STRIPPING WORKSHOP

Bob's work is top notch. He's honest and professional. it's a small shop, as far as I can tell it's just two of them. But with that, they get the work done pretty quickly, and always give you an accurate estimates for what things will cost and they'll be ready. I highly recommend Stripping Workshop, it's just the type of small business that Angie's List was created to help connect people to.

We asked the Stripping Workshop (Robert Mead) to talk us through the radiator and quot;dip and stripand quot; process and to give us an estimate of how much it would cost to strip and refinish our downstairs kitchen radiator. We were given price guidelines that were very accurate and we understood from the onset that this was, approximately, a 90 day process. I decided that Bob was the guy to do the job based on recommendations from a neighbor, price, and location. We transported the radiator to the shop and met Martin - a member of the staff. Subsequently, we were shown several samples of finishes in the shop and chose the natural lacquer finish for this radiator. Well, the turn-around time was off by a week or so, but that happens sometimes. When we arrived at the shop to retrieve the radiator I was amazed at how good it looked. I was very happy with Bob's service and the results. We will be dropping off more radiators this summer for Bob and Martin to restore. I can't recommend him highly enough! P.S. This might be annoying to you but didn't bother me one bit... It's a small shop and this is an allowance you must be prepared to make: Bob rarely answers the phone when you call however he is very reliable about returning phone calls by noon or the end of the same day.

Not impressed. No one every returned the e=mail that I sent to the address on the site.

Everything went well. We just decided that our budget wouldn't allow for us to do the work at the time.

Bob Reed was very clear about the information needed to prepare a quote (height and width and number of fins). In fact, we asked for a quote in 2008 (but didn't go ahead with the job) and then asked again in 2009 - and the quoted price was almost exactly the same. Bob informed us about the process, the paints, and the necessary care in handling radiators (yes, they can break if not handled properly). The resulting finish was amazing! The removal of old material was completely thorough. The new paint coats were excellent. The radiators were finished about two weeks after we expected, but in all fairness to the Stripping Warehouse, they did tell us at the beginning of the summer to get them in soon and not wait till the end of summer - cause then everyone wants their radiators finished. Well, naturally we waited till the last days of August to bring them over. Make sure you give yourself enough time for the radiators to be completed before fall sets in.

It took about two months for him to even get to the point of looking at the mantle pieces. At first he wasn't sure which ones were mine, and I had to call back and forth between him and the Brass Knob to make sure he knew which ones to strip. Then another month goes by with me calling once a week with no response. Finally he calls back saying that he can't strip them because there's gesso on the pieces. He had no recommendations of what to do with them except to "strip them myself". He was less then helpful in general, and took way too long. A giant waste of time.

I arrived on a Saturday at 9 am (opening time) and the Stripping Workshop was already open. The person there helped me carry the doors into the shop. He gave me a tour of the place and answered questions about other services that they could provide. The doors were ready when promised. They were open on time, helped me reload the doors on my truck and charged me exactly what they said they would. The doors looked very good.

They turned out great, like brand new. With hot temperature grade paint of white, gold, and silver. I was really impressed with the overall job, and recommend to anyone looking to renovate old radiators.