Banning of Solvent Paint Strippers
Solvent based paint strippers, especially those based on DCM (di methylene chloride) such as Nitromors are what most people have grown up with. They are very effective and fast on a wide variety of paints, and cause little damage to the surfaces underlying paint.
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However they have some serious shortcomings, the biggest of which is the serious damage they can inflict on the health of people using them. In fact there are many documented cases of people being killed by this type of paint stripper, mainly when using them in confined spaces and breathing in the fumes. This type of stripper is obviously very smelly, and can also have a bad effect on pets and children through breathing in the noxious fumes. These types of solvent based stripper are now soon to be banned throughout the EU.
Company's have been looking for alternatives to Solvent Based Strippers for a long time. There have been many attempts to develop a product that is as good as say nitromors is, mainly in terms of speed of stripping of paint. There have been quite a few products that have hit the market in recent times that are variously based on water or on “safe solvents”. The main drawback with all of them has been the time it takes to strip off the paint, which often has been overnight!
Recently though a new product called “Biostrip” has hit the market. This is a water based product that really does the business in terms of stripping speed and ability to strip a wide variety of paints. The product is nice and friendly to use, with no odour, and is simply painted onto the paint to be removed and “voila” the paint is gone!
What puts biostrip ahead of the rest is the fact that its primary ingredient is water. Most of the alternative "eco" and "safe" strippers on the market are composed primarily of "safe" solvents. Most of these are not natural materials, and are derived from non renewable resources, mainly oil. They do not represent a sustainable alternative to the old solvent based strippers - they are essentially just the same under a different name.
Biostrip does contain some solvents, but these are natural solvents that come from renewable plant resources and not from non sustainable oil.
If you need more info or wish to ask us a question please click HERE.
You can also get a lot more information about biostrip by visiting the biostrip website HERE
