Do you need to nuetralize wood after stripping?

Sorry about my formatting....

I plan on stripping my oak stairs. I really have two questions-

First, do I need to do anything with the wood after using the stripper,
like rinse with water or vineger or something? I ask cause I thought I
read
once that you need to.

Also, I have two sets of stairs. One set had carpet on it for a number
of years and has barely any poly on it. The other set didn't have
carpet and has had a few coats of poly on it. I plan on stripping the
second set but not the first. Will the wood look different because one
was stripped but the other wasn't?? I plan on sanding both too.

When done I'm going to stain them a darker color and seal with oil
based poly.


Thanks-
Kevin

Neutralizing is only necessary with the so-called "caustic" or lye
based strippers. However, I would tend to go towards one of the
peelable strippers such as Peel-Away for there neatness and fairly
nontoxic chemicals.

[email protected] wrote:

> Sorry about my formatting....
>
> I plan on stripping my oak stairs. I really have two questions-
>
> First, do I need to do anything with the wood after using the stripper,
> like rinse with water or vineger or something? I ask cause I thought I
> read
> once that you need to.

It depends on the stripper you're using. Lye based strippers tend to
require neutralizing-- and since lye-based strippers discolor the wood,
you're not liekly to use those.

Strippers like methylene chloride and pyrroloidine, while nasty in terms
of vapors, do not need to be neuralized. These chemicals evaporate, and
don't hurt the wood very much. But you'll need to clean the wood, and
that can be done with denatured alcohol.

Avoid Citrustrip, BTW. It has a neutralizer, strangely enough, but both
it and the neutralizer smell horrible. Make sure you have ventilation,
fresh air, a respirator mask, and neopreme gloves. Try Peel-Away 6 or 7.

> Also, I have two sets of stairs. One set had carpet on it for a number
> of years and has barely any poly on it. The other set didn't have
> carpet and has had a few coats of poly on it. I plan on stripping the
> second set but not the first. Will the wood look different because one
> was stripped but the other wasn't?? I plan on sanding both too.

If you're sanding them both, then you're probably going to take the
finish off both, and any differences in appearance will be due to the
wood itself and uneven staining afterward. (BTW, sanding will also strip
the paint off. But wear a good vent mask-- it's messy.)