# Torch!



## Dunbar Painting (Mar 19, 2010)

Question:

Does anyone ever use a torch or heat gun to melt paint as a means to remove it?

One of my customers said that he was blow torching the crazy window oil paint that is peeling... and I really have no experience doing such things.

Safety?
protocol?
how fast does it go?
what do I need to buy?


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## TJ Paint (Jun 18, 2009)

now even though I'm not a certified renovator, that sounds pretty dangerous on a few levels...


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## VanDamme (Feb 13, 2010)

Dunbar Painting said:


> Question:
> 
> Does anyone ever use a torch or heat gun to melt paint as a means to remove it?
> 
> ...


Give your insurance company a call. They may have a comment or three on this. :whistling2:


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## NCPaint1 (Aug 6, 2009)

Ive seen guys do it on bad peeling jobs. They just add enough heat to soften up the material in order to scrape it. They weren't actually burning the paint off.


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## bikerboy (Sep 16, 2007)

Dunbar Painting said:


> Question:
> 
> Does anyone ever use a torch or heat gun to melt paint as a means to remove it?
> 
> ...


 
Answer:

Yes, but I think with the new laws, it won't be used much.

Safety: Don't inhale

How fast does it go: It's slow. Heat, scrape, heat, scrape and repeat.

What do I need to buy: A heat gun or torch. A respirator and a fire extinquisher.


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## Schmidt & Co. (Nov 6, 2008)

I have never torched. It seams like every summer I hear a story of some painter that burned down a house........

Now with the RRP laws, it's banned on pre 78 homes.


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## JHill (May 13, 2010)

Dunbar Painting said:


> Question:
> 
> Does anyone ever use a torch or heat gun to melt paint as a means to remove it?
> 
> ...


Are you sure it's the oil that's peeling, or the latex over the oil?


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## TheRogueBristle (Mar 19, 2010)

Makita heat gun. It works, but a no-no for lead based paint anymore. Pretty efficient if you consider you can do a one square foot section to bare wood in a few minutes. I would say a heat gun would have a far lesser chance of starting a fire than a heat gun, but you have to watch out for holes in the wood that may lead to a squirrel's nest in the soffit, for instance. Anymore, I figure if any caoating is over several mils there's likely to be lead in there somewhere, so it seems heat as a way of removing paint is a thing of the past. Tthe only thing would be a UV machine, to keep off-gassing to a minimum.


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## RCP (Apr 18, 2007)

I read somewhere else about infrared, was searching for the link and found these 2, still looking for the other.

Silent Paint Remover

Or you can make one!


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## tsunamicontract (May 3, 2008)

I have one of those infrared heat lamps. Works well but slow. I also have a digital heat gun that I can make sure I dont get over 800 degrees. Both work well to keep warm on those cold days too


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## Wolfgang (Nov 16, 2008)

Schmidt & Co. said:


> I have never torched. It seams like every summer I hear a story of some painter that burned down a house........
> 
> Now with the RRP laws, it's banned on pre 78 homes.


Especially on real old homes...never know what they used for insulation.


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## Jas[email protected] (Feb 24, 2008)

Call your local paint removal company. See what they use... ?? We have two that I know of here in the Portland area, I would assume in the bigger cities of other states there must be at minimum, one paint removal business. 

From my understanding with the company I used last year, that the chances of fires from a heat gun are so small that you have to be a complete idiot to catch a house on fire with one...


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