Now! with New Improved Franken Heater!!

Now that Summer is in full swing, (62° today), It is time to pull out the scaffolding and start scraping the paint off the house again.



Last year I finished about 80% of the house with the angle grinder and a thing called the "Paint Eater". The term "laborious" is the only way to describe the process of grinding 80 years of paint off the soft cedar siding.

This year however I have a NEW method.






Having a friend who raves about the "Silent paint remover (SPR)" I considered buying it last year at the start of this project. Since I could buy the paint eater heads for $15 and they fit on the angle grinder I already owned I decided to go the cheap route and not invest in new equipment. I had read and considered the DIY version of the SPR. Since it is my nature to be cheep I went ahead and ordered the parts and built my own with a few modifications.
Instead of insulation I spent an afternoon drilling as many holes in the housing as I could. Careful to not breach the division between reflector and housing. This seems to dissipate the heat that would otherwise build up near my hand and around the electrical components. Also I built my handle a full 5 inches away from the housing and with an extension to one side so I did not have to hold it directly behind the heater. This also has the added bonus of making the whole unit look like some Medieval weapon which gives me a +2 to moral to keep the unit hefted in awkward positions on the side of the house.

My immediate conclusions are that this seems to still be "Laborious" but it may be slightly faster than the grinding. As an added benefit the 80 years of paint is all primarily piled up on the tarp below me and not vaporized into my new garden. This fact is enough to say this method wins over the grinding.