Silent Paint Remover
I'm currently stripping the exterior of an 1885 vintage Victorian home. There are so many coats of paint to remove it was going to be a nasty job. I spoke to my neighbors who said they had an infrared paint remover (Silent Paint Remover) that worked great. I was hesitant to put out a lot of money for a new, unproven tool so I asked to borrow it for an evening.
I used the tool for 20 minutes and immediately went inside and placed an order! You apply the tool to the clapboard for about 20-30 seconds. Then scrape; the paint really does come off easily. I also purchased the wall attachment so I can slide the tool across the row of clapboards and have one section "cooking" while I'm scraping recently heated area. This allows me to cover twice as much area as I would without it.
Their scrapers are also superior. Unlike most pull type scrapers, their large triangular design provides a lot of open space so the scraper doesn't get clogged when scraping multiple coats of paint. They also have several different shapes of blades. I'm using the clapboard blade which is nice because it gets the underside of the clapboard, above, and the surface of the clapboard below. I also have the profile blade which is making easy work of scraping rounded corners on the house.
Their line isn't cheap, but it's well worth the money in the time you save. It also doesn't release any lead which was a concern when working with a house this old. The tool has apparently been around in Sweden for some time and there is an extensive set of accessories in addition to those I've purchased. When people walk down the sidewalk and see it they're amazed. Now if I could just stop people from wanting to borrow it before I finish the job!
-- Scott Sipiora
The Silent Paint Remover
$400
Available from Silent Paint Remover
Instructions for making your own DIY version from a quartz heater.
Favorite (15)
jack green
A friend of mine had a different strategy. he took offf his wood siding, and "reversed"
to the peeling paint side "in" and clean bare wood side out. and since it was cedar
siding, he did not repaint. just sealed it against water.
he did have to cut where it was notched ( IE Likefor a window)
Siding comes in different sizes and shapes, so this solution may be elegant and easy OR nightmare and kludgy. Good Luck!
-=phone jack=- KF4ITC
Mathew
Just so people know, I believe that while interior paints must be lead free, this does not apply to all paints (I welcome correction and greater detail on this). Older, and even more recent, exterior paints probably contain lead and removal must be done using techniques that keep this in mind. Breathing the dust of such paint is very dangerous, and allowing the paint to fall on the soil around the house is asking for trouble, especially if one has small children who later play in the lead contaminated area and track the dirt into the house, in the process ingesting (from putting their hands in their mouth), and even more dangerously inhaling, some.
I am not a professional painter and don't really have reliable information on how to proceed, other than that it definitely requires caution. I think Fine Homebuilding, generally a reputable magazine, did have an article on the subject a few years ago. But before attempting exterior paint removal, I'd speak to my local Public Health department about it first, and the manufacturer of this machine about their recommendations for safe use.
Whatever you do, don't use any kind of machine sander on dry exterior paint (or older interior paint -- including underlayers-- from before the cutoff date for lead in the pigments), and breathe the resulting dust; that is a sure recipe for serious lead poisoning, and in the case of young children accidentally exposed, probably lifelong effects.
One feels it is likely the manufacturer is well aware of these issues and has instruction for handling them but don't ignore what they have to say, this is potentially a quite dangerous DIY job, in my opinion.