Most home renovation jobs require you to remove a
coat of old paint or varnish before applying new finish. For the larger rougher
jobs, sanding or heat stripping are the ideal solutions.
Before you start up your power sander or heat gun check out these
tips.
 Sanding:
Paint or varnish
can be sanded away with any type of power or hand sander. For bigger
sanding jobs, you'll want to use a power sander. Orbital sanders are the best
all rounders but you may have a use for a mouse sander (for corners and
crevices) or a belt sander (for long straight runs). Disk sanders that are run
from your power drill should be used with caution as they rotate very quickly
and tend to leave marks.
Remember that, although sanding removes a painted surface
quickly and easily, it has one basic disadvantage ... it also removes some of
the wood surface underneath the paint. If you are working on a fine piece of
furniture, sanding is not recommended.
When sanding old
paint or varnish from the surface, use open coat sandpaper, which doesn't clog a
quickly as normal papers. Start with a coarse grade and work your way to a fine
grade as the layers come off. When sanding timber, work along the grain and not
across it.
Heat:
You can also remove paint
with heat, which destroys the film in the old paint. This makes it easy to
scrape the old paint away. Special electric paint removers or heat
guns use heat for quick paint or varnish removal.
Scrape away the
paint immediately after it is heated. Use a broad paint scraper for removing the
heated paint right behind the electric softener.
Remember that you should never allow the heat
gun to stay in one spot long enough to burn the wood. Keep moving often to
avoid browned or darkened spots on the surface from excessive heat.
|
