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c/diy-home-projectssanchez.miasanchez.mia26d agoProlific Poster

My father in law swore by using a heat gun for stripping old paint, and I was skeptical for years

For a long time I used chemical strippers on my 1920s bungalow windows in Portland, and it was a mess every time. Last month I finally borrowed his Wagner heat gun on a set of six window frames, and the paint came off clean in about 90 minutes total. Has anyone had bad experiences with heat guns warping the wood, or am I just lucky so far?
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spencer_ross
Did you have to worry about lead at all? Because my buddy in Seattle tried a heat gun on his old craftsman and ended up burning through a whole section of window sash. He had to replace like four feet of trim because the wood charred before the paint even bubbled. I swear I spent a weekend scraping a single door frame with a chemical stripper and it took forever, but I never had to worry about warping or scorching. Maybe your 1920s wood is just denser than his 1910s stuff, who knows.
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hunt.rowan
hunt.rowan26d ago
Just lucky until you're not, I figure that's a problem for future me.
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noahcampbell
Right there with you. Chemical strippers are the actual worst.
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