Why Speedheater™ Infrared Paint Removal Products Work for You
Our Speedheater™ Infrared Paint Remover products are designed by a Swedish historic restoration specialist. Speedheater™ products are manufactured in Sweden meeting their internationally-known, high-quality standards. Professionals and DIYers who invest in their old homes and in their family health, choose our products.
If you are a:
Homeowner with thick, old paint, especially pre-1978, lead paint
Painter, remodeling contractor, or window restorationist
Historic commissioner, architect, or city planner
You want:
A home that is safe for your kids and grandkids and has a lasting paint job
An efficient, cost-effective, and worker-safe method to prep a surface for repainting
A restoration method that gently brings old, painted wood back to its original beauty
Pick the Speedheater™ model and scrapers which match the needs of your specific paint stripping project.
Double Trouble Bundle
You Save $147
Are you overwhelmed by needing to strip all the paint off both the exterior and interior of your old house? You need our Double Trouble Bundle. The largerSpeedheater™1100 Infrared Paint Remover and our smaller Speedheater™ Cobra plus our Boomerang Scraper do all these projects efficiently. The Speedheater™ Method is faster, cleaner, and safer than other paint removal methods like chemicals, sanding and blow torching.
The Speedheater™1100 heats a 3” x 10” area in one application and works best on large, flat surfaces like siding, floors and ceilings and on the long strips of interior trim and doors. This Kit includes the two most common scrapers for these surfaces: the Clapboard Scraper for flat and straight-angled surfaces; and the Profile Scraper for long, wide-curved surfaces like German siding and fluted columns.
Head inside your home with confidence when you are armed with a Cobra and Boomerang, Clapboard, and Profile Scrapers. The 3” x 3” head of the Cobra fits easily in the tight spaces where other paint removers cannot reach. This combination of tools is the most efficient way toremove thick paint from intricately cut, carved wood and plaster and from complex, concave, convex, and curved surfaces.Many professional restorers use these tools in their shops and take the full set when they’re doing fieldwork. Be ready with the Double Trouble Bundle to tackle any paint stripping job in your old home.
Doing the stripping of your siding by yourself? Need a second worker? Order a Hands-Free Attachment to hold your Speedheater™1100.Save muscle fatigue for your choice of a Hands-Free Attachment. Add to your cart your selection below.
The Speedheater™ Cobra makes quick work of softening paint and varnish on a variety of surfaces. But the challenge for paint stripping is that woodwork – both interior and exterior – can vary from simple, flat surfaces to multi-level profiles and elaborate carvings. Most paint scrapers bought in hardware and paint stores are designed for uniform, flat surfaces. Their blades don’t reach into curved and narrow surfaces. But our It’s All in the Details Bundle gives you 4 different scrapers so you have the right scraper edge for the right surface!
The Clapboard, Profile, and Boomerang Scrapers with 12” handles easily pull paint heated and softened by a Cobra off longer surfaces – both grooved, curved and flat.
The Flexi-Scraper has 3 unique blades with many straight, rounded, concave and convex edges. The short 7.5” handle, small blades and tilting head allow greater maneuverability in tighter and awkward spaces than do the larger blades and longer 12” Speedheater™Scrapers. The 3 different blades of the Flexi-Scraper and their multiple edges scrape smaller, detailed profiles. Often one blade has all the edges you need for one project, and you don’t need to switch blades. The Flexi-Scraper comes with a belt holster and an attached, 3-blade holder. No matter how tight the space or intricate the carved detail, the Speedheater™ Cobra and our four speciality scrapers can get the wood clean fast.
The Grinding Kit was specifically created by the manufacturer, Speedheater Systems in Sweden, for sharpening their very sharp, beveled-edged scraper blades. Keeping scraper blades sharp is a necessity for consistent and fast paint scraping. Sharpening our scrapers improperly can grind off the beveled edge which is the secret to efficient paint scraping. The Kit has two ceramic grinding cloths and a blade holder. Both the grinding cloths and the holder are durable and reusable. Scraper users especially like the portability of the Grinding Kit and the security of knowing they aren’t damaging the blade’s critical, beveled edge.
With our It’s All in the Details Bundle you can use the Speedheater™ Cobra to lift layers of paint and varnish in less than 5 seconds. Getting into irregular surfaces is no challenge with the many beveled-edge blades of Speedheater™ Scrapers.
You can seal up those old, drafty windows yourself. Restore don’t replace them.Don’t let the deep-pocketed, Window Replacement companies pressure you to invest in their expensive, replacement windows. They say their expensive, new windows are the only way to improve the energy efficiency of window seals. Field studies compare window replacement to window restoration and prove this is not true!
How?
Our Window Restoration Bundle is the way hundreds of professional window restoration craftspeople reseal old windows. Homeowners can learn quickly to do the same process with the same safe and efficient tools the pros use: the smaller Speedheater™ Cobra and our specialized Window Tools.
The Cobra efficiently heats a 3” x 3” painted or varnished area for stripping in less than 3-5 seconds. It also softens rock-hard window putty in less than 10-15 seconds. The risk of breaking valuable, old glass is extremely low, especially when it is shielded from the infrared rays. The Window Tool Kit is the perfect match with the Cobra for windows. It comes equipped with a Putty Scraper, Boomerang Scraper, and a Chisel with Roller. Our unique Chisel with Roller quickly takes off the softened putty without damaging adjacent wood. Our Putty Scraper removes the remaining putty and paint on and under the glass panes. The Boomerang Scraper works fast to clear painted surfaces, grooves, and tight corners.
Next Step?
Pull out your window sashes, temporarily cover the wall openings with plywood and/or plastic sheeting, and move your windows inside to restore them. Get our Window Restoration Kit while the sale lasts. See video below under DESCRIPTION.
STRIPPING PAINT OFF SIDING: Power Washing OR Infrared Paint Removers
March 25
QUESTION: Why do we see so much power washing done on home exteriors for paint removal? ANSWER: It’s cheap and fast! Many contractors use power washers to pressure…
Not all paint scrapers are created equal. Cost, quality, and effectiveness vary.
Our scrapers are pull type. Most people use putty and drywall knives to push paint off. Pushing is less effective than pulling heated, soft paint. Speedheater™ scrapers have ergonomic, easy-grip and long handles that allow you to use both hands and apply more even and wider pressure on resistant paint.
Our scraper blades are made of steel that is harder and thicker than most lighter, more flexible metal scrapers. The Speedheater™ blade steel is “spring steel” which resists chipping and bending when it hits hard objects like nails. Our blades have very sharp, beveled edges. These blade edges quickly, evenly and thoroughly strip away paint down to the bare wood in just a few strokes. They also prevent damage to wood which duller, uneven blades might do. Speedheater™ scrapers blades have different edge profiles: convex and concave curves; and wide and narrow straight edges. Selecting the scraper with the blade edges which match the flat or curved surfaces you are stripping is key to efficient and effective scraping.
The Speedheater™ method of using infrared to soften the coating and matching the right Speedheater™ scraper make the job of stripping paint or varnish easy. No matter if a surface is flat like exterior siding or curved like interior doors, baseboards, or intricately carved wood, this method cleanly, safely, and efficiently gets a thickly-painted surface immediately ready for new paint.
A. Area stripped: The Speedheater™ Standard 1100 heats a 3” x 10” area evenly with only one application. The specific infrared wave lengths used in the Speedheater™ heat only what is directly in front of the heat source. They do not heat the surrounding area. Heat guns blow super hot air unevenly across a strip only several inches wide. The heat gun has to be in constant motion which makes it difficult to control where and for how long the paint is heated.
B. Paint temperature required to make the paint bubble: The Speedheater™ infrared rays need only to heat the paint to 400-600℉ to separate the bottom layer of paint from the wood. Heat guns must heat paint from the top down to 1000℉ to make it bubble for scraping.
C. Risk of fire: The blowing hot air of heat guns goes between and under boards and into crevices where dust and debris can easily ignite. The high heat penetrates onto the reverse side of the wood and into the materials behind the wood. Undetected from the surface, these can catch fire later after the stripping is done. The infrared rays create heat only in the upper portion of the wood and in the paint. They are not pushing heated air. The rays do not heat the back side of the wood or behind it.
D. Operator skill: The infrared bulbs of the Speedheater™ evenly heat paint in one application to a lower temperature. It requires less operator skill to safely monitor the heating. Using the Speedheater™ pull scrapers one can quickly remove all the paint layers down to the bare wood in a few, long strokes. Heat gun operators traditionally use dull putty scrapers. Push scraping at the correct angle with each stroke is difficult. Reheating and rescraping is often necessary to remove the paint thoroughly. Without experience, it is easy to mar the wood using these common tools.
Lead in paint turns into invisible, toxic fumes at 900-1000℉. Using a very specific infrared wave length, the Speedheater™ does its job very differently and with the paint only at 400-600℉. Lead fumes are not created at this low temperature. The wave length is not harmful to the eyes; it is the same as what the embers of an open fire emit.
Wearing heat-protective gloves, eye protection, and a respirator or dust mask is recommended. Lead paint debris must be thoroughly contained and carefully disposed of. For more information about how to follow Lead-Safe Work Practices in the US, visit: https://www.epa.gov/lead. For other countries, always follow laws and regulations regarding hazardous waste.
The Speedheater™ works well on both exterior wood such as siding, window trim and porches and on interior woodwork such as baseboards, doors, windows, floors, and cabinets. Proper ventilation is needed when you work inside.
Close all doors and all but one window. Place a window fan in this open window to pull the paint (not lead!) fumes outdoors.
Speedheater™Infrared Paint Removers work best to heat oil-based paint and varnish and latex paint. They also heat acrylic and plastic paint; however, these coatings heated can be gummy and require frequent cleaning of the scrapers. Milk paint and shellac will heat but require more back and forth scraping. Infrared heat does not release stain as its pigment has soaked deep into the wood grain.