Craft

Silent Paint Remover

The best paint removing method

I’m currently stripping the exterior of an 1885 vintage Victorian home. There are so many coats of paint to remove it was going to be a nasty job. I spoke to my neighbors who said they had an infrared paint remover (Silent Paint Remover) that worked great. I was hesitant to put out a lot of money for a new, unproven tool so I asked to borrow it for an evening.

I used the tool for 20 minutes and immediately went inside and placed an order! You apply the tool to the clapboard for about 20-30 seconds. Then scrape; the paint really does come off easily. I also purchased the wall attachment so I can slide the tool across the row of clapboards and have one section “cooking” while I’m scraping recently heated area. This allows me to cover twice as much area as I would without it.

Their scrapers are also superior. Unlike most pull type scrapers, their large triangular design provides a lot of open space so the scraper doesn’t get clogged when scraping multiple coats of paint. They also have several different shapes of blades. I’m using the clapboard blade which is nice because it gets the underside of the clapboard, above, and the surface of the clapboard below. I also have the profile blade which is making easy work of scraping rounded corners on the house.

Their line isn’t cheap, but it’s well worth the money in the time you save. It also doesn’t release any lead which was a concern when working with a house this old. The tool has apparently been around in Sweden for some time and there is an extensive set of accessories in addition to those I’ve purchased. When people walk down the sidewalk and see it they’re amazed. Now if I could just stop people from wanting to borrow it before I finish the job!

-- Scott Sipiora 07/24/06

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