Removing paint with a heat gun

Removing paint may seem like a tedious task, but it’s not actually as hard as you might think. Here’s your five minute DIY on removing paint.

If you’re removing paint from a door or any wooden surface you can use two methods. Either get yourself a paint scraper, a tub of elbow grease and the patience of a saint, or get yourself a heat gun. It's basically just an industrial sized hair drier. Here’s how to remove paint with a heat gun in just five minutes.

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What you’ll need:

Heat gun
Paint scraping tool
White Spirits
Old rag
Steel wool
Water

Step 1: Clean the wood

The first thing to do when you’re removing paint from wood with a heat gun is to make sure it’s 100 per cent clean. If any dirt or dust is left on the wooden item when you begin to heat the paint, the dirt will burn and give you more work to do then when you started. And we don’t want that now do we? Just clean it with some good old-fashioned water – available at your nearest tap.

Step 2: Heat the heat gun

Sadly, your heat gun probably isn’t magic, so you’ll have to plug it in and wait for it to heat up. Just make sure you don’t leave it resting beside your stash of fireworks and the old Christmas tree that has been soaking in diesel overnight.

Step 3: Heat the paint

It’s now time to start heating the paint. Bring the heat gun close to the paint and slowly move it up and down just like a paint roller. Keep doing this until the paint starts to bubble and melt.

Step 4: Scrape the paint

Once the paint has become soft you can begin to scrape at it. Don’t get too worried if you’re left with small dots of paint scattered all over your wooden item. This will come off easily later.

Step 5: Final touches

Once you have the bulk of the paint off you can begin on the final touches. Use your steel wool to scrape off the remaining dots of paint and then give the whole thing a rub down with white spirits. You’re wooden item should now be completely paint-less and if it’s not, crack out your tub of elbow grease because you're going to need it and your scraper.