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Paint Removers

Paint Strippers

All paint strippers are not the same. These days, the strongest paint strippers available don't necessarily do the best job. The main ingredients in professional paint and varnish removers are strong and sometimes dangerous chemicals that cannot be used in an undiluted form or they would evaporate so quickly that they could not effectively be used as a paint remover.


Stripping Lacquer Or Shellac Finishes

When stripping lacquer or shellac finishes from furniture you should be using a liquid paint and varnish remover and wiping it quickly over the surface, then immediately removing it with steel wool or a plastic bladed putty knife. This should remove the clear coat without removing the stain underneath. An even easier way to do this is to use one of the newer safe strippers, these strippers do not contain the harmful chemicals, but are slower working strippers. To strip a layer of lacquer or shellac with the safe stripper you would apply the material with a paint brush and remove after 45 minutes with a plastic bladed putty knife. These safe strippers are starting to be sold in a variety of strengths and are becoming quite popular.


Stripping Paint Or A Build Up Of Lacquer, Shellac Or Varnish

When stripping paint or a build up of lacquer, shellac or varnish all you have to do is leave your stripper on the surface a little longer. If using a liquid paint and varnish remover, leave it on 10 minutes and then scrape it off. It will remove one coat at a time but will do a great job. You could also use a gelled paint stripper, these strippers can strip numerous layers of paint or any coating in about 10 minutes. The reason they outperform the other strippers is because they contain wax, this wax floats to the surface, not allowing the chemicals to evaporate. These are your fastest working strippers. If you would like to use a safe stripper on paint surface you will have to leave it on the surface 10-12 hours for it to work but the fumes are not harmful and no gloves are required. If you are stripping a vertical surface your only choices are a gelled stripper or a semi-paste version of the safe strippers. The wax in the gelled stripper and the semi-paste safe stripper allow them to cling to the surface so they have time to do the work. Thin strippers run off the surface too quickly.


Removing Heavy Marine Coatings Or Anti Fouling Paints

When removing heavy marine coatings or anti fouling paints it is important that you do not use strong chemical strippers, these chemicals combined with the anti fouling coatings chemical make up can be unsafe. A new nontoxic, non hazardous, biodegradable product is now available. This product removes anti fouling coatings from gelcoat, wood and aluminum. Once the stripper has evenly softened the paint down to the substrate, just use a putty knife to remove it. More than one application may be necessary

All of our RemovALL paint strippers are made with the SARA technology, except for Organic Strip.

SARA Technology is a unique, revolutionary, patented new method of coating removal. In the past, the chemical paint strippers that have been produced can only be described as harmful to both the environment and to the general health and safety of the workers. Several forms of environmentally advantaged strippers were developed as a result of government regulations and demands from the industry, but very few of them have proved to be effective against the tough, high performance industrial coatings that are used today.

Napier's SARA Technology provides the alternative that the industry is seeking. Products based on this technology are biodegradable, non-toxic, virtually odorless, non-irritating and offer a cost effective method of removing old paint systems. It is a complete substitute for traditional, hazardous strippers and can be used where abrasive blasting or high pressure water jetting cannot be performed. Napier has conclusively and repeatedly proven the effectiveness and advantages of SARA Technology on a wide variety of projects worldwide, in removing some of the toughest industrial coatings known.

How it works

Products based on SARA Technology have a unique formulation. The products consist of three main components:

1. Water     2. Moisture Barrier     3. Active Ingredients

Once the product has been applied to a painted surface, the active ingredients begin traveling down through the paint. They open up the pores of the paint, allowing the product to penetrate all the way down to the substrate. When these ingredients have reached the substrate, an internal chemical reaction takes place whereby oxygen gas is released from within the chemical stripper. The bond between the coating system and the substrate is destabilized and the pressure created by the oxygen breaks that bond completely and releases the paint from the surface.

In the meantime, the Moisture Barrier begins to rise to the top of the stripper and forms a protective layer that prevents the stripper from drying. In an indoor situation, the stripper may stay wet and active for up to four days.When the bond has been released, the paint lifts off the surface in relatively large pieces or chips and sometimes it even falls off in sheets. Pressure washing removes the lifted paint and residue from the substrate, which is left clean and ready for re-painting. Thus, de-coating procedures are greatly simplified and costs are dramatically lowered.

IMPORTANT NOTE: While the active ingredients are traveling through the coating, it seems as if nothing is happening. Be assured that if the SARA product is wet on the surface of the paint, the active ingredients are hard at work. Allow them time to reach the substrate. The time taken will depend on the thickness and toughness of the coating, but while the stripper is doing the work, you have time on your hands for other revenue producing jobs.

Always neutralize the surface you have stripped with water or paint thinner to remove any wax or other contaminants before re-finishing.