Replies

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 20, 2000 07:37pm | #1

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   You can purchase a cheap power plane and plane off 90% of the paint though it will take some of the wood with it. A wood scraper (the kind you drag instead of push) will get most of the rest. Keep a file in your pocket for constant resharpening and get extra blades.

   Be sure to wear a good quality dustmask as I'm sure some of those layers of paint contain lead.

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 21, 2000 07:18am | #2

   *If you are doing much of this you need to really tool up. Make sure your scraper is carbide, they instantly made all others obsolete. Then have a heat gun- I always buy the cheapest cause they're lightest. And a heat plate. Maybe a torch if you're brave. While waiting in the mall for my wife to finish shopping I wandered in to Sears and bought a really slick scraper set- a handle with a nice selection of different shape blades, these aren't carbide but pretty good steel. Sort of like those old English scraper sets, but better. Then get some loud music and a bunch to drink and a box of bandaids, and work on it every day.

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 21, 2000 02:22pm | #3

   *If you use heat in any way, torch or heat gun, make sure your insurance is paid, get the family out of the house, and have the fire department on stand-by.Better yet DO NOT USE HEAT!!!

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 21, 2000 02:54pm | #4

   *Porter Cable makes a siding grinder John>>> $200 , and I have seen them for rent. These will take off the bulk of the paint but leave all the nasty nooks and crannies (sp?). They also do a fair job of grinding off what is left of your siding nails.I would hate to see what the siding will look like after all of this mechanical paint removal tho, if you want to restore this house maybe you should look into chemical strippers.

1. 
   Guest_ | Sep 21, 2000 04:59pm | #5

   *1000's of feet scraped with heat (gun and torch, prefer gun now), no troubles. More important than any advice you gave is BE CAREFUL (mind the materials behind/near your work, not just the paint), do not rush it.

2. 
   Guest_ | Sep 22, 2000 02:42am | #6

   *You and I are professionals, Mr. Pita. We do this type of work on a regular basis, day in and day out. We're not likely to aim the heat source into a crevice, which there could be hundreds of them on the house he describes. There's some things a DIY just shouldnt do. Like ripping a 2x4 while holding it in their hand, jacking up their house, or applying upwards of 600 degrees f to dried out 100 year old siding.BTW I have heat gunned old siding before but in retrospect I wont do it again. A nest of damp leaves could smolder for hours inside a wall and no one knows about it till 2 a.m. when the house is ablaze. Sure it's not likely, but the consequences aren't worth it.

3. 
   Guest_ | Sep 22, 2000 03:31pm | #7

   *Um, actually I am a DIY, although I would argue that I am more knowledgeable and experienced than most DIYs... "smarter than the average bear"? But you're kinda right, I forgot the application - I wouldn't use heat for siding either, probably chemicals & lots of 'em. Don't know for sure - brick exteriors are too common around me to have to worry over it.

4. 
   Guest_ | Sep 22, 2000 06:26pm | #8

   *Yo Tedd: Sorry about that house you burned, I guess that'd make me nervous, too. I'll give up my heat guns and plate when they pry them from my hot dead charred fingers. (Or when I have enough money to hire a "professional")

5. 
   Guest_ | Sep 23, 2000 04:03am | #9

   *Don't skimp on insurance.

6. 
   Guest_ | Sep 24, 2000 02:22am | #11

   *It was summer, hot. I was young and in love. With a 100 y.o. lady. I used a Makita 4x24 and a stack of 40 grit belts (dollar apiece from Sanding Catalog)to make the cottage behind my Victorian look new. When the cheap heat gun proved capable of only drying hair, i got the expensive one to clean out the coved top edge--hose at the ready--then sanded with the orbital to smooth it all out. An 18 x 24 building took me a week, though, and then someone told me i better not figure on planting anything edible in the yard due to lead.Oh, i'm sorry...you wanted an easier way...

2. 
   John_Cleveland | Sep 24, 2000 02:22am | #10

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   HELP! I'm removing paint from 100-year-old clapboards. I have pressure washed, now am using scrapper and "Scotch-Bright" pad on remainder. What a nightmare! Can anyone offer an easier solution?
   Thank you.