OT- painting old buildings

One of my bigger summer projects is painting all the buildings on the old place. I have some that have chipped and peeling paint on them now. What have you guys used for scraping or removing old paint ? With the amount I have to do , definetly want power tools. I can get electric or air to all spaces, but I dont want to do any blasting. Do the heat type scrapers work? Scaler ? Other ? I will be spraying it all on. I do know about lead based paints if you were planning to warn me BTW. Thanks to helpfull replies ! Mike

Place I just bought had to have all the out buildings painted. They came in with a pressure washer with a cleaning tip. Then raked up the paint chips and sprayed the buildings with paint.

Pressure wash

I have heard that if you get one of the tips that spin they really do a good job cleaning off paint.

Major house fire a few days ago not far from me, heat gun scraping paint. That'd be my last choice.

Just a hand held scraper is all I've ever used. It takes as long to prep as it does to paint. Use a good quality oil base primer.

Put on tin. Little higher, but will last.

HI,I have done a lot of houses, etc. Started using a high pressure washer years ago. Gets off paint, dry rot, back to good clean wood. Will take a little practice, on old scrapes or back side.Let it dry for a couple weeks, brush on top dollar oil based primer, spray on topcoat. You can cut a hole
in the wall so practice first,big sweeping arcs. get up close, like 3 inches. wear glasses or face shield. email me if you want to talk in more
detail dave

(quoted from post at 05:53:50 05/23/13) HI,I have done a lot of houses, etc. Started using a high pressure washer years ago. Gets off paint, dry rot, back to good clean wood. Will take a little practice, on old scrapes or back side.Let it dry for a couple weeks, brush on top dollar oil based primer, spray on topcoat. You can cut a hole
in the wall so practice first,big sweeping arcs. get up close, like 3 inches. wear glasses or face shield. email me if you want to talk in more
detail dave

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Which nozzle do you use on the pressure washer? I have been using my hot water washer with the white (30 degree?) tip, but it takes a while. It is still a lot better than scraping!

Why do you brush the primer? What about spraying and back rolling the primer?

I looked into tin, it is more than a little higher! I am going to tin one and all the rest will have to have paint for now.

No kidding... Thanks for the info, I dont know much about those heat scrapers, but I wont be taking a chance on a fire.

I covered my mini barn with vinyl siding. Sure creates less painting. Hal

You need to ask around if you have a jockey in the area that paints. The ones around here are from Tenessee I think. They can power wash and paint it cheaper than you can buy the paint. Sorry I don't have their number they just show up every couple years.

If you pressure wash make sure the wood is DRY before you paint. Someone in town pressure washed and painted a house the same weekend. They were repainting the following year (and it needed it sooner than that--paint just peeled off the wood).

(quoted from post at 10:07:37 05/23/13) You need to ask around if you have a jockey in the area that paints. The ones around here are from Tenessee I think. They can power wash and paint it cheaper than you can buy the paint. Sorry I don't have their number they just show up every couple years.

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We have a guy that comes around every year. Pressure wash and scrape one day, comes back a few days later and sprays. Honestly is was only a few hundred dollars more than we could have gotten the paint for. No climbing 25 feet up on the ladder, no clean up, just watch him sweat. Left us a little bit for touch ups too.

Just had my barn and shop painted by one of those guys that go around and paint and pressure wash. Paid 4000 for barn and shop. Barn probably hadn't been painted in 30-40yrs and took around 100gals of paint. Could use more but wouldn't do much, in a couple yrs will paint it again and will look even better

(quoted from post at 17:56:44 05/23/13) Just had my barn and shop painted by one of those guys that go around and paint and pressure wash. Paid 4000 for barn and shop. Barn probably hadn't been painted in 30-40yrs and took around 100gals of paint. Could use more but wouldn't do much, in a couple yrs will paint it again and will look even better

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Send them to Janesville. I have barn and a roof to paint.

sry on the wait. I use the widest point/spray pattern available. Depends on your rig, some have interchangable tips, my new Brigss & S has an adjustable fan tip. Use widest. If that is not doing the job - get closer. You want to get under the edge, so come from different angles (left then right). NEVER SHOOT UP! If doing standard clapboard, you may have plaster and a big mess inside! NO joke, been there. ON outbuildings, maybe watch for feed bins, old electrical etc.
Hold at about 45 degree angle,approach from about 6-12 inch out and come in to about 2-3 inch.
Do not come straight in as this will probably leave "gauges", sweep in from the side.
20 minutes practice will tell you more than I can here. You will consume water. Plan for that.
You really want to get off the dry rot as well as the paint. I will post pic's if I can.
Hand painting oil primer will ensure that all the rough edges are covered, or far better than spraying.Just does a far better job of sealing up the edges. Top coat can be sprayed.
HEAT GUN -only for really ugly details in very high visability spots,like main door trim to house. Be very careful, I use the air gun type from harbor freight, $10. Heat only to point that you can scrape off, 10-15 seconds.
BTW-this type of heat gun can be used for other stuff, life frozen doors locks, softening up heavy grease, etc
ps- the single point on your high pressure washer will cut through your walls very quickly. I use mine for digging holes for pole barns,no joke.

here are some pic's to share, I have more if needed.
1) detail of before and after
2) house before
3) after with some paint on it
notice that
- the grey dry rot is gone and loads of loose paint
- the wood looks like a new fresh surface
- nails head were primed with "BIN"
- "quick over" sanding was done with hand held finish sander and 60 grit. whole side used about 1 pack paper; 3M holds up better
because its my moms house and this is the "business entrance" that every body sees
House is about 65 feet long. Could easily be done in 2 days, except for lack of water-old spring fed.
Still requires some hand scraping of missed spots.
let it dry for a week MINIMUM, or your paint will not stick, longer is better.