Diggers Paint Stripper

Total waste of money and an entire day waiting for even a finger nail size of paint to come off of some masonry. After 4 hours it's still sitting there with this goo all over it looking the same as it did when I coated it thickly on. Bunnings should definitely stop stocking this rubbish product. I've used a different paint stripper before and it worked like you'd expect it would, but not this useless stuff. Show details

Bought a can of Diggers paint stripper, 33 bucks. I have used other brands on many occasions in my Crash repair business and just assumed they were all good. Not the case, I bought the low odour as I live in an apartment and am doing this job on my balcony and for other residents comfort. This stuff is hopeless, I applied it thick and after 30… Read more

minutes it had still not even touched the paint, no difference what so ever. I roughed the entire surface enough to break through the paint to the steel sheeting below reapplied the stripper and left for 3 hours. Barely touched the paint around where I had scored.

What a waste of time and money this product has been. My expectations from previous experience with other brands and chemical make-up is it should have been stripped cleaned and painted in a couple of hours. It's only a 400mm by 900mm stone protector window covering from a caravan. STAY AWAY FROM DIGGERS PAINT STRIPPER.

You could use the full can to keep a door open on a windy day – Researched a dozen products, the one I wanted was from Canada, so I went with a reputable Australian brand instead. BIG mistake, I believe "Diggers" should have their name revoked, because if our armed services performed they way this product does, we'd be speaking a different language right now. Applied as per instructions, (was dubious about… Read more

the depends on how many coats, lead based, etc, etc clauses) nothing happened, 30minutes, an hour, two hours.......

Now, I understand the but if's!

They are simply a series of disclaimers...

Boat had two coats. period.

It's aluminium, so cannot use lead paint....period. (Meaning it's in one piece so none was used)

Waited 1/2 hour.....

Waited 1 hour.....

Waited 2 hours.....

Now have given up, and am typing this review.

So, to wrap this rant up. If you want to throw $25 a litre at this waste of time have at it. A better use of your twenty dollar note and change would be to sand with the note and scrape with the change, it will give a far superior finish.

Product Confusion - industrial or domestic strength – Diggers make an industrial strength paint stripper and a domestic paint stripper. I wonder whether the one star reviews are indeed for the domestic formula because the concentration of the active ingredient in the industrial Diggers product (pictured) is identical to Polystrippa from Poly which some reviewers have praised as being excellent. … Read more

Diggers domestic formulation has ethylene glycol as the active ingredient while both Poly and Diggers industrial strength paint strippers contain methylene chloride as the active ingredient. Methylene chloride is a far superior active as far as stripping paint is concerned but it comes at a cost. It is significantly more toxic and its safe-use relies on consumers following the safety instructions on the label. A half face respirator with gas cartridge, gloves and eye protection; and, these products are not for indoor use. A number of deaths in the USA have been associated with products containing methylene chloride when used indoors. However without full information it is not possible to say whether the deceased followed the safety instructions or not. Nevertheless concern is such that the USEPA are considering banning methylene chloride in paint strippers; the EU have already done so. Check out the USEPA website for further info.

Anyway back to Diggers, I recently used the Diggers domestic formulation to strip paint and stain from patio wooden chairs, it worked on paint and stain that was 1 to 2 layers thick but needed to be reapplied at least once and 3 times on the really stubborn areas - personal protective equipment is minimal with the domestic formula. I also used Poly's Polystrippa (containing methylene chloride) and it was superior requiring only one application but I found the half face respirator tedious to wear and sweaty.

Decide for yourself which active ingredient you are most comfortable with using. Certainly more elbow grease is needed with the formulations that are free from methylene chloride.

Diggers paint stripper gel is AMAZING on glass – I own an old queenslander, and someone had completely painted over the glass on a set of decorative french doors. The glass was a mixture of plain clear glass and textured green glass. Everyone I spoke to at paint shops bunnings etc said i wouldnt be able to get it off the green textured glass, and would probably just damage both of the glass… Read more

types in the removal process. I tried Diggers paint stripper gel as desperate last attempt before intending to simply replace all the glass. This product, used with a razor blade scraper was incredible on the plain glass - melted off like butter. On the textured glass I used multiple coats of the gel combined with a scrubbing brush and a bucket of water to easily and completely remove the paint. The "wetness" of this product was what made this aspect of the job so successful. In all, it took me about 2 and a half hours to completely remove all paint from both sides of the glass on these doors. Very impressed. Seriously the best $9.50 I have ever spent in my life.

Worked great! – Stripping paint off steel. I applied the product really thick let it sit for about 3 hours then hit it with a pressure washer. Super gloss industrial paint (and primer under it) came right off. I had tried sanding it first and it was taking literally ages then decided to try chemical stripping. Very happy Show details

Worked for me – I used it to remove paint from old steel mailboxes. Following instructions I applied the stripper with a brush. After about 15 minutes the paint softened and I was able to scrub it down using steel wool. It worked so well that you couldn’t tell the mailboxes were even painted before.

It worked for my purpose – I haven’t used a traditional paint stripper but this worked well for my purpose. I needed to remove multiple layers of paint from my front step, which was stone. I left it on between 30-60mins and then scraped the paint off. In some places it took all the layers off at once and in others I had to reapply a few times and use a scourer for the final… Read more

bits, but it came up well. A very attractive thing about this product for me was it’s very low odour. I have young kids around the house and didn’t want to mess with something too toxic.

Waste of time & money – Wish I'd looked for reviews before buying a tin of this goo on recommendation of Mitre10 paint assistant. It's a waste of money. I'm trying to strip an old oak door with 3 layers of paint over on one side and paint over varnish on the other is side. 1 tin got some bits of paint off 25% of a door (2m X 810) with glass panels only after hard scraping. Once I get the old paint off I won't be buying the new coat from Mitre10. Show details

I thought it was me....no – I followed instructions. YouTubed to see what I was doing wrong. After 2nd day of attempts, I found reviews. I totally agree it is a useless product. What a waste of time (and money). No wonder it washes off with water. Show details

Warning!!! – Anyone around thirty years of age may see some results in their lifetime anyone over fifty years will die of old age before anything happens, absolutely the most useless product i have ever used it did nothing less than zero , how do I get a refund ? Bunnings take this product off the shelf Show details

Best used as a coolant in your car's radiator – What a waste of time and money, not to mention a mess to clean up. 12 hours later and the yacht varnish is still too hard to scrape off. The product doesn't work and Choice Magazine should give it a Shonky award. Use water instead and blow on it, it will give the same result. Show details

Not powerful - one layer only – It stops at one layer. It really is as poor as the other reviews. Just read them, this is really weak. It's low odour but that's about it on the positive side. Show details

Can I give it half a star? – I agree with all the other one-star reviews. This product wouldn’t strip vegemite off a wet sanga. And worse, it leaves wood water stained. This product may well have ruined a much loved piece of furniture that was probably close to 100 years old. You owe me, Diggers. Big time.

A complete & absolute waste of time – Spent 2 hours applying repeated coats - eventually, in desperation, I scratched the existing paint and reapplied Diggers in the hope of getting it to "Take". All to no avail. Buying this product is tantamount to ripping money into small pieces and throwing it to the four winds.

Didn’t work total waste of money bye poly paint stripper it does work – I brought this thinking it would work .after applying several coats following instructions It didn’t do a thing Waste of money Went and brought poly strip and applied it what a great result it s the one to get poly strip Show details

Diggers Industrial strength – What a joke, the worst product I have ever tried, waste of money, never buy this useless product again, Diggers should be ashamed. 5 coats and a full two days with absolutely such poor results that I ended sanding off the laquer with 120grit sand paper, CRAP product. Show details

Absolutely a waste of money and your time – I had high hopes of removing some paint from a door. Well, i used the stripper as per instructions. Came back to remove the paint and it was hard and shiney as ever. Guess where the the paint stripper was? After a few hours it had slipped down the door and was all over the floor, leaving the paint in place.......i want my money back! Totally crap! Show details

Diggers paint stripper – Yep , l gotta agree with everyone. Diggers CEO needs to take a good long look at the crap they sell And ,start at the drawing board or the lab meanwhile they should take this product off the market. Stop wasting people’s time and money Shame on you Diggers. Show details

Ripped off!!! – Don’t even ask how bad this stuff is... it’s absolutely useless and I mean that with all my heart... I lost two days wage on this Corrupt product... angry as and got a speeding taking the piece of crap back to mitre 10!!! Show details

Totally useless – I have used a number of paint strippers before but Diggers paint stripper plus would be the most useless. Regardless of whether is is industrial or domestic it should still do what it is suppose to do and that is strip paint and varnish. Well I have painted it on and waited and waited annnnnd waited. 1 hour on and the very thin peeling vanish is… Read more

partially coming off (the other stripper I used 10 mins and all off) The acrylic paint is still the same no bubbling at all. Waste of money and time.

Didn’t work – Similar to all the other reviews. Very very little stripping power noted. I have left the stuff on for days and no bubbling. Multiple attempts and no action. I might take it back to bunnings. Show details

Absolute trash – Completely useless, stripped nothing but my wallet of cash. I could bath in this stuff and feel no effect. How could they not test this stuff? It does literally nothing. Show details

Pathetic excuse for paint stripper! – Beyond disappointed with this product and will think twice before buying anything Diggers again! Failed to strip flakey old paint off a motorcycle frame, despite leaving it on for 48hrs and having to aggressively sand between coats Show details

Useless. :( – Gutted I didn't read the reviews before buying this. After an hour left on, absolutely NOTHING. Not a single flake of paint came up. Followed all instructions, shook can, thick layer applied. Might as well have washed the surface with water and expected a result. Show details

If only there was less than one star – This was a waste of my time and money. Suck a d%ck diggers. Should be called paint scammer instead of stripper. If i employed an equivalent human stripper, she'd put clothes on Show details

Waste of time and $$$$ using this product – Brought a can to remove varnish of a peice of walnut ready to do a oil finish. Applied as per instructions also wrapped in glad wrap as to help the paint stripper work more effective. End result the Diggers paint stripper was useless and did not remove the varnish even after several attempts. Then purchased tin of Poly Stripper and worked ike a charm. I should read the other reviews before purchase. Show details

Don't waste your time – May as well have used water. Had a previously good image of diggers products but I cannot see that any testing was done on this product to make sure it worked.

Do not buy – I strip powder coated frames. Today’s is a rattle can. Easy? Not with this. It’s weak, watery and after 45 mins, I’m going to buy a different paint stripper. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone. Show details

Waste of time and money...just awful – I wish I had read the reviews here before I tried this stuff. It's a joke. (FYI: I bought the the 'PLUS' version.) I applied a thick layer to a wooden cabinet that had some old varnish/stain on it. I left it for several hours and it had barely even softened the coating into a thick gunk that didn't scrape off well at all. I think I would have to… Read more

do it about 3 more times, and wait maybe 6 hours between each attempt to finally finish the job. I will be taking this back to Bunnings to get my money back - something I have rarely had to do. But this stuff is just completely 'unfit for purpose.' Don't make the same mistake I did.