After a long slumber, the IPR has awakened…

IPR

After spending hours making an infrared paint remover (IPR), and using it for about 5 minutes, it has spent the last year sitting in a corner of our basement. So when it came time to repaint the front porch floor, I revived the beast to remove the old peeling paint.

removing paint

Using the IPR was straightforward, and much easier on flat pieces of wood like exterior decking or siding. It’s also safer than toxic chemical removers or other heat treatments like a heat gun or propane torch (yes, some people still use propane to soften and remove paint, which can lead to disastrous results). That said, the wood can still burn and get scorched (see dark spots on photo above). Since the porch was going to be painted, the burn marks didn’t concern me.

After scraping, using the IPR, more scraping, and then sanding, the porch was ready for a good coat of primer. I think the lack of primer originally led to its peeling state. I bought the paint a while ago based on the old porch paint color but now it doesn’t match our composite lumbers. Oh, well. Someday the porch floor will need to be replaced entirely. For now, I can deal with the color difference.

At least the ceiling is painted a nice blue.

newly painted porch