House in Progress Diary

ReMOOving Milk Paint

Milk paint...we love it and hate it.

We love it because it is this lovely, non-toxic incredibly hardy paint made from milk protein, lime and other things. It is especially good for children's things and for people who are allergic to chemicals. On antique furniture, it can be the coolest thing...especially since you can move furniture from room to room.

("Udderly Sunflowers" by by Jodi Mendlinger via Art Select)

When it shows up as a complete surprise under many layers of cracked and chipping latex and/or lead paint on something immobile, like a built-in, life becomes no fun. No fun at all.

How do you know it is milk paint? If you have ever tried to get bubble gum out of your hair, you have known what it is like to mess with milk paint.

When heated with the Silent Paint Remover, it does very little. Scraping or sanding was working S-L-O-W-L-Y, and the thought of scraping and sanding all of the surfaces in this house that may have milk paint sent me off to bed with a bottle of aspirin and visions of finishing this house when I hit 60.

Milk paint seems to be untouchable.

Here are the things gathered on various boards and conversations that are supposed to remove Milk Paint:

-A product from a company called Behlen, called the P.D.E. Milk Paint Remover
-Powdered Milk Paint Remover (found somone on Old House board who used it on a dresser)
-Ammonia (Yikes! The fumes! And it might darken wood...another Old House forum recommendation)
-Peel Away Paint Stripper from Dumond Chemicals (via the American Bungalow Magazine Forum)

I decided to try Peel Away first. Why? Because I didn't have to order it through the mail. And ammonia...well, let's say I've worked with ammonia before. The screens aren't on the windows yet. 'Nuff said.

I called Dumond before heading out to a nearby distributor because I was unsure of WHICH Peel Away product to use. Dumond Chemicals is in New York. The town of my birth. The gentleman who answered the phone couldn't believe I found milk paint in a Chicago house. It was as if Chicago sprang up from the prairie 50 years ago! Hel-LO, history lesson. After I described it to him, he agreed, "Yeah, sounds like milk paint. Peel Away One, right?"

(I can't spell a real New York accent. But I do love it and miss it, right?)

So, I head to Sherwin-Williams...they carry Peel Away and they are close by. I compare the labels of the Peel Away 1 with Peel Away 7 and, heeeyyyy. Wait a minute! Peel Away 1 cautions that it can darken hardwoods. Says nothing about Milk Paint. And is definitely the more caustic of the two.

Begin cautious, I pay a sum for Peel Away 7 that makes me want to hug my Silent Paint Remover and take home a little sample pint.

I apply it with a brush on a small test area. The consistency is like pudding. There is no strong smell.

Hmmm. The sample size comes with no "Peel Away" paper. Something they don't tell you on the label. So I grab some old Cling Wrap, cover it up, and leave it for 20-24 hours.

I come back, take off the wrap and scrape away the Milk Paint...for the most part. I then rub the wood down with some denatured alcohol to neutralize it.

If I wasn't in a hurry to finish the bathroom built-in, I would definitely give some of the mail-order options a try. The milk paint + Peel Away 7 has the consistency of gooey taffy...no fun to clean off your scraper every few minutes. And this is still going to require a lot of sanding to boot.

The expense of using this throughout the house makes me plenty squeamish. 10 seconds with the Silent Paint Remover takes off 7-8 layers of paint across a 12-14 inch area in one scrape. It is harder to manuever in crevices but we have a lot of flat trim. Comparing the SPR with the Peel Away 7, the SPR has paid for itself after two rooms.

Hmmm. I may be experimenting with the mail order products after all. After the bathroom is finished that is.

Right now, I have a lot of scraping and sanding to do.

Sleep? What's that?

Posted by jeanne on March 21, 2004 at 8:44 PM (2)