Subject: Question -- removal of dried laminating resin
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003

A couple of months ago I treated an exterior wooden beam with CPES and then the laminating resin. Everything seems to be fine. But I am finally planning on painting the beam now and some of the resin seeped out and is covering the old paint.

What is the best method to remove the resin? There is actually quite a bit of it -- maybe 1/16 -- 1/8 inch thick and covering an 8"x24" space. I tried scraping by hand and then with a drill mounted wire wheel and no luck.

Is there some sort of paint stripper you would recommend? Perhaps to chisel it off by hand?

Thanks...Ted C.

Ted,

The easiest method is with a heat gun and a scraper. Epoxies will get soft when exposed to high heat.

Beyond that, the JASCO paint stripper (Home Depot) advertises that it will remove epoxy. I have never tried it, but that's what the can says.

Epoxy resin can also be sanded off with a 50 grip pager and an orbital sander. It's a bit of work, but the heavy-grit paper does chew it off.

Finally, epoxy resin (or its residue) can be painted over if the surface is scored, that is, sanded.

Hope this is some help, and feel free to come back if you have additional questions.

Doc