Customer Reviews

Citri-Strip QCG73801T Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel, 1-Quart

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I never write reviews for products, but for Citristrip I had to make an exception. I'm renovating my 100 year-old kitchen (which means, odds are, there is a 100 years of paint to be removed) and this product is making the task absolutely easier. I'm applying the Citristrip in a layer about the thickness of a plastic shopping bag, letting it sit for about an hour, and EASILY scrapping it off with a plastic putty knife. Sometimes a second round is needed, particularly in the corners where paint has more heavily accumulated over the years, but it's not a problem. It has not damaged the wood at all. To remove excess residue, I've been using a dish towel and very warm water (cool water makes the residue feel kind of gummy and makes it harder to remove). I am very pleased with the results. The smell isn't too bad - it seems like a mix of orange candy and hair perm chemical (I know, gross, but accurate). Overall, be patient with the Citristrip processing the paint removal, and you should be fine. Good luck.

Citristrip Gel - Smells good, easy to apply, sure does loosen the paint up. But be forewarned: I don't care what it says on the label - this is NOT for use on masonry. I repeat NOT FOR MASONRY. Not because it won't take the paint off the masonry, but because once it's free of the masonry you can't get it off.

Let me explain. I bought Citristrip to take a single layer of latex paint off of a section of basement wall (concrete cinder block) so I could seal it with a hydraulic cement coating. I applied Citristrip and found it to be easy to use, easy to apply, and low-fuming, just as advertised. I came back 4 hours later, and it had sure loosened the paint right off - if it had been on wood, or some other kind of surface, I'm sure this would be golden. But it's not.

As soon as I touched it, I smacked myself on the forehead for being dumb. Concrete is porous. Full of tiny little holes. This is a gelatin product, and when it has finished dissolving the paint, what you end up with is a toothpaste-like goop that is sticky, thick, and impossible to remove - it loves those little holes. The Citristrip makes the resulting paste/goop caustic as well, so you can't really touch it either. You can't wash it off readily without using something that will kill you with fumes - so that benefit is out the window. You can't wire brush it off the concrete because the goop gums up the brush, and the brush pushes it into the pores. The best you can hope for is to try to take something like a Red Devil scraper and kind of pull/scrape the top half of the goop off. You are left with essentially a thin layer of paint/stripper that is stuck in the pores of the concrete - exactly like the paint you started with, but now you can't touch it with your bare hands. And you can't paint over it. And it's sticky and funny looking and smells like orange Kool-Aid.

The good news is that after about a week (yes a week - 7 days of creamsicle air) it dries into a weird orange/pink/white powder crust on the wall. You can then wire brush/vacuum it off. Don't breath it - whatever you do. The powder turns back into stripper in your lungs. Go ahead and ask me how I know this. After ANOTHER week, the rest of the vapors etc will have entirely dried out of what's left in the pores of the concrete and you can wire brush most of the rest of it out.

Summary and Lesson: Citristrip is a good product, but NOT FOR MASONRY. Put it on masonry and you're looking at about 10 - 15 days of playtime in orange smelling air. If you're trying to work cinder block for something, either paint over it, or get a sealant that will seal through pre-existing latex layers.

Citristrip is not what you're looking for.

I decided to refinish my floor in the living room. I started out with a varnish remover and sandpaper. After much work and stinking up the house, I finished about 1/3 of the room. I then stupidly applied some stain/polyurithane mix. It did not dry evenly so I had to strip it again. This time, I happened across this citristrip. I found 1liter covered more floor than a gallon of the standard varnish stripper since you could apply this in thin coats (most others you need thick coatings). The smell was very pleasant and did not drive my family to spend time with friends than be home. It took longer to strip but that was a plus because it allowed me to spread it out better. Oh--it took off the polyurathane as well which really surprised me. I need thicker coats but sure enough, it save me many additional hours of work. I wish I had started out with this. Honestly, I think that the 1 liter probably would have done the entire room if I didn't have to deal with the polyurathane issue.

OK, it does smell, but it's not a bad smell. It has a rather strong citris smell; not a bad smell though.
I wanted to refinish a fireplace surround. Lots of dental molding, nooks, and crannies. I used this product on it and am very pleased with the results. There wasn't any paint on the wood but it did have a lot of polyurethane (I know because I'm the guy that put it there 5 years ago).

I left it on for about an hour, scraped what i could off the flat surfaces with a putty knife (being very careful not to gouge the wood). I then wiped the whole project down with mineral spirits and a rag. I had to use an old toothbrush in the smaller areas, but they cleaned up nicely.
I found that a little of this goes a long way. A 6-pack is a lot of stripper! FYI, both Lowes and Home Depot sell quart and gallon sizes.

I recently bought an older home. The kitchen cabinets had caked on paint layers about 7 deep. I purchased some Citristrip paint remover because the container said it didn't have harsh fumes. As a person with asthma that makes all the difference. I put the Citristrip onto the surface of the cabinet I'm stripping and wait about 45 minutes and the layers and layers of paint stripped right off. I've been very happy with this product.

I have used this product on several projects, and I believe it is the best so far. I am currently refinishing an old interior wooden door, with about 3 coats of white paint. I started with another product, and when I used it up, I found an old bottle of the Citristrip in my garage. I began to use it and it worked so much better than the new stuff. I will be using it for all of my refinishing projects in the future.

I am so excited about this product. I found a great kitchen set of tall ladder back chairs that had a horrible paint job. I decided to try this stripping gel and am happy I did! For my chairs (the wood grain has some ridges)... I made sure I also bought a scraper, although the directions say to use a plastic one, I used a metal without any issues. I also bought a cheap 3-piece brass wire brush set from a local store. The only other thing you need to get started is CHEMICAL RESISTANT gloves... I grabbed a cheap pair of gloves and soon realized how fast it takes for the chemical to eat through (but my hands weren't injured at all). For my chairs I kept the gel on for an hour and only needed one coat.

Another thing... if you're thinking about purchasing this... you may also want to look at Citri-Strip Paint Stripper After Wash to help clean the wood without water (which can damage your wood).

I've been stripping an old wooden door with Citristrip. The first three layers of paint scraped right off. Then I came to the original mint green bottom coat. I've given it three sessions of Citristrip, and it has hardly budged. I don't know what kind of paint it is, but I'm going to have to try a different stripper or sand it off.

We were looking for a product to strip the hardwood floors in our 1932 foursquare house. After taking up the carpet, we discovered the floors were covered with a lot of paint on top of the original hardwood stain and varnish. Though Citristip seems a little pricey, a little goes a long way and we are thrilled with the results. Working on areas of about 3 to 4 square feet at a time, we left it on 15 minutes to half an hour depending on the amount of paint in that area and used plastic scapers, as suggested. Working along the wood grain when applying the Citristrip with a brush and when removing the paint/varnish/stain with the scraper, it did a beautiful job. We had to reapply in some areas where the paint was especially thick, but it was worth it to have a virtually fume-free product. Some people have said the scent did bother them, but we weren't bothered by it all, and a little cross-ventilation should take care of it. We are just about done with our dining room and will move on to the living room and stairs next. Citristrip will make the task much more manageable!

My wife has asthma, set off by even the tiniest traces of organic solvents. As a result, I look for products that won't leave her gasping and choking. For the one job I tried this on so far, this fits the bill nicely.

Admittedly, it wasn't the most demanding task - just getting one layer of paint off some painted-over window hardware. It did the job beautifully, though. It cleaned up with water (even though that's not really optimal), and didn't strip the skip off my hands in the process.

I'll reserve final judgment until I see how this works on more demanding tasks. But, however it ends up perform on multiple layers of different finishes, I'll still keep it around at least for the easy jobs.

-- wiredweird