Staircase and No Baby Yet

I am not a person who trusts the "As Seen On TV" products. I am VERY skeptical about things that appear to be too good to be true through the magic of television. So when I saw this product in my trusted and true local paint store I decided that it must be a good product because they don't sell crap that wastes your money. I have watched the infomercials several times and secretly hoped this product would be everything it says it is. I wanted so badly to go against my instincts and order one of the starter kits. But I held out. Stubborn to the end. The reason this product has interested me is because my staircases (front and back), 3 upstairs bedrooms floors and 1 downstairs floor was painted by the previous owners. Not just any paint mind you. They are painted with chocolate brown enamel porch and floor paint. Why would someone fathom to do such a thing? It would have been less work to lightly sand them and mop on a coat of clear varnish. The nature and size of this project of stripping floors has haunted me since we moved in. It is one of those things I want done so badly but know it will take an amazing amount of time, effort and elbow grease on my part. Not to mention money for supplies and possibly having to have a professional come in and sand all the floors at one time before they are stained and varnished in the end. When I look at all the little grooves in the wood between the floor planks I become overwhelmingly tired thinking about how much work it will be to scrape out all of that paint that is caked up along the entire length of each board and joint. It is a daunting task. It is also a task that may never get done if I don't do it. So, I stood in the paint store going back and forth in my head and finally reach down and picked up a tub of the very safe and environmentally friendly paint and stain stripper. I walked to the counter and plunked down $34.50 plus tax and headed home. Sunday night after finishing the baby's room and a bowl of ice cream I gave in to temptation in a hurry to see if the product really worked like they advertised in the infomercial. Steven opened the bucket for me and I promptly sloshed liquid on my feet and the dog bed. Liquid? The stuff on tv looked like a green paste! Why was liquid sloshing out? Steven cleaned up the mess on the dogbed and put the cover out to wash and I ran to the bathroom to scrub my feet. Not because it burned like normal stripper would have done but because I have a fear of absorbing something through my skin that could harm my baby. With clean feet, paint stick in hand I stirred the goopy mess in the bucket. Just as it was mixing well the stick broke and I finished stirring with a paint brush. Seated at the foot of the front staircase I painted on a nice thick coating of green snot. I made sure it was a good thick coat across the entire tred. The container reads that the product will dissolve up to 7 layers of paint. I believe there is only 2 layers of paint on stairs but I heeded the warning of not applying too thin. I was very liberal. I then blocked off the staircase to keep the dog from walking through it in the middle of the night. Monday, mid morning, when everyone was gone, about 12 hours after I applied the stripper, I sat down again at the foot of the stairs with scraper in hand. The green goop had turned white indicating it was finished working and was ready to be removed. Scrape. Scrape. Is that wood I see? Scrape. Scrape. Scrape. Nope no wood. Just the bottom layer of the paint. And most certainly only 2 layers of paint, no where near 7. Just primer and the floor paint. A bit peeved, ok alot of cussing later, I once again glopped on a thick layer of the very expensive stripper, blocked off the staircase and went about my business not happy at all. Another 12 hours later I sat and began to scrape away the newly turned white mess. Underneath it I found the wood of the staircase. I scraped, picked with toothpicks and skewers, scrubbed with a bucket of hot water and a brush. Wiped with old towels and paper towels over and over. This is the result: Look what is under all of that nasty paint. Why would someone hide this under chocolate brown paint? Look how beautiful the grain of the wood is. That my dear friends is 100 year old wood. That is hand hewn stair treds. That is beauty to behold! That is also not finished and needs another coat of stripper because there is still a fine layer of paint in some of the worn grooves and along the edges. Now, about the product -

Pros No smell No burns Easy to apply Biodegradable Cleans up with only water

Cons Is NOT fast Is NOT cost effective Is NOT time efficient

I used almost 1/3 of the bucket to do 1 step. That is $11.50 and 24 hours per step. With 15 treds on this staircase to continue with this product will cost me an estimated $172.50 in stripper and 360 waiting hours of time for it to work. and that would be just the treds. It would take even more for the banister, newel posts and the detailed wood work along the outside and inside of the staircase. I will not be buying this product again after I use up what is left. I'll wait for warmer weather, open the doors and windows, and apply the old school stripper. If you have a delicate project that might be ruined by harsh chemicals by all means invest the time and money in this product. Otherwise, for a larger project, it really isn't that great of a deal considering how expensive it is and how long it takes to actually do the job. One other thing that is VERY important!!! I have found this no where except on the bucket itself - Known to cause "reproductive toxicity" according to the lable Which makes it not very safe in my opinion!!!! If you love your ovaries and plan to use them I would be very cautious with this product making sure to wear gloves and other protective gear.

Ready Strip is safe for your family, it works like no other paint stripper and it is so easy to use. Ready Strip is biodegradable, safe to touch, virtually odorless, fast, easy and we could go on and on.

I am afraid someone did not read the lable and wouldn't this be a bit of false advertising as to the safety of this product? I do not plan to get pregnant again. I also do not plan to purchase this product again either. Updated to add: Today is exactly 1 year that we moved into this house. We signed the papers at 6:30 pm and the moving trucks were here and unloading from 7pm until 2am. I really expected to accomplish much more then I have at this point in My Old House.