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December 13, 2007
Silent Paint Stripper
Does anyone have a silent painter stripper that they would be willing let me borrow or rent? I'm working on renovating my entry hall and i think it might help the process move a little faster. Thanks.
Comments
If you don't have any luck finding one here, Speedheater has them for rent on their site. http://www.silentpaintremover.com/index.htm
Posted by: guest at December 14, 2007 9:52 AM
Anybody here have personal experience of using one of these they could share, particularly on trim as opposed to large flat surfaces? They look like they might be kind of big, heavy and awkward to handle when stripping, say, baseboards.
Posted by: johnife at December 14, 2007 12:04 PM
I have one, if you want to try it out - send me an email if you're still interested. litegreenlife through gmail (trying to avoid spam)
John, I've used it to strip moldings and 6'wide pocket doors (in place) and haven't had a problem. I don't think I could use it for a whole day without aching shoulders and biceps, but a few hours at a time hasn't been a problem. Definitely a heck of a lot faster than gels and pastes, and almost always effective the first time, without raising the grain of the wood.
Posted by: Heatherie at December 14, 2007 1:42 PM
Heatherie, Would love to hear more about your experience--we bought one and it has not been effective at all for us. How much paint did you have to remove? Was your trim flat?
Posted by: HomeSweetstuy at December 14, 2007 3:15 PM
We have a SpeedHeater from Eco-Strip and have used it on flat trim as well as grooves and ornaments. It's extremely effective on all surfaces. The key is getting the paint hot enough so that it comes off in one big sheet. You have to be patient and wait until the paint starts to smoke a bit (approx. 20-30 seconds of heat). Although it is time consuming, we found it to be much faster than chemical strippers. We have found a good next step is Formby's Furniture Refinisher.
One tip - if your woodwork was shellacked or varnished before being painted, this makes things much easier. Otherwise, stripping bare wood that was painted is a bit messy.
Also, be sure to ventilate properly and wear the proper respiratory mask.
Posted by: lincolnlimestone at December 14, 2007 3:43 PM
Sorry, wasn't online all weekend. I agree with Lincolnlimestone's summary. Ours wood was varnished under the 6-8 layers of paint, so that probably helped. Once it bubbles up from the surface, I was able to pull off all the paint layers at once. You get an odor, but I think it's mostly from the most recent layer of latex we have on everything. A layer or two of latex only did not come up easily, so it's definitely easier with more paint and/or oil paint.
So far, it has only worked on wood, not metal. I have used it on casings with about 6 grooves, and have found that I just have to be patient. If I don't wait long enough, it leaves behind some paint in the groove. I've been using some picks from HD that look a heck of a lot like the picks the dentist uses, and just run it down the all grooves in the casing, heating about 6 inches at a time.
Also, if possible, I've found that if I don't remove the paint from adjacent flat surfaces until I have the grooves clear, it prevents the wood/varnish from getting scorched if I need to apply heat to the grooves again. So far I haven't had a problem with heating up the paint a second time.
Posted by: Heatherie at December 17, 2007 1:03 PM
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