Dumond Chemicals, Inc. 1160N Peel Away 1 Heavy-Duty Paint Remover, 1 1/4 Gallon Kit

I've stripped a lot of stuff in my time and it's always been a pain in the a**. So I was not looking forward to doing two 100 year old 4 panel doors with who knows how many layers of paint. I had some leftover Jasco and that was a mess and smelled bad and didn't work very well so I got some of that citrus strip stuff, that smelled better but only took off the top couple layers of paint. So I started searching for another product to strip paint with and eventually ended up with this stuff. I was a bit wary because some people raved about it and other said it didn't work at all but figured what the hell. Best decision ever. This stuff takes the paint off so easy I just can't believe it. Like sheets of old paint coming off and easily going into the waste bucket. I might even describe it as satisfying instead of tedious. It doesn't stink, it's fairly easy to clean up, it doesn't sting if you happen to get some on you and best of all it takes the old paint off. Ok, practical stuff. *I was putting it on about 1/8 thick, this seemed to do the trick. *1 bucket stripped one side of a door with a bit left over. Maybe 18-20 sqft? *The packaging is a bit annoying, you have to twist the top of the bucket and there's not much to grip on (just pull that white thing out, it's useless.) *The paper that comes with it works but maybe a bit messy. I just used plastic garbage bags that I cut open. *I did each door in three sections per side. Maybe could have done two sections. *I let is set for 24 hours and that was enough. *it was a bit problematic to get an even coat. I had to work quickly to spread it or the layers of paint would start coming up if I went back over it. (Note! Not a complaint!) *Once the big stuff is up I used a plastic scraper that I cut down to three different sizes to do most of the detail work, wire brush doesn't really work. *Get a sponge and big bucket of water to take off the residue. Wipe one direction for best cleaning. That's it! Soooo much easier than I'm used to.

Does exactly what it says it can do. Years of paint come of easily on most areas. More detailed areas need more coats. Packaging could use a bit of help. Difficult to open and some leaking. Order an extra sheet, you’ll need it.

Made my task more difficult. I Tried using it on my banisters, which have several grooves and several layers of paint. The supposed speciality of this product. Followed the instructions. Made a soup of the paints and made it harder to remove ultimately. Will go back to using my $20 heat gun. Wasted my money.

I did not initially think that Peel Away was worth it. It's expensive, and messy, and lots of steps, and it wasn't a smooth process. So I have since tried multiple other paint stripping products on other projects and I came back to Peel Away and tried it again. My conclusion is that paint stripping just sucks. No matter which one you use its messy. Peel away was far less drawn out, and more effective. You have to use a thick enough layer of paste, and then let it stand for long enough. If you do, it scrapes right off. Door panel crevices, small details- lifts away with no scraping damage. 3-4 hours has been sufficient for the 5ish layers of latex and oil/lead paint I'm removing. I typically use it on things I can take outside-bc then I just pressure hose it off and let it sit in the sun before using the neutrilzer solution. It's not a perfect product, but none of them are. This one is definitely my favorite.

The product comes as a paste that looks and even smells like wet cement. The pail INCLUDES about 16sq ft of laminate paper, a plastic spatula, a bottle of Cirtilize neutraiizer (more on that later), and a pack of litmus (pH sensing) paper. You apply the past eand then cover with the laminate paper to prevent premature drying. After some amount of time (1-24 hrs) you pull away the paper and the paint, in theory. I've been doing a bunch of stripping on my 80+ year old house recently and here's what I've found. Pros: - It works best on old paint esp oil based paint as stated by the manufacturer - If you start pulling away the paper correctly in bits, the paint just comes with it, keeping to it's namesake - From a VOC perspective it's far better that some of the other chemical/wet paint strippers Cons: - It claims to go through up to 30 layers of paint, but in my experience it goes through ~3 layers at best and I've always had to do a 2nd application. It cannot get into corners very well. - It's VERY messy. Oil based paints will 'melt'. If your stripping a vertical surface, the paint runs down and pools at a mess at the bottom - It seems to be pretty hard on wood, causing it to soften and splinter easily. It also leaves the surface very alkaline. This is why they provide the Citrilize acid neutralizer. I've found that I've had to apply this multiple times to get the pH of the surface down to semi normal. This neutralizing process adds to the messiness of using this product - I've had to use a primer on wood surfaces after using this product, even after neutralizing the pH. Putting paint on top just causes it to coagulate prematurely a causing a mess. Summary: The product works, but it's fairly messy and is hard on 'soft' surfaces like wood. Unless you've got lots of layers of old tough paint, I've had better results withe the Smart Strip Advanced from the same manufacturer. It seems to work on older paint, is less messy, and gentle on wood surfaces.