We strip paint, varnish, soot, and grey weathering off wood with a mobile laser and reveal the grain underneath. No sanding. No chemical strippers. No water. We protect the tool marks and patina that make old wood worth saving. On-site across NJ, NY and PA.
Sanding removes the finish, but it removes the wood with it. It flattens tool marks, rounds carved detail, and thins the surface. On old and historic wood, that erases the character you are trying to save, and dust from pre-1978 finishes can carry lead.
Chemical strippers soften paint, but they soak into the grain. They swell the wood, raise the fibers, and loosen the hide glue that holds antiques together. The leftover sludge is hazardous, and the fumes need ventilation and disposal.
Media blasting is too aggressive for wood. Sand and soda cut into the soft summer grain and leave a furry, uneven surface. None of these methods leaves clean wood ready to finish without more repair.
The laser is non-contact and tuned to the contaminant, not the wood. It lifts the dark paint, soot, or weathering while the pale wood underneath reflects the energy and stays intact. Tool marks and patina survive.
No chemical strippers and no water soak into the grain. The wood does not swell, the fibers do not raise, and historic glue joints stay tight. The surface comes out dry and ready to finish.
No sanding dust cloud and no chemical sludge to haul away. We capture fume and particulate at the source with HEPA extraction, which matters most on old lead-based finishes.
We always start on a hidden test patch of the same wood. We set the lowest power that lifts the finish, keep the beam moving fast, and spread it wide so no single spot overheats. Making another gentle pass is easy. Repairing scorched wood is not.
The pulsed laser is tuned so the dark contaminant absorbs the energy and vaporizes, while the lighter wood reflects it. We adjust for the species, since soft resinous woods like pine and cedar need gentler settings than dense hardwoods like oak and walnut.
We run fume extraction at the point of work and follow lead-safe practice on pre-1978 finishes. You get clean, dry wood with its grain and detail intact, ready for oil, stain, or a fresh coat.
Laser is best at surface contaminants that sit darker than the wood. We remove:
We restore exposed beams, barn wood, siding, doors, mantels, furniture, and architectural millwork. On a house, that means stripping layers of paint off trim without gouging the profile. On a piece of furniture, it means lifting an old finish without swelling the joints.
For historic and high-value timber, we treat the work as conservation. We document the piece, test extensively, and use the gentlest setting that works, so the surface keeps the marks and patina that give it value. Sanding destroys those. The laser protects them.
We bring the laser to your site across New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. We work on-site on beams, siding, and fixed millwork, or take furniture and smaller pieces at the shop. Mobilization runs 48 hours, and we scope most jobs from photos and wood details.
Price depends on the wood, the number of finish layers, and the detail. By the project, laser often costs less than stripping and re-repairing, because there is no chemical or dust to dispose of and no swelling or gouging to fix. We quote the total project cost for free.
Not when it is set correctly. The laser is non-contact and tuned to the contaminant, not the wood. We confirm the setting on a hidden test patch and use the lowest power that works, then stop at the first sign the wood itself is reacting.
No, and we are straight about that. Laser is strong on surface paint, varnish, lacquer, soot, and weathering. Thick two-part or baked coatings and stains that have soaked deep into the grain are slower and sometimes not fully removable. We tell you after the test patch, not after the invoice.
Yes, with gentler settings. Soft and resinous woods scorch more easily than hardwoods, so we lower the power and speed up the pass. The test patch confirms it before we clean the full surface.
Yes. Laser preserves the tool marks, patina, and glue joints that sanding and chemical stripping destroy. We document the piece and test extensively before any full-surface work.
New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, both on-site and at the shop. Mobilization runs 48 hours.
Conservation-grade cleaning for landmark wood and timber.
Lead-safe paint removal from wood, metal, and masonry.
Soot and char removal from wood framing and beams.