Lead Paint Removal: Safely Removing Layers

Many older homes have an amazing amount of painting layers where families after family have put their marks. Many older homes have a craggy clapboard landscape of cracks, chips, and flakes where multiple coats of paint, applied during the long cycle of homeowner after homeowner.

To fix this you can easily scrape and sand the walls smooth before priming and top coating but you just run the same risk that the flaking and chipping could start again, possibly rotting the wood.  Because of this to do the job right all the paint has go, a long process that will prove its worth in the long-term.

EPA-Certified Lead Paint Removal Contractor: Whom to hire?

While it’s encouraged to seek a professional painting contractor for help in lead paint removal it is possible to do so on our own using one of the three basic methods – grinding, applying heat, and using chemicals to strip away paint. All of them are hard work because the same binders that cause paint to adhere make it hard to remove.

Lead-Safe House Painting, Prep and Sanding

Exterior painting preparation can be accomplished through Grinding —using power-sanding disks or clapboard sanders—is very efficient on siding that’s in good shape, but it generates lead-laden dust. Although the tools can be fitted with a vacuum hose in heavily populated areas and warm weather this method is highly discouraged as it can be spread to your neighbors.

Heat can be effectively used to separate the paint from wood but the big downside of most heat methods is the risk of fire.

Removing Lead Paint with Chemicals

Chemicals are less straightforward because of the different types. The old standard, methylene chloride, is effective but very nasty stuff. Also on the market are some “environmentally friendly” strippers, some of which work better than others but for the most part less caustic chemicals are by far the slowest.

A unique alternative to use though is a non-toxic water-based chemical stripper called RemovAll. It doesn’t attempt to dissolve the paint as other chemical strippers do but instead breaks the bond between paint and substrate.   Applied in the afternoon and left to sit overnight the next morning the paint can be scraped off in rubbery sheets with simple putty knives.  While it has a lot of environmental benefits it does run about twice the price as methylene chloride.

Lead House Paint Removal – Silently!

To save the amount of time and work it may be worthwhile to invest in The Silent Paint Remover- a revolutionary new tool that uses infrared rays to heat up the substrate behind the paint, totally loosening its bond to wood or metal. It heats to a maximum temperature of only 500°F—well below wood’s immolation point. By simply holding it over an area for 20 to 30 seconds, giving it a quick scrape, all the paint layers will come off down to the bare wood lightning fast
As with all stripping methods that involve scraping down to bare wood, some sanding is necessary before the first coat of primer goes on. “Scrapers have a tendency to burnish the wood, making it too smooth and shiny to take paint,” says senior home improvement adviser Shirley Baker. “We always hit all the surfaces with a random-orbit sander and 80-grit paper to get good tooth for that first coat of primer.”

Paint Colors: Choosing the Palette

House paint colors should be selected after some research in historically accurate color palettes from the era you home was built. The best way to gauge true colors is to invest in quarts of the shades you’re considering, paint part of the building with each, then stand back and compare.