Paint stripper for wood: doors, banisters and skirting
Updated: 23 October 2026
The banister is sticky and the door mouldings have gone soft under decades of gloss. A paint stripper for wood fits when the film needs to come off, and it is the wrong job when the paint is sound and old enough to contain lead. Peter F. used four amazon.co.uk listings from 21 October 2026 and Health and Safety Executive guidance, and updated this page on 23 October 2026. We did not strip a door in a lab. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The table is the [paint stripper comparison](/hub/paints-and-varnishes/paint-stripper). Radiators and car panels stay off this page.
The banister is sticky and the door mouldings have gone soft under decades of gloss.
The banister is sticky and the door mouldings have gone soft under decades of gloss. A paint stripper for wood fits when the film needs to come off, and it is the wrong job when the paint is sound and old enough to contain lead. Peter F. used four amazon.co.uk listings from 21 October 2026 and Health and Safety Executive guidance, and updated this page on 23 October 2026. We did not strip a door in a lab. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The table is the paint stripper comparison. Radiators and car panels stay off this page.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Surfaces | Form | Cling | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Bartoline Bartoline TX10 pack of 2 x 500 ml | Wood, metal, stone, masonry | Gel | Thick coat | 9.1 | about £9.96 | View offer |
| Alternative |  Polycell Polycell Maximum Strength 1 L | Wood | Non-drip paste | Soft film | 6.3 | about £19.99 | View offer |
| Best value |  Nitromors Nitromors Original 750 ml | Wood, metal, concrete | Non-drip gel | Non-drip, 2–3 mm | 7.0 | about £17.50 | View offer |
On this page
Decide if the wood needs to be bare
Bare wood is a finish decision, not the automatic next step. Lead pigments were common in UK paint into the early 1980s, and later gloss often sits on top. Current decorative paint has no added lead, the British Coatings Federation says, but a Victorian door or a 1970s staircase can still hide older layers. Health and Safety Executive guidance, including CIS79, is to strip only poor paint. Sound coatings stay. Dry-sanding them, or burning them with a blow lamp, is how lead dust and fume get into a house.
If the film is flaking or too thick to key, a chemical stripper keeps the debris wet. Take the door off its hinges and test a small area, which is also what B&Q's door guidance suggests for older paint. A child's room, a large pre-1980s area, or a leaf for a strip tank is professional work. HS034 treats specialist door stripping as that option. These reviews rarely clear built-up gloss in one pass. Thickness and the wash are on how to use paint stripper.
What these tins did on doors and banisters
Paint Predator names wood and has no review text, so it stays out of this evidence. Bartoline TX10, £9.96 for the pack titled 2 x 500 ml, is the tin reviewers used on a banister and on stairs. About four layers came off the banister, stair gloss lifted one layer at a time, and varnish came off in about two coats for one person. The maker's sheet says about 1 m² per litre, with a second coat unless you have fewer than five layers. Measure your own door. A second coat uses more liquid for the same area.
Polycell Maximum Strength, £19.99 a litre, shows up on door frames, banisters and two staircases. One reviewer lifted old black Victorian varnish. The bullets say it strips most paint and varnish without harming the wood, without naming timbers or a test patch. One person got a headache with a window open and stopped. A 12-layer claim one reviewer read is not in the bullets we saved.
Nitromors Original, £17.50 for 750 ml, is mixed on wood. Frames, sills and skirting worked for people who accepted extra coats. Varnish on stair balustrades did not penetrate for one reviewer. A whole tin went on one chair. A banister post turned green, which is one report of the dye transferring, not a rule that every post will stain. For a first tin on ordinary joinery, the review volume sits with TX10, provided you will recoat.
Oak, veneer and raised grain
Peelaway 1, an alkaline poultice, can darken oak, hemlock and iroko. It is not in this amazon.co.uk set, and it is the wrong tin to imitate if you are holding non-caustic TX10. You still test oak on the back of a leg or the top edge of a door. A benzyl-alcohol gel can raise the grain or leave a patchy sheen even when it does not stain like a caustic paste.
Veneered doors are a bad first experiment. A scraper does not stop where the face ends, and gel will chase a loose corner. Solid joinery, a pine door and a hardwood banister are the jobs these reviews describe.
Water swells the fibres and raises the grain. Polycell offers white spirit instead of water when you want to limit that. Keep that note on Polycell. TX10's sheet says Clean Spirit or detergent and water, and a stainless pad rather than wire wool. A water wash is the disappointment on oak you mean to clear-finish, even when the paint came off. Caustic darkening is a different fault.
Mouldings, and the point where you stop
Take the door off, lay it flat, and use a shave hook in the quirks rather than a wide blade across the arris. B&Q's door article uses that order: a liberal coat, a test scrape, then the wash that product names. One layer at a time, as TX10 reviewers described on stairs, is slower than a video and kinder than a gouge. Cling film can keep a gel wet. It is not a licence to heat the door afterwards.
Stop when the remaining film is sound, when you are into lead paint you did not plan to disturb, or when a veneer starts to fray. A staircase with heavy old gloss defeated at least one Polycell user, who then picked up a heat gun. That is their outcome, not an instruction to scorch paint that may contain lead. Flat panels and the heat question are on paint stripper or heat gun. Spindles and a carved string stay with the tin, or they go to someone who strips doors for a living.
Call a professional for a listed interior where the specification says so, for flaking old paint in a child's room, and for a leaf that belongs in a tank. Measure, buy enough for a second coat, and keep the sludge wet until it is in a sealed container.
Common questions
Can I strip a panelled door with a gel from this set?
Yes, if the film needs to come off and you can take the door off its hinges. TX10 and Polycell both have UK reviews on frames, banisters and stairs, which is the same sort of built-up gloss. Lay the door flat, use a thick coat, and follow that tin's clock. A panelled door has more moulding than a flush door, so budget a shave hook and a second coat. Paint Predator names wood and has no review text to show how a door went.
How many coats should I budget for a banister?
Budget more than one. A TX10 reviewer took about four layers off a wooden banister, and stair gloss in that sample moved one layer at a time. The maker's sheet expects a second coat unless you have fewer than five layers, at about 1 m² per litre before that second coat. Measure your rail. Nitromors failed to penetrate varnish on balustrades for one person, so the brand name is not a coat count.
Should I strip paint that might contain lead?
Only if it is failing or genuinely in the way. Health and Safety Executive guidance is to leave sound paint. Lead pigments were common into the early 1980s under later coats. If you must remove a poor film, keep it wet and do not dry-sand or use a blow lamp. A child's room or a large area is work for someone who handles lead paint as part of the job. The waste is hazardous waste, not a normal bin bag.
Will the stripper stain oak?
A caustic poultice such as Peelaway 1 can darken oak, hemlock and iroko. That is not the TX10 gel, which is sold as non-caustic. You still test a hidden patch, because grain raise or a dye transfer can show up even with a non-caustic tin. One Nitromors review turned a banister post green. That is one report, not a rule that every oak rail will stain, and not a reason to skip the patch.
How do I avoid raising the grain?
Use the wash your tin names. Polycell suggests white spirit instead of water to limit raised grain. TX10 specifies Clean Spirit or detergent and water. Water swells the fibres, which you feel when the wood dries. If you are repainting, a light denib is usually enough. If you want bare oak under a clear finish, test the wash on an offcut or a hidden edge before you commit the whole piece.
When should the door go to a stripping company instead?
When the leaf belongs in a dip tank, when paint is failing in a child's room, or when a listed interior says so. HS034 points professional decorators at specialist door stripping for that work. Veneer is a bad first DIY job because the face is thin and a scraper will not stop at the glue line. A single solid door in ordinary failing gloss can still be a tin, a second coat and a flat bench.
Related pages
Sources
Public sources from the research digest, last checked on 22 October 2026. Shelf prices and star lines are the amazon.co.uk figures saved on 21 October 2026. The price band is this set, not a market average. No listing was lab-tested.
- REACH Enforcement Regulations 2008, Schedule 5B (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- HSENI: dichloromethane (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- HSE dichloromethane certification scheme (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- HSE: lead in construction (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- Bartoline TX10 technical data sheet (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- Bartoline TX10 safety data sheet (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- Polycell Maximum Strength paint stripper (retrieved 22 October 2026)
- Polycell Maximum Strength safety data sheet, 22 October 2017 (retrieved 22 October 2026)