Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02798497 2012-12-04
Coating Removal Process
Detailed description
The present invention relates to the efficient removal of any material from
any surface or substrate. The
materials to be removed are latex paint, lead paint, alkyd paint, urethane,
varnish, epoxy, adhesive and
mastic to name a few. The surface or substrates include wood, metal, concrete,
masonry, and fibre gloss
to name a few.
In the prior art removal of such materials from such surfaces has been so
bitterly toilsome and
laboriously as to be nearly untaskable for a number of reasons.
Prior art removal methods included heat guns, propane torches, radiant infra
red heat, highly toxin
chemical strippers of various kinds, abrasion and lastly impact from a
rotating flop wheel of heavy gauge
(nail thickness) steel rotating on a drill (or the like) against the surface
or substrate.
A craft person using one or several of these prior art methods was often in
for a really tough job and was
exposed to hazard and toxins which are widely known and too numerous to
mention. Lead, asbestos,
meths, acetone, smoke from all kinds of coatings/projectiles from tools moving
at tens of thousands of
RPM dust, etc., etc.,
The present invention then replaces prior art with a fast, clean, safe, easy,
inventive process.
The preferred embodiment of the present invention is the restoration of
woodwork in heritage
structures such as 100 year old homes.
In the preferred embodiment of the present inventive process the work starts
by masking off the edges
where the door frames, window frames, stair cases and baseboards and so on are
adjacent to the walls,
floors, masonry and so on. This involves several miles of masking in an
average structure. The novelty
wears off, so we have invented a masking tool which can do it all in an hour
inside of about three days.
The invention will be called "Malcolm X" for now.
Secondly, a continuous bead of hot melt adhesive is applied to the surface or
substrate being stripped at
the edges where the masking tape is.
CA 02798497 2012-12-04
Thirdly, common poly tarping is pressed into the hot melt adhesive as to
enclose and encapsulate the
surface being stripped. This poly material is used widely for shopping bags,
garbage bags, vapour
barriers drop cloths and the like. It costs pennies per foot. A three to 6
mill thickness of poly works well.
Fourthly, the hot melt may be tacked onto the surface itself at points and the
poly pressed in there as to
construct a quilted sort of enclosure over the surface being processed.
In the case of a stairway, the poly would be hot melted to masking tape, where
the wall adjoins the
stairway stringer, then the poly wood be tacked in and hot melt at places on
the tread and riser of the
stairway. The poly would then go over the hand rail / spindles also known as
pickets or balusters, and
newel posts, and be tacked to masking tape on the wall at the outside diagonal
stringer of the stairs. It
would likely be desirable to adhere the poly enclosure to itself at the spaces
between the spindles which
are typically 2 to 4 inches wide.
The heavily painted and coated woodwork is now fully enclosed and encapsulated
in common poly
plastic.
The next step is to heat shrink the quilted poly to tighten it over the
surface using a heat gun or the like.
We tested seven (7) hot melt adhesives for their bond on poly tarp. All of
them formed excellent bonds.
The next step is to put two (2) punctures in the encapsulated wood work and
pump the enclosure full of
new generation stripping fluid. A good material is "Dev Strip 501", made by
the Devoe Coatings
Corporation, ( apart of the ICI paints group). Another good material is "Smart
Strip" sold by the Sherwin
Williams Company.
There are likely many others, these strippers are sold in poly containers and
are inert on poly tarping.
The enclosed woodwork is now under a very heavy layer of stripper. There are
no toxic vapours, smoke,
or dust. After a dwell time of 12 to perhaps 48 hours, the stripper remains
fully wet and active on the
coatings being removed.
At this point a wet vac is attached to a puncture made on the stripper filled
poly enclosure of the
woodwork. The re-useable stripper is the simply vacuumed out of the enclosure
to be re-used on the
next project. Re-capture and re-use of stripper will likely be 75 to 95
percent.
CA 02798497 2012-12-04
The next step in the process is to cut and peel off the poly enclosure and at
the same time scrub and
rinse the paint and coatings from the surface into a wet vac. We have invented
an air-powered scrub
rinse vacuum device and a manual powered one for details. The patent will be
called "Malcolm
McLaren". The wet vac can be located outside so that hazardous vapours, if
any, are ventilated.
At this point, we have a bare wood surface that we may fine sand to smoothness
or simply finish as is.
Points where the poly was tacked and quilted to the surface will remain with
hot melt adhesive and
paint on them. A draw with a paint scraper or a sander will bring them to bare
wood state, ready for
finishing. A large heritage home of 2 or 3 thousand square feet often has
heavily coated woodwork of
around 2,000 square feet on its interior and exterior surfaces. Restoration of
such surfaces would be
valued at towards $100,000's dollars. However, one can now do it easily in one
(1) week.
The stripping by products are four kinds. The re-useable stripper and lead
paint from which the lead will
be extracted for sale. Thirdly, coating resins, paints and varnishes are
essentially low quality thermo
plastics. They could be made into bricks and blocks for home construction,
fences, sheds, or patios. The
fourth by-product no stripper laden water which can lawfully be neutralized
and flushed in most
jurisdictions.
Malcolm Hodgskiss
134 Tope Crescent
Hamilton, ON L8S 1M7
905 570 1804
rnalcolm@woodenfloorsbymalcolm.com
malcolm staircaserefinishing.com
