Cover paint stripper
with baking paper to keep it from evaporating.
Chemical paint strippers go on like paint and slowly dissolve and loosen old paint underneath them. Thin layers of paint under aggressive chemical strippers can remove paint in minutes, but less caustic, environmentally and health friendly paint strippers take longer to remove the paint. Some need to be in place overnight. In order for the stripper to keep doing its job for that long, it must remain moist. To keep the stripper from evaporating away, cover it with a sheet of baking paper.
Instructions
1. Wipe the old paint down with a rag. If necessary, scrape off any paint chips with your plastic putty knife.
2. Pour roughly the amount of paint stripper you will need -- look on the packaging for coverage information -- into a separate plastic container or paint tray if you intend to roll the paint remover onto a large surface. Never dip your brush into the main supply.
3. Apply a generous layer of the paint stripper to the surface with a paint brush or paint roller according to the manufacturer's instructions.
4. Cover the paint stripper with baking paper. Extend the paper at least 1 inch beyond the paint stripper layer on all sides. Secure and seal the edges with low-adhesive tape. If you must use more than one sheet of baking paper to cover the area, overlap adjacent sheets by 1/2 to 1 inch and tape the seam if you like.
5. Remove the baking paper once the paint stripper has cured for the manufacturer-recommended amount of time.
6. Scrape the loosened paint and stripper away from the wall with the putty knife. Remove residual paint by scrubbing with a rag moistened with paint stripper.
7. Wipe the treated area down with a rag moistened with water or the neutralizing chemical recommended by the stripper's manufacturer. Towel dry the area. If any large or thick sections of paint remain, re-apply the paint remover to those areas.
