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In this episode Brian & Paul continue the discussion of various basement systems and also take a listener question about paint removal

First up, we get right to Will’s question

Hiya Handyguys,

We have just bought our first home ever! It’s an older, fixer-upper house in a historic district in Knoxville, TN.

  I painted houses professionally for a few years, so we’ve told the renovation contractor that he won’t have to do any interior or exterior painting.

  The house has aluminum siding on it right now that we want to remove. The standard siding in the neighborhood is vertically slatted cedar siding, and luckily this original siding still exists under the aluminum. If possible, we’d like to try and rehabilitate it instead of replacing it.

  I’ve painted a couple other houses in the neighborhood and know first hand how painstaking it is to scrape that old, alligatored paint off, fill the remaining gaps, and paint over. I’d like to take a more aggressive approach to this project by just stripping the siding down to the bare wood and starting from there.

  I’m thinking that some sort of belt sander would probably be the best approach here. I wanted to ask you guys if you have any suggestions for the best type of sander to buy for this project, or if you have any other suggestions.

I have been listening to the show every day since the purchase of the house and learn something new every time. Keep up the good work!

Best,

Will

Will – You may have a long road ahead of you. Neither Paul or I like scraping paint. You have a three general options: mechanical, heat or chemical. A sander will just clog. You could use a PaintEater for about $75 or a tool with an abrasive wheel like the Porter Cable paint remover or one with cutting knives like the paint shaver. Handyguy Brian likes the heat method. There are also chemical strippers. Listen to the show for discussion of each of these.

One other consideration: The siding guys likely have cut widow sills, removed trim and such. You may find things in worse shape than you think. Maybe just re-side the whole house if you want to bring it back to it’s original glory.

Basement Systems Continued

Brian & Paul then wrap up the show by finishing their discussion on basement systems that they started last week.