Stripping

Here we are in a race against time, clearing the world's worst paintwork off the stairs before the carpet goes down on Friday. Mostly, paint stripper is doing it nicely, but there's one part it won't touch. Beside the treads, beneath the white gloss, is a thick, brown layer which Mrs Oons thinks is nineteenth century ship varnish. The heat gun shifts it, but only by turning it into molten caramel, which sticks to all the tools. And as you see, it finds its way onto the heat gun too.

So all I have left to do between now and Friday morning is the other half of the stripping, sand it all down, two coats of knotting primer, one coat of wood primer and probably two top coats. No pressure then.