How toxic are latex paint fumes?

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

Some paint was peeling from a piece of door trim in my bungalow, and I noticed that it came off pretty easily in some sections, so I decided to experiment with stripping it all off. The paint is latex, just one coat over the varnished wood. It doesn't *all* come off easily though, so I'm working my way through the best methods to get the rest of the paint off. If I were to use a heat gun, how concerned do I need to be about fumes? Do just want to make sure I have good ventilation, or do I want to use a P-100 respirator?

(I'm pretty certain the paint is lead-free. It has all the hallmarks of latex -- more rubbery than flaky, no cracking or alligatoring -- and the fact that there is just one coat makes it seem extremely unlikely it dates back to earlier than 1978.)

Relatedly, I have some denatured alcohol I could use, but I was shocked to see it contains about 40% methanol, which I'm not crazy about.

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Comments (4)

User
6 years ago
The MSDS info is available on the internet.
Faron79
6 years ago
A SHARP scraper works well, & totally non-toxic!

Next: Using a palm-sander or sanding-block, EVENLY dull the surface some until you're happy with the smoothness.

* Get every molecule of dust off.

* Use a good primer! 2 coats if you're fussy. This will allow you to SLIGHTLY smooth the surface a tad, with a 220-grit sponge.

* Now, 2 coats of a good Cabinet & Trim paint. Satin is fine....Semi-gloss a little better.

* You could use a "normal" wall paint, but you then have literally have 60 seconds of working-time before it starts tacking-up!

Faron
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graywings123
6 years ago
If I were to use a heat gun, how concerned do I need to be about fumes?

Fumes are not a problem when using a heat gun. I don't usually wear a mask when I'm using a heat gun and scraper, but you might want to wear a lightweight one (not P-100) if your paint is coming off in chips. Even when sanding, a P-100 seems excessive.

Trust Faron's advice above.
Christopher Schoen
Original Author
6 years ago
I should have specified, I'd like to keep the bare wood trim (which a few rooms already have). But this is still helpful, I'll just mentally replace the notes about trim paint with stain/varnish.