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Customer reviews for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
The Citristrip 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel removes layers of latex and oil-based paint, varnish, shellac and epoxy in 1 step. The stripper has a pleasant citrus scent and is biodegradable.
Overall rating:
(25 reviews) 25
Rating breakdown 25 reviews
5 stars
15
4 stars
6
3 stars
2
2 stars
0
1 star
2
22 out of 25(88%)customers recommend this product.
Customer reviews for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Review 1 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
safe and does a great job!
,PostedApril 3, 2012
dinny2150
Age:55 to 64
Gender:Female
Home improvement profile:DIYer
Level of expertise:Intermediate
Length of ownership:1 year or longer
This product is wonderful. I have been stripping wood in our 2 homes for 30+ years and it's great to have a safe product to use. Since I'm stripping many layers of very old paint, I have usually used the heat gun first but after that everything else is easy and smells so nice.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 2 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
better product
,PostedMarch 27, 2012
Kenl
Age:35 to 44
Gender:Male
Home improvement profile:DIYer
Level of expertise:Beginner
Length of ownership:3 months
Quality
5
/
5
Value
3
/
5
I tried different products to get the job done but so far this is better then the rest.
It does not have a strong odor and can be left on the wood for a longer peirod of time comparing to others.
It does not have a strong odor and can be left on the wood for a longer peirod of time comparing to others.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 3 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
Good for decrunchifying paint brushes
,PostedMarch 21, 2012
Oriona
Home improvement profile:Professional
Level of expertise:Advanced
Length of ownership:1 year or longer
Quality
4
/
5
Value
3
/
5
I prefer this stripper because it is not as toxic as many others on the market. It is still a good idea to wear gloves or limit skin exposure. This stuff is designed to remove paint.
We use it mainly to clean brushes when someone accidentally lets one get crunchy.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 4 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
Easy to use
,PostedFebruary 14, 2012
Westchester
Worked well. Moderate mess. Smelled OK. Easy to clean up.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 5 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
awesome
,PostedFebruary 7, 2012
newhomeowner
I love this product I recently bought an older home with hardwood floors and some one had used industrial glue to glue carpet down.. It was covering the floors and pretty thick. This product after sitting on it over nite allows me to remove it easily.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 6 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
Sticks well on verticle surface, works within 15 min.
,PostedJanuary 31, 2012
JeffN
Age:55 to 64
Gender:Male
Home improvement profile:DIYer
Level of expertise:Intermediate
Length of ownership:3 months
Quality
4
/
5
Value
5
/
5
Low oder, could work in basement and not get nausea.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 7 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
Inconsistent consistency!
,PostedJanuary 25, 2012
Paul
Quality
2
/
5
Value
3
/
5
I'm stripping the paint from ceilings at the moment, and chose Citristrip because of the less harmful formula and the fact that is a gel.
Basically, the product itself works reasonably well. It does strip paint provided you paint it on thickly enough (although stripping multiple layers at once may be something of a pipedream).
But the problem is that there is no consistency to the consistency. I bought four 1/2 gallon cans. One of them was thick and sludgy, needing to be squeezed out of the can. This was ideal for using on the ceiling. Another two were considerably more runny, meaning that it slopped out and dripped from the brush and from the ceiling. The fourth was so runny that I gave up on it.
Bearing in mind that you need to paint this product on thickly for it to have maximum effect, the consistency lottery in this product means I won't be buying it again.
No, I do not recommend this product.
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-1point
0out of 1found this review helpful.
Review 8 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
Works well
,PostedDecember 6, 2011
stew
Age:45 to 54
Gender:Male
Home improvement profile:Professional
Level of expertise:Advanced
Length of ownership:1 year or longer
Quality
4
/
5
Value
3
/
5
Great product could be great if in gallon size outstanding results
Yes, I recommend this product.
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+1point
1out of 1found this review helpful.
Review 9 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
Works on most things
,PostedOctober 4, 2011
Janee
Age:45 to 54
Gender:Female
Home improvement profile:DIYer
Level of expertise:Advanced
Length of ownership:1 year or longer
I've used this in the past to good effect. I find that laying waxed paper over it, helps it to stay moist longer, thus giving it more time to work. However, in this last go-around, while it removed the one layer of oil based enamel from the wood, it had a tougher time with what was a sealing primer.
Also, if you're allergic to orange oil, you'll want to skip this.
And it's not non-toxic, but less toxic, which means you still want good ventilation and to wear neoprene gloves. It will dissolve nitrile ones. And, because it's less toxic, it may take more time or more coats. On the whole, if you're stripping latex paint, it works great.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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+2points
2out of 2found this review helpful.
Review 10 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
A non-toxic choice
,PostedJuly 2, 2011
It was great to have a non-toxic choice in strippers. That said, I must say that the stripper was mediocre at best. I followed directions, but had lots of scraping to do and have to use a second coat. Perhaps it's related to the 4 coats already on my wood window frames! It would help if the product label included a suggestion to use the product fairly heavily. The spots with the most stripper, came off easier.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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0points
1out of 2found this review helpful.
Review 11 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
Buy It - You'll Love It
,PostedApril 7, 2011
AllsWellinDenver
I just spent the day stripping off three layers of paint from my kitchen cabinets. I brushed on the thick, orange goo really heavily and two hours later, literally pulled off most of the bubbled, blistered paint by hand. It had already lifted itself from the cabinets and was hanging in big, blistered rubbery sheets! Scraping was only necessary here and there and it was fast and easy. This stuff claims to be very safe, smells like orange sherbet and works unbelievably well. I bought it in the store but looked it up online just so I could write this review and give it 5 stars.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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+8points
9out of 10found this review helpful.
Review 12 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
Smells good when working
,PostedDecember 14, 2010
Used to strip latex and lacquer off very old furniture. Apply very heavy and waited 30 minuets before going at it with a putty knife. Worked well and smelled good at the same time. Did not bother my hands but I was careful to keep contact to a minimum. Worked better that products I have used in the past. I did use outside on a cool day.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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+6points
6out of 6found this review helpful.
Review 13 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
Amazing paint stripper
,PostedNovember 27, 2010
I had to strip 6 layers of paint from my living room in my home on University ave. in Missoula Mt. I had used other brands of stripper but I didn't like the odor they caused,so I tried Citristrip. I let it stay on the wall over night. The next morning when I went into the room I was shock out of my mind, most of the paint (six layers of it ) was literally laying on the floor. I thought I was going to be scrapping for days to get the paint off ,but it was a breeze. I wouldn't ever use anything else, it saved me so much time and effort. I would recommend it to anyone.
Charles
Yes, I recommend this product.
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+7points
7out of 7found this review helpful.
Review 14 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
citristrip
,PostedNovember 19, 2010
Anonymous
from New Jersey
The worst stripper I have ever purchased
No, I do not recommend this product.
Share this review:
-30points
1out of 32found this review helpful.
Review 15 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
Great Product, easy to use
,PostedNovember 14, 2010
I have been using this product for several years. My home was an older one where the paint layers were 3 and 4 - including wood stain. This product would remove all of those layers completely in two (max) coats... Usually it was the stain I had to apply the second coat for - to clear out more of it.
The scent is nice - but very strong and still can cause some... euphoria. It's much better, in the safety sense, than the more intense removers that will melt plastic and knock you down if you get in an small space with them; however, I would still advise some caution - the smell mostly just masks the badness and yes - that is a slight burning sensation if you get some on your skin. *smile*
As for the poor (recent) review - I did find that if you put on the gel too thinly, it would dry to powder. So - don't put it on that thinly. I essentially always put it on like the new color was to be a orange-tinted version of the topmost layer of paint. If it was a small project - it was just orange, not orange-tinted. *grin* That gave me many hours (likely up to the 24 it said I had) before worrying about it drying.
If you have to remove paint from something indoors (cannot move it) - I have found this product to be great. It works equally well for outdoor use, of course. I used several of the more intense products and often I had to come back to use this product afterwards because the other ones did such a horrible job. Sure - they smelled like they should curl the paint from across the yard - but in most cases - you had to act so quickly before the chemicals doing the job evaporated that you lost time doing small areas/producing little results.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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+4points
5out of 6found this review helpful.
Review 16 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
Not for serious work
,PostedSeptember 24, 2010
I have used other environmentally friendly strippers and this is not the greatest product.
Pros:
- Cheaper than other alternatives
- Cheaper than other alternatives
Cons
- Not particularly good performance. Dries fast and becomes powderish. Then it does... nothing.
- You tend to use more than other product for the same square footage, so it is not in fact cheap.
- It is in an awkward container. The liquid is very viscous, so it is as hard to finish as a ketchup in a plastic container.
- Very strong citrus scent. In one of my projects I wanted to check if bad basement smell went away as I strip (in fact it did), but the citrus smell made it impossible. I plainly stopped using this product.
- Not particularly good performance. Dries fast and becomes powderish. Then it does... nothing.
- You tend to use more than other product for the same square footage, so it is not in fact cheap.
- It is in an awkward container. The liquid is very viscous, so it is as hard to finish as a ketchup in a plastic container.
- Very strong citrus scent. In one of my projects I wanted to check if bad basement smell went away as I strip (in fact it did), but the citrus smell made it impossible. I plainly stopped using this product.
No, I do not recommend this product.
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-7points
0out of 7found this review helpful.
Review 17 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
Finally, an eco product that works!
,PostedAugust 2, 2010
Removed latex over oil based paint from walls with 2 separate coats. No fumes! Rewet as it is working for best results, allow 40 min. before scraping. Great results!
Yes, I recommend this product.
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+2points
2out of 2found this review helpful.
Review 18 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
Very impressed
,PostedJuly 1, 2010
Works very well considering it is more eco-friendly. Only took 2-3 coats to remove 85+ year old paint from oak doors. Use copious amounts and try using in the sunlight.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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+2points
2out of 2found this review helpful.
Review 19 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
Great Product
,PostedMay 12, 2010
I was happy to have bought a more environmentally safe product and it work so well. It took two applications to the top of a dresser to completely remove the finish (30 min wait for each coat). The rest of the dresser took one coat (I let it sit for 45-60 min).
I used a sturdy plastic scraper and had no problems getting the finish off. There isn't much mess and there is no need to worry about nasty fumes/chemicals. Product smells pretty good actually.
I highly recommend this product to anyone that is wanting to make an old piece of furniture look new again.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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+3points
3out of 3found this review helpful.
Review 20 for 1/2-Gallon Safer Paint and Varnish Stripping Gel
Overall rating
Good product/take your time
,PostedMay 5, 2010
This is a nice product, not great or amazing. It is easy to use, just allow a lot more time. Other strippers work better but are toxic. I would trust citristrip on projects that are more delicate. I would also choose it over other stripper if working inside with low ventilation. It will not gas you out like other strippers. When buying, purchase the biggest container. I find I use more volume of this product than other types.
Yes, I recommend this product.
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+3points
3out of 3found this review helpful.