Hi everyone, First encounter with you guys despite living here full-time for over a year. We have a house with so many shutters to windows and french windows in such desperate condition, that we were inundated by roving painters offering to do them 'for a good price'. We bought good quality preservative and breathable opaque acrylic paint from UK. We tried the stripper- awful for all the reasons that have been stated, now we are using the hot gun to get worst off, followed by the sandpaper, worth making a good job of it. Coat with preservative, then three coats of paint - that should last us about ten years at least. Ours came off the hinges easily, we stripped the ironmongery and made sure we knew which shutter it belonged too(very important!), painted it with hammerite, gives them a great finish. Hope this may help. My other half is a new tool freak too, but this is a job that in the end is just hard graft and getting on with it.
