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My front porch floor needs painting. The preveous owners painted over craked and peeling paint. It is starting to crack and peel off again. The floor is very rough and bumpy. How can I remove this old paint or what can I do to make it smooth and nice again before I paint? Any ideas for a cheap and easy fix?
What is the floor underneath the paint made of? If it's wood then sanding & scraping is probably your best option, but if it's concrete then I'd try a pressure washer to blast off as much as you can. No matter how much time/effort it takes, don't paint over it until you get up the old paint, otherwise it'll just be peeling and chipping again in no time.
Soy Gel will melt and remove all the old paint. Follow the directions.
No bad odor either, but is a bit messy, so work a patch at a time. You could do several places at the same time, just allow some non-worked places to walk and stand.
Thanks everyone. That is what I was afraid of, getting the old paint off. It is a very big wrap around porch and I wonder if it wouldn't be easier to just put some sort of overlay on and paint it. What do you all suggest? I need to keep this project as cheap as possible while still doing it right. As I am the sole laborer also whant to keep labor at a minimum.
Removing the paint can be time consuming but it's not difficult or expensive, I think that's going to be your best bet. I'm not sure what you mean by putting an overlay over it--are you thinking something like putting plywood or decking all over top of it? Removing the paint is going to be cheaper and easier than that for sure.
Thamks for all the help and advise. I guess removing the paint is going to be the best way to go. So as soon as I get all the garden in that will be my next big project.
How old is your house? I removed 45 pounds of paint from my porch floor, there was no way another coat could go over the 7 colors and goodness knows how many layers. But my paint was definitely lead, so I used lead safe practices. Especially if you have kids, please be really careful sanding (ie, don't unless you have a sander with a vacuum port and a hepa shop vac attached!). I used a swedish paint remover and scrapers. The tools are expensive, but we are stripping all our trim and we have a small child.
If you house is more than 30ish years old chances are your paint is lead. As an RN I can tell you that you really, really don't want anyone, especially anyone with a growing brain, to be lead poisoned.
Only two layers of paint that I can see. Don't worry I have decided sanding is not the way to go. I think I will let it weather another yaer and then scrape it or use paint remover. I don't have small children at home, hence the name Strawberry Gram, and I certainly wouldn't let my grandchildren around such procedures. Thanks for the ifo though. A lot of young people don't realize the hazards of lead paint.
I saw something on HGTV that I didn't know existed. It was a long roll of 'something' (really articulate huh?) "Something" looked like a wallpaper roll. The homeowner (under the watchful eye of the ever-present designer) unrolled the roll ..laid it facedown on this old door that had multiple layers of paint. .. went away for a while (not sure of time frame) and then pulled it up --along with every bit of the paint-- right down to the wood. It came up in large strips. On the places the paint did not lift (didn't look like many) ... it scraped right off --again right down to the wood. I know this isn't very informative..no name of the product and I don't remember the name of the show..it seems there are a million same-type shows on HGTV. It sure looked like it worked well. It might be expensive to do an entire porch..but maybe a section at a time would be manageable.
If you could remember the name of the show, they usually have info on their website with the names of the products they use in each episode, often complete with hyperlinks to the mfg's website.
Yes, I know ----I was trying to figure out which show but it was a while ago and at the time I found the paint removal technique to be an interesting and a "hey, that is great new stuff!" moment but had no thought to jot it down. There are so many HGTV do it yourself type shows. But I am sure that Strawberry can find info if she/he types in google or another search engine 'peel off contact paper type paint remover' or something to that effect.
