So you’re dealing with a beautiful vintage home. You slowly thread the stairs with your hand caressing the smooth shellac railings. Then you suddenly feel something rough. It’s a small damage on the shellac finish of the handrail. Probably damaged by rain or the kids, it’s a spot that made the whole piece otherwise perfect. Now your flipping home comes to a start, you fear that you may have to refinish the whole staircase right? If so, rehab houses would be such a pain.

Actually, you can repair that little spot and spare yourself from all the trouble of having to strip the existing coat, sand, prime, sand again, and apply a new finish. As a rehabber, you simply don’t have time for this much work. And remember, we want to do as little as possible to rehab houses. So if you’re faced with early 20th-century hardwood floors, wooden wall and ceiling paneling, and staircases, it’s likely that you will be shellacking.

The secret is actually within the material. A new coat of shellac will simple be dissolved into the existing layer, it’s almost like magic. You can’t actually do that with varnish or polyurethane. This flipping home activity, however, demands a little patience as you can’t rush things. As for the level of difficulty, this is relatively an easy task compared to having to refinish the whole woodwork.

The first step is actually to verify whether you are indeed dealing with shellac, which appears like varnish to some. Look for an inconspicuous spot and dab it with denatured alcohol on a cotton swab. Do this for 30 seconds and examine the result. If it gets messy, then it’s shellac. Denatured alcohol won’t be able to strip varnish or polyurethane. Take note too that houses built from the 1880s to 1930s usually used this material for various types of woodwork. If you’re doing rehab houses in the South, extend that range to until the 1960s.

The next thing you need to do is to look at the damaged area and clean it. For this step, you will need to wear chemical-resistant gloves and ensure the area is properly ventilated. Using some naphtha, wipe the affected spot clean. Make sure that oil, dirt, and other debris are gone. A clean surface will ensure optimum adhesion. Then, dip a cotton swab in alcohol. Rub it to the affected area to soften rough parts. As in the test, wait for 30 seconds for the shellac to be tacky. Wipe it clean with cotton cloth.

The next steps in repairing shellac will be discussed in Part 2 of this article. As a recap, you should remember that this flipping home activity requires some patience. It is not that hard but you’ll need to be careful, especially with the next steps, which include brushing and dabbing. Finally, be sure that you are dealing with shellac and not varnish or polyurethane by using the testing method explained above. Then clean the area to prepare it for the new coat. Watch out for the second installment of this two-part article.