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Changed my tune on using a heat gun for old paint after a near-disaster in my Riverdale bungalow
I was stripping a door frame and the concentrated heat from my $40 Wagner gun actually scorched the wood underneath the lead paint, forcing me to replace a whole section of trim and learn that chemical stripper, while slower, is the safer bet for our century-old homes here.
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holly_craig2mo ago
Watched my neighbor try to heat-gun his porch railing and the old, dry wood just started smoldering. He had to dump a bucket of water on it, which warped everything. Sometimes the old ways are slow for a good reason.
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abby8362mo ago
Oh man, my buddy tried that on a door and it caught fire!
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beth_hunt28d ago
Used to be one of those people who thought heat guns were basically fancy hair dryers, that you could just wave them around and everything would be fine. But then a guy on my crew zapped a window frame that had a bit of old paint and the whole thing just started smoking. Completely changed my mind about that tool. Now I treat them with the same respect I give a blowtorch, because they really can be that dangerous on the wrong surface.
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