Painting door frames - should I remove old paint first?

[Jackbauer24]

Hi, this is my first post. I am about to redecorate my flat. One of the things I want to do is repaint the door frames. It looks as though there are several layers of paint, should I remove the paint first with paint stripper/hot air gun or first is it enough to sand it down and then paint over it?

 

[GTL]

This is a job you have to seriously look at twice. Once at just what's involved and once at yourself.
Take a good hard look at your woodwork (frames and architraves) and decide how intricate they are. The reason I'm asking this is because you are going to have to get into all those nooks and crannies with a scraper if you decide to remove the old paint by stripper or heat-gun. It can be a messy and time consuming job, simple in itself but requiring loads of patience.You say you intend doing the flat. Now take a hard look at the rest of the woodwork and you'll now get an idea what's involved. Time now to take a look at yourself and decide if you have the time and patience to carry out the task to the end.
Often a good sanding will suffice, and is much the easier, before painting but if the paint work is really bad it might be better to remove. If you do decide to go the road of hard slog remove the doors if they are not to bad before you start. This saves time and the chance of them getting accidentally burnt. Good Luck.

 

[JohnD]

Also, if the fiddly moulding is nailed-on architrave, consider pulling it off and fitting new (unless it is very historical and needs to be preserved).

 

[Jackbauer24]

Thanks for the advice guys.