Scrape Paint Off A House is probably not one of the most exciting jobs you will ever have, and is rather time-consuming, but doing a good job will give you better results when using a good quality paint.
Scrape Paint Off A House
Surface Preparation
If the surface you want to paint is in good shape with no loose paint, cracks or blistering, then your job is easy, and you can just paint over it.
In some of the images shown here, this an old wood clapboard house, that had not been painted in 20 years or more, so it needed to be all scraped.
Tools For Scraping
Personally I prefer the hand paint scraper with the metal blade that can be sharpened when needed, and is easily found at most hardware stores.
There are wire brushes, sanders, putty knives, heat guns which are slow, and you have to be very careful with, sanding pads on grinder which also requires extra caution.
So basically it takes a good amount of time, but for me the hand scraper is the way to go.
Sanding Tool
Also, when scraping, I carry a sanding sponge to sand smooth dry pieces of wood that are not even.
When sanding sponge wears down, which does not take too long, you can wrap a piece of sand paper around it and keep going, and 100 grit sand paper usually works very well, but it depends on the type of wood you’re scraping.
Another tool to use is a very sharp chisel about a half inch wide, as it is able to get into any tight corners around windows that other tools can not reach into.
Cracks In The Wood
If you find any cracks or dents in the wood clapboards, you can usually fill them in with a good quality caulking, just make sure that it is the paintable kind, or you can use a wood filler and sand it smooth.
Also, when you have the caulking gum in your hand, just put a little on the nail heads and smooth it out with your gloved hand, as sometimes just from the nail heads will show through the paint after a certain amount of time.
Lead Paint
If your home was last painted before 1978, the paint used could have lead in it, so is best not to make much dust and be sure to wear a mask, and also cover the ground with plastic tarps to catch the paint to dispose of it properly.
Chemical Paint Strippers
There are a variety of different chemical paint strippers that can remove oil and latex paints.
Most of these take a considerable amount of time to use, as they need to be brushed on, and then wait for them to work before removing, and to use on a large house is not very efficient.
They work OK on a smaller projects such as furniture, etc.
Presser Washers
We have also seen pressure washers used to remove paint, which you have to be careful using as not mark the wood and they do not take all the old paint off, so you will still need to scrape and sand many places.
Conclusion
So what tool you decide to use for scraping is up to you, and as stated before, I prefer the hand scraper, as the blade can be easily turned and sharpened on the job with just a flat file, and the price for these can range from five to ten dollars, so hard to go wrong.
I like to wish you all the best on any jobs you take on scrapping paint off a house, just take your time and enjoy the work, and your house will look great when it’s finished.
