On account of the heat wave, my mom and I decided to skip the camping trip this weekend. Carting around a backpack full of gear in 90+ degree weather really just doesn't sound like that much fun. Since I've been home for the past 2 days, I've accomplished almost one thing: one living room window is halfway stripped. Citristrip and Soy-Gel work wonders on multiple layers of lead-based paint, but they don't do jack on 2 layers of latex paint on unvarnished wood. Hmpf. I scraped the top layer of paint off with a plastic scraper, then used steel wool and water to rub off the second layer. This might not sound too bad, but it took over 45 minutes to almost finish 1 window. The citristrip just causes the paint to smear, exactly like on the stairway where the shellac was worn off. Not cool. I can't use any harsher chemicals on the windoes, since they are the modern-ish double-paned type. If the seal is broken, which I'm afraid would happen with a "real" paint stripping chemical, then the window clouds up and looks ugly.
Tomorrow I'm going to take the baseboards and door frames out to the garage and start sanding. I'm tired of not making any progress, and I'm getting anxious to move on from the living room. I promised Shayne that I'd only tear up one room at a time, which stinks. Right now, I'd be more than happy to be stripping wallpaper or tearing up carpet. In fact, I could probably get away with ripping up carpet, since we only have 1 room upstairs that still has it... Hmm...
I wonder where the steamer is...?
paint stripping is certainly teaching me patience and with so many windows yet to go, I've still got a lot of learning to do ;-)
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