwax barely even changed the color. It was so sad.

Any other thoughts, feel free to send, but its hard for me to turn down a probably 5k job, when I never get projects that can earn me that much, besides some 150 buck cutting boards or cabinets for school teachers.


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## tturner (Nov 5, 2012)

Try pressure washing


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