Dumond Smart Strip Advanced Paint Remover- Strips 15+ Layers of Paint, Environmentally Friendly, Non-Toxic, Safe, No Hazardous Fumes, No Foul Smells (1 Gallon)

So! Stripping paint from brick is about the hardest job I have done to date! We have a huge fire place with at least 50 years worth of paint on the brick (and mortar). It has been a 3 summer project, and we have tried EVERYTHING under the sun (except a heat gun, indoors...). The Smart Strip in conjunction with the paper worked as well as the other products but where it excells is in the time it takes. This is a MESSY process and short of sand blasting or using an angle grinder/brass wire wheel attached to your drill, NOTHING is going to remove all of the paint. Here's what worked for us: (prep: VERY IMPORTANT- use paintrer's tape (not regular masking tape, heavy duty paper and trash bags to cover and protect everything in about 2 or so feet (at the least) and heavy card board with plastic underneath for at min 3 feet on the floor (Did I mention this is very messy) 1) spread the stripper on the section you will work on (I'd recommend 1 sheet's worth at a time) similar to icing a cake, start at the top if working vertical. 2)cover with Dumonds paper, yes it is worth it (wax paper, parchment, plastic is either way too much bother (plastic, as it just fell off) or didn't help at all, and make sure to spread it on smoothly and remove the air bubbles especially in mortar areas, 3) Wait! At least 24 hours, 4)if something didn't get covered by the paper this is where you should start. 5) Now for the WORK! We used 2 long narrow heavy duty wire brushes, a smaller wire brush or 3 (these brushes lasted on the 7' x 3' section, but will loose their bristles and get gummed up beyond use), some pot scrubbing pads the green ones), some of the 3m brand scrubbers are helpful as well, some metal scrapers/putty knives to remove the bulk of the goop, a bag lined trash can (so you can scrape the goop off the putty knife and have a ready place for putting the goop that come off and sticks to everything), and a disposable bucket of water, 6) peal back a small amount of the paper at a time starting at the top, (the paper will keep the stripper maliable longer) 7) use the putty to scrape the worse goop off, then use the wire brush to scrub, rinse the goo off in the water, a wooden skewer can help dislodge this Oobleck like horror and you do want to get this off very frequently (I tapped it very firmly on the top of the bucket to dislodge the gunk), the use a very wet scrubbing pads of your choice to get the scummy fill off (the big sticky goop must be off first, when these pads get supper goopy throw them in the trash, they'll just make things worse rather than better and you can't clean off the goop from the stubbing pads, the 3m seem to do a bit better and can be washed out some and once dried the goop isn't too bad, but hey won't last long and I save useing them until the end or an uneven or chipped brick that I couldn't get into with the wire brushes, use plenty of water. Clean up at the end of the day using Good Off, outside-stinks. Nothing works better for cutting through the Oobleck goop! It will melt any adhesive holding your brush together though. It is more $$$ BUT I finished this section in a total of 8 days work, the other 2 sections took 2+months of working every day to get the same results. Oh, you should also protect yourself! This stripper doesn't burn like most of the oothers we've used and has nearly no smell, but it is chemicals and harsh ones. So be careful, nitrile gloves and eye protection are the bare minimum!

I was initially pretty skeptical about whether Dumond Smart Strip would actually live up to the hype, but it ended up working fantastically. If you have heavy coatings or stubborn old finishes to strip, I would definitely recommend it—you just have to respect the process. Here are the key takeaways from my experience to get the best results: Apply It Thick: Don't skim on the product. You need to apply a heavy, liberal coat so you can no longer see the surface of the item you are working on. Wrap It Up: Covering the applied paste in plastic is crucial to keep the formula active and prevent it from drying out. Give It Time: Patience is key here. You really need to allow a full 18 to 24 hours of dwell time to let the chemical do the heavy lifting. Managing the Mess: Scraping it off is definitely a messy process, but cleanup goes much smoother if you scrape off as much of the softened sludge and old coating as possible with a flat scraper before bringing in a brush for the fine details. Overall, it takes some time, but the results speak for themselves. I’d buy it again in a heartbeat!

The product works pretty well. Doesn't hurt the skin unless left on awhile and even then it's not noxious. Also not too terrible in indoor spaces for air quality-- even if I don't open windows it doesn't get too bad after using a few gallons on a ton of surfaces. I have an old house with a lot of old paint and it goes through 1-2 layers after 24 hours of sitting. Definitely hasn't gone through 15 layers in one coating, but this paint is pretty old further down likely. I've recoated up to 4 times and it gets everything off. It's hard work. Shipping is problematic. Amazon doesn't factor in weight with packaging . The boxes fit ok, but they use a sheet of brown paper for packaging. We have had several come ruptured and it's a big mess to clean up. Then when requested a replacement, they ask for the broken item back. Get ready for a pile of mush!

I have tried this on two occasions and have now the experience to see how best this works. My first try using this was on some painted wire wheels for which this did not really do much. There was just too much surface area with all those spokes and it was hot summer time which quickly dried up the stripper before it could really work. I was not happy and had put a somewhat negative review here. I am replacing that review now because I have had a different experience with a different scenario. I went back and tried this on some large flat surfaces of am car I am restoring - fenders, hood, etc. since I had almost a whole gallon of it left. It actually worked this time! It will remove paint if left for a few hours and if it is NOT placed in a hot environment where the stripper dries before it can work. All of the words about putting plastic wrap over what you want to strip after applying it make sense in that regard. I happened to apply this during cold weather in my sparsely heated garage and it worked much better. In the hot summer I think the stuff evaporates/melts away or something, so wrapping it would help a lot. Let me be clear that this is not the good old stripper but it does loosen and help in the removal of old automotive paint if applied liberally and if it has time to work. You do have to scrape and apply a few coats to get off the several layers of paint but it will loosen it. This stuff won't burn you like the good old stuff, so that's good, and it smells better, and it won't kill you if you use it in an enclosed space. I still prefer the old stuff but those days are gone. I bought a second gallon of this today if that says anything.

...'tis I . I live in a 100+ year old home that has been, over the years, painted by people who apparently hate the look of real wood. The old growth fir has all been painted over many times--the baseboards and door and window trims have 4 layers, the staircase and floors have 7. Before I knew of this product I used Citrustrip and it was fine, it worked fine---until they changed the formula and it doesn't work nearly as good anymore. And smells bad. We found SmartStrip and I haven't looked back, this stuff is wonderful. I do have to do it in stages when it's more than 4 layers---so it takes me about a week of putting the SmartStrip on, covering it with wax paper {more on that later}, and letting it sit for 3 days. I have to do each piece, if it's over 4 layers, like that, twice. But that's on me---I have very little upper body strength. My partner can do it all in one day. I put it on fairly thick, and cover with wax paper. The planet does not need more plastic wrap---wax paper works just fine. After the second session I'm able to rub the piece with a paper towel, after I've scraped off the paint, and it looks like it's been sanded and stained. Real wood is so beautiful, I don't understand people covering it with paint, especially old growth wood. This paint was peeling and chipped, I had no choice but to strip it all, and it's looking beautiful. There is hardly any odor to the product, and I am highly sensitive to chemical smells--I get migraines from just about anything. This does not adversely affect me in any way. I also think putting it in a bucket is not only an obvious choice, you'd think---Citrustrip is in a plastic bottle that you have to saw in half to get at all the stripper, then you can't use or recycle the bottle--but it's a customer friendly one too. I reuse all my buckets and appreciate that I can scrape out every last drop of stripper. Yes I would like to see the price lower, but it's an excellent product no matter, and I recommend it 100%. UPDATE: In 2.5 years, this has gone from 50.00, to the current 67.00. I think that's ridiculous. I may go back to CitrusStrip for my outdoor paint stripping jobs. I contacted them, told them I liked their product, do they have any coupons to share? No answer. If this is how they're going to treat customers, I'm now going to try Back To Nature Ready Strip and see how it goes. They don't have great reviews, but neither does SS, really. Two stars lost for poor customer service. Edit 2024: 69.00. Really. And they're crossing out 80.00 like we're getting a deal. They are out of their minds. It was 17.00 cheaper a year ago. They have lost a fan until this price gouging stops.