# Forum Forum Help Desk Introduce Yourself  Renovating old weatherboard Canberra

## RJ2021

Hi. Im RJ. Im about to start sanding and painting the house exterior. Weathers are v old & paint job old/awful (many layers). Also has brick chimney and brick on lower portion of house.  Looking for sanding/paint removal and prep tips.  Thx!!

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## droog

What is the condition of the boards? If bad enough it can be worthwhile to replace and at the same time insulate and wrap. 
Painting I suggest oil based primer undercoat then two coats of acrylic in your colour choice. I use roller for the undercoat and spray the top coats.
If replacing the boards do not believe the “pre primed” sales pitch, the coating is not a quality primer to base your top coats on.

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## RJ2021

Hi. Thx for the tips. Mite go ahead & get oil based primer now (hadnt considered that). The weatherboard are in reasonable condition. Just unsure whether to try and remove paint with heat gun and scraper tool or to buy/hire a good sander. Ive read conflicting advice on this forum so if anyone can advise thatd be amazing !!

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## Marc

Is the cladding hardwood or cedar? Smooth or rough?
Many layers of old paint can be a task to remove. 
Paint stripper, heat, scraping, oh my ... and how big is the job? Not fun  :Smilie:

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## droog

Have you considered or checked for lead paint ?

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## RJ2021

Already checked.  No lead

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## RJ2021

Its pine and smooth.  Just trying to decide if heat gun or sander is best way to go! Any advice on this would be great

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## droog

Personally only ever used a sander, have used heat gun for many other items but cant imagine doing the side of a house with one.

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## mangrovejack

I would rent or buy a Metabo paint remover - https://www.metabo.com/au/en/tools/c...t-remover.html 
I was tempted to remove all the paint on our old house in Narrabundah but instead ripped them all off and replaced with Weathertex boards.

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## phild01

> I would rent or buy a Metabo paint remover - https://www.metabo.com/au/en/tools/c...t-remover.html 
> I was tempted to remove all the paint on our old house in Narrabundah but instead ripped them all off and replaced with Weathertex boards.

  Unfortunately Chrisp didn't report back: https://www.renovateforum.com/f207/a...remover-91872/

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