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This week on the Practical Preservation podcast Jonathan and Danielle answer the older home maintenance questions posed by our listeners.
- Water infiltration through masonry walls – how it is getting in to the building and damaging the mortar, options to stop storm water, and why is your plaster crumbing
- Paint – preparation is key, lead paint precautions, traditional paint options: mineral silicate paints, lime washes, milk paint, and oil-based paints
- Wood repair and preservation – solid wood Dutchman repairs and consolidant/epoxy systems
We enjoyed helping our listeners with their burning questions. Let us know if you have any questions you would like answered on a future Practical Preservation podcast.
Unfortunately, you only mentioned using heat guns as a heat method for stripping paint. Also, you didn’t talk about the toxic lead fumes high heat guns create for users and building inhabitants or the high risk of fire behind the surface being heated.
There is a relatively new technology using infrared rays to heat through paint and slightly into the surface without heating behind. The low heat of the Speedheater™ Infrared Paint Removers does not vaporize the lead in old paint, heats the bottom layer of paint, and separates it from the surface. The surface behind, such as behind wood siding, does not get heated at all. Heat guns heat from the top layer of paint down to the surface and behind it with blowing, highly-heated air. There are many cases where work stripping paint with a heat gun is done, but a fire starts behind the cool surface after the workers leave.
Catherine – Thanks for your comment. I agree the Speedheater is a good option (we have used them in the past) – sometimes we don’t remember to share all of the options. We have moved using more chemical strippers because of the EPA and OSHA regulations (especially with employees) to keep the lead dust ‘wet’. And we have a story of an inattentive employee starting a fire with a heat gun – I drove up and confiscated all of the heat guns. On Monday I did highlight some of the dangers of using high heat (and abrasive methods) to remove paint in our blog this week. Thanks again for posting – I really appreciate your feedback. Danielle