Back to Stripping Windows

It rained.....no wait...it drizzled all day so that means inside today.

I am still working on stripping the windows on the outside but with todays weather I figured I would just start stripping those same windows inside the house.

Who ever painted the interior the last time it was painted, painted every surface flat white. They not only painted everything flat white but they did so by spray painting. Needless to say all the trim has to be stripped if we are to achieve a nice semi gloss finish.

While taking a closer look at the window I noticed that calamine pink color. Look closely in the area by the sash rope. I started stripping the paint on the sill using my lighter duty heat gun. Immediately the paint started coming off in large sheets leaving little residue behind. Then I remembered I didn't take a before photo.....so I stopped and snapped a quick photo.
I removed the sash stops once I had removed all the paint from the trim on each side of the window. I now could easily move the sash up and down. This also allowed me to get to some of the harder to reach areas on the outside. Then it was on to scraping the paint off the sashes.I realized the wood was different than the wood in the dining room when I stopped to snap another photo. Notice how the wood is dark........now moving to the dining roomThe window on the right has some of the paint removed from the left side. Notice how it is lighter?

Hmmmm.....the dining room wood appears to be birch or popular. The living room wood is maybe redwood, fir, or ???? The grain is very tight and hardly noticeable. I lightly and quickly sanded just to see the results and wow I think it will paint up beautifully.

Now I know some of you will say....."It's blasphemous to paint wood trim." I believe this trim was always painted since it does not have a coat of shellac or varnish present. So by painting the trim I will be restoring the trim to it's original condition. That condition of course will not be calamine pink but semi gloss white.

Tomorrow we will be back at B & G's for more post and top cap work. Let's keep our fingers crossed that when we leave their house tomorrow the only remaining work will be the spindles.