Hi Folks --

Customer installed RTA kitchen cabinets that were factory-finished with SW Aqualight (waterborne, UV-cured) in a custom color; customer then rented out their home and the tenant took it upon themselves to repaint the kitchen. Our customer is of course ballistic and would like to return to the original color they paid dearly for.

The SW Aqualight is crosslinked by the UV process, right? Is there a solvent/stripper/process that can fully remove the latex paint without damaging the Aqualight underneath?

Any experience, insight, tips would be much appreciated and would actually contribute to alleviating human suffering ;8>)

To little info....are the doors and drawers flat surfaces or raised panels..?? Flat doors and surfaces can be sanded since there are no corners or beads to deal with, forget it if they are raised panels..!! Even with sanding your going to get areas where you might sand through part of the original finish..! I know of no stripper or liquid Commercial removers, that can remove one type of finish that would not to some extent or another, not also affect the original coating. If the doors have been coated with latex on the interior side, you " might" be able to use lye (Drano)and hot water to test and see if that will remove the latex without harming or destroying the original.."BUT"" You would have to babysit the process, checking it frequently, to insure that it is removed as soon as it has thoroughly penetrated and lifted the latex..once the lye is disolved, soak rags in the mixture and apply them fairly wet but not soaking wet, lay them smoothly on the surfaces and check every 20-30 min. Over an hour or so, To see how the reaction is going. If nothing is happening within that time, most likely it will not result in removal, Washing afterwards with vinegar and water to neutralize the surface, A few times.afterwards and dry.! If this does work,
What condition the original finish will be in at that stage, will determine if it can be restored to its original condition, without having to also be removed, but more than likely, A new top coat finish will still need to be applied, no matter what..!!
To me the dumbest or most ignorant things people do or ask for or want done is to have anything finished in a hard to remove or repair coating system..!! There is no such thing as an unmanageable finish, all finishes will fail at some point, be it cracking, scratching, chipping, etc.!! I spent the better part of my 50+ year career, talking customers, including decorators / designers, and Architects out of using such materials and sticking to ones that were easily repaired, patched, and capable of being easily removed or recoated, rather than the so called Super hard finishes touted by the coatings manufacturer's..!! Keep the process simple..!

Simple plain jane latex paint should be somewhat easy to remove with a citrus stripper. I'm not positive but I don't think it'll touch the UV paint.

BUT.... In order to get the latex to stick to the UV coat they must have scuffed it which means the original finish is ruined anyway. Maybe, perhaps if you are lucky a clear coat over the scuffed UV paint might bring it back.

Sounds like a SOL situation.