Best Way To Get Old Paint Off Wood Siding

A fresh coat of paint can protect the wood and freshen the house s appearance but first all of the old paint has to come off.

Best way to get old paint off wood siding.

Three common ways to strip paint from wood are heating chemical stripping or sanding. Many of these products come in cans or bottles much like paint. Sunlight degrades the unfinished wood surface thus it will never hold paint as well as fresh wood. Hold it over an area for 20 to 30 seconds give it a quick scrape and all the paint layers come off down to the bare wood.

When the paint is peeling on a house many homeowners opt for covering it with vinyl siding but if you ve got an old house with a great exterior such as real clapboard you may not want to hide its beauty then exterior paint stripping is your only option. Apply paint stripper to the cedar siding. We ll use it on the front of the house and the garage. Follow all product instructions regarding the amount to use and the proper time to wait.

Smaller jobs like stripping and refinishing old painted furniture can best be accomplished with chemical. Unfinished siding exposed to several weeks of sunlight before painting needs to be sanded. Whatever tool you use careful not gouging surface underneath. Apply the stripper to the siding with a paintbrush or spray it on if it comes in a spray bottle.

There are a handful of different products to choose from for each of these methods. Once you ve scraped your way to the wood s surface apply mineral spirits with an old rag or paper towel and scrub off the remaining remnants of paint with steel wool. Power washing is a great way to prepare your house for paint but it should not be the sole means of prepping the siding. The more brittle easier paint can be lifted up scraped chipped away.

This can be accomplished using heat grinding or chemicals but the. Once exterior siding thoroughly dried paint will be much easier to scrape off being much more brittle. There isn t an easy way to get old paint off of wood but some ways are safer than others. It may blast away loose and flaking paint but many times this comes at a cost of marring the wood.

When all the paint is gone. If the unfinished wood was exposed more than 3 to 4 weeks lightly sand the surface to remove the thin layer of degraded wood before applying paint. It s lightning fast said clark. To help you decide what approach to take we ve laid out options below.