How do you remove chipping paint?

Question

ok, I'm painting my boss's house. But first i need to remove all the old chipping paint. he has really old redwood siding.

First I tried a paint scraper, that took too long. Then I tried using a pressure washer which damaged the wood and it didn't even remove very much paint.

Then i tried using a liquid paint stripper, and it would only take off 1 layer at a time. So i had to reapply it 3 times, which ended up taking just as long as scraping it. Besides that, it was expensive and had very strong fumes.

Now I'm back to scraping it, then using a sander to even out the rough edges where it wouldn't scrape off. That's just taking forever.

Does anybody know of any faster way? Please help!

Answer 1

a better scraper. Use the pull type, not a flat putty knife, as most people seem to like doing.

The pull scraper really works, and they range from $5 to $40, and come in all sizes and shapes, for doing molding, etc.

You do not have to remove all of the paint. If it is that hard to get off, leave it alone. Bare wood uses a lot of paint. So, whatever doesn't need to come off should be left.

Answer 2

Scraping is the way to go..slow..but sure....You can knock off alot of the loose paint with a pressure washer...but you must really know what your doing here, or. like you found out, you can eat the wood up pretty quick...Your back on track..scrape,scrape,scrape

Answer 3

http://www.silentpaintremover.com/

A bit of a sticker shock item, but it is by far the easiest way to remove paint from old siding.  I am working on my third house now, stripping all of the paint.  If you try chemicals, you will easily spend more to do the same job.  As you have found, scraping without some other help is not easy.  A heat gun is an alternative, but causes other problems.

At the very least, get a good sharp triangular scraper.  You will probably have to visit a good paint store for this item.  Cuts the paint much easier than the DIY scrapers you can get at the hardware store.

Regardless of your method or tools, you will still need to sand out the rough edges unless you remove all off the paint.

Something is causing the paint to peel.  Good paint, applied properly to redwood will not peel.  Really old siding, I would suspect that there is old lead based paint underneath that is simply not compatible with paints available today.  To do the job right, all of this needs to come of.  You can scrape the peely today and paint, another area will peel tomorrow.  OK, maybe not tomorrow, but certainly next year.  Sounds like this might not be your problem to deal with, but just for your information.

The other common cause of peeling paint is moisture.  If the siding gets wet behind the siding, the paint will come off.  Another situation that must be corrected for a good, lasting paint job.

One last note for you -- as I mentioned earlier, there is almost certainly some lead paint involved here.  As you strip, and especially sand, you may be creating lead dust which is not good for anybody.  Either test to be sure or use proper precautions to protect yourself.

I lied -- one more thing -- don't forget to prime the areas that you strip to bare wood.  A good oil primer is best, regardless of the paint you are using for a topcoat.  Let it dry overnight so it is well cured, it will take nearly any paint you want to put over it.  You only need to prime the bare wood, not the areas that still have good, sound paint.