Best method for preparing old weatherboards for painting

[cohunas]

Hi,

I have been removating a 1923 cal bung in Melbourne for about 18 months, and have finally reached the outside.

We have decided to keep the existing weatherboards on the house as they are in good condition (very little rotting) and repaint them. However, they were given a very poor paint job a few years ago, and the paint is lifting off all over the place so they will need some prep work. The majority of the boards are cedar, with some pine.

What is best way to prepare them for painting?

I have so far tried to remove the paint using a belt sander but the sandpaper kept clogging with paint; I chipped off the loose paint with a chisel and wire brush, then hand sanded where the join between the area without paint and with but still had a line. I also tried using a heat gun (small one) but seemed to take a very long time to get very little done.

I keep thinking I am doing something wrong? Any tips / suggestions / preferred methods would be great.

Thanks.

[sol381]

Just spent forever doing my place and i think the only way is to use an angle grinder (125mm is a good size) With a sanding disc attatchment and 24 grit paper. It rips the hellout of the paint , doesnt clog up the discs as mush adn surprisingly does leave the wood sort of smooth.
Be sur eto wear a mask and goggles as im sure there will be soem lead paint in there.

[Barry_White]

A few days ago some one posted a thread about making a paint stripper from a mini ceramic heater I think it was. He reckons it works a treat.

In fact here is the thread.


http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=40311&highlight=paint+stripper

[SilentButDeadly]

And it does. Of course it is only a little thing so it will take a little time, effort and paitience to do a whole house but no dust and minimal smoke are a bloody attractive thing........especially since your house will almost certainly have been covered at sometime or other in lead based paint.

And it is illegal to raise dust if stripping lead based paint - typically you have to seal the work area inside a cocoon and yourself within a plastic suit with respirator........it is worse to deal with (and more expensive) than asbestos removal.

I stripped an oregon door right back to the timber in a half hour over the weekend. Only needs a sand and a prime and it is ready to be re-painted. The key is to use one of those triangular shaped pull stripper tools to pull the heat soften paint off and make sure it is sharp although a stripper knife does work too just not as quickly. Too easy.

[OBBob]

I repaired the baords on my last place and found the angle grinder attachment to be the best ... but I also swore that in future if they needed that much work I'd just replace them!!