House – 100yrs old.
Painted many times with some scraping of peeled paint.
30% of paint is now peeling down to the bare wood.
Clapboard is very dry and gray.
Should I pressure wash it to remove all the old paint or just scrape the h_ll out of the whole house?
What is the most efficient? How about clean-up afterwards?
Is there a risk of getting th water from the pressure washer behind the clapboard?
If I PW, how long should I allow the clapboard to dry prior to priming?
Any thoughts?
Replies
Pressure washing will work for most paint removal,but probably not all.Personally,I'd use a propane torch and scraper, and keep a garden hose nearby.After that, sand and prime.
Good Luck.
Nix the propane torch - get a good heat gun instead. It may be a bit slower, but it's a whole lot safer. Open flame and a 100 year old house is a bad combo.
A pressure washer on clapboards is going to take paint in some places and take wood in others. Anything soft or loose is going bye bye. There is no quick and easy way to deal with an old house with a paint job in need of serious scraping. A heat gun is very effective, but it is not fast. A friend of mine has an old Victorian 2 story he started on last summer. He spent most of his nights up on the scaffolding with a heat gun. He's there this summer. We're starting to cool off. I bet he gets done by the end of next summer. He has, in all fairness, had his fair share of mouldings to repair and replace while he's at it. And he does this for a living. The difference is night and day. The new paint job looks like a million bucks.
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Forget the pressure washer. It'll look worse instead of better, short or long run.
Heat gun and scraper
then a paint remover or sander. Porter cable
Excellence is its own reward!
What precautions do you guys take to eliminate the spread of lead dust and paint chips during this work? 100 year old exterior paint is almost certain to have a high concentration of lead.
I have the same problem with my old place (1931). I'm doing some work upstairs and have the windows out, stripping off all the exterior paint from the frames.
I'm using a heat gun and it does take a long time. Pressure washing eats the softer parts of the wood and raises the grain. I have tarps below and don't let the kids anywhere near there.Quality repairs for your home.
Actually, I saw a product on a TV show which removes old paint in a most incredible way. The web site for the product is http://www.removall.com/products/removall.htm
look for product Removall™ 310 - Architectural Paint Stripper
Aaron the HandymanVancouver, Canada
Edited 9/16/2003 11:58:23 PM ET by AaronRosenthal
P-100 dust mask and plastic disposable drop clothe.
If really dusty, a tyvek overalls. Don't want to carry the dust home inside to the kiddddos
On the heat gun - Iwas told that as long as your heat setting is medium or under 1200°F you don't vapourize it to breathe fumes.
Excellence is its own reward!
A hot plate will strip faster than a heat gun. Available at better paint suppliers. Warner makes one.
A friend has a 200 yr. old colonial and invested $400 in the Silent Paint
Remover recently featured in FHB. He says it works awesome, especially where the paint is thickest. He also tried the Removal product, which was ok, but not as good .
Edited 9/17/2003 2:56:53 PM ET by TOMMH
I forget the name of the tool but they advertise in FHB.....its a power tool that eats the paint off of smooth surfaces like clapboard....check it out.....looks like it really might work fast and easy!
Be well
andy
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When your fear of death changes, the way you live your life changes.
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I recently stripped my 100yr old house using a paint shaver. It is a converted Hitachi grinder from AIT tools, I think the website is http://www.aittools.com or http://www.ait.com. It will strip a 3" stripe in one pass. However, it leaves a lot of round scars in the wood if you're not careful and requires a lot of sanding afterwards, but I still finished a lot sooner then if I had used a heat gun only. You still have to use a heat gun or some other method to get the ends of the clapboards that but up against trim, on the video that comes with it the guy uses a chisel. And you need to sink any nails that aren't already below the surface of the exterior.
Attached is a picture of my house (65 years old) which, I suspect, is a lot like yours from a paint standpoint. I too thought about removing the paint but then I figured I would be back up there again in X years painting so I went the fibercement route and like the results.
But, if you still want to remove the existing paint, the Warner tool another poster mentioned is probably the best from the standpoint of removal time and cleanup. I also found that the inexpensive heat guns are "better" than the pro models because of their light weight. I'm using a Milwaukee on my rake moulding and other areas and that gun gets a little heavy after a few hours.
There have been lots of posts on this topic so a search might be in order for you. In any event, Good Luck.
Eric S.
Edited 9/18/2003 1:13:59 PM ET by Eric Svendson