When decorating your garden furniture, the first step you’ll need to take is to strip off the old tired paint. Redecorating wooden garden furniture can give it a new lease of life, but what’s the best way to strip old paint? 

You may decide it’s too big of a job for DIY and call in a professional. But if you want to save money and have a stab at some creative DIYing, here are the best ways to strip paint from your wooden garden furniture.

Choose your paint stripping tools

There are several ways to effectively remove old paint from wooden furniture, all of which you need to approach with care. 

If you’re removing paint at home, make sure you have the correct safety equipment. Wear a mask as you don’t know what treatment the wood has previously had. And once you’ve stripped down your furniture, apply a high-quality exterior paint, like Little Knights external wood paint.

Sanding off paint

A chemical-free way to expose woodwork is to use a sander. You can do this by hand with sandpaper if you have limited resources, but a quicker method is to use a belt sander. This is better for larger furniture. 

If you are using this method, it’s essential to wear goggles and a mask as the process will create a lot of dust. 

Heat stripping

Another option for quickly getting the paint off garden furniture is to use a heat gun. They work by heating the paint so that it melts off your garden bench. 

However, it is crucial that heat guns are used with caution. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise that heat applied to wood can start a fire. When using a heat gun, start it on its lowest wattage and do not point it at the same spot for too long, but move it around in a circular motion. 

Using paint stripper 

There are a few options when choosing paint strippers, mainly caustic, solvent, and biochemical paint strippers. Going with a caustic or solvent-based paint stripper may be quicker, but both emit various noxious fumes. Biochemical strippers emit fewer fumes but take longer to work and require more manual scraping. 

Make sure you apply the stripper to the wood outside or in a well-ventilated area. Also, we recommend you wear a respirator mask due to the number of chemicals that the stripper will emit. 

Avoid stripping the paint altogether

There is a way around taking the time and effort of stripping down the wood. Choose a paint that can be applied directly on top of old paint. The great thing about Little Knights exterior paint is that it goes straight over old paint, so you won’t need to strip down your garden furniture.