Sanding VJ walls

Hi all,

We've recently taken the plunge into the red and bought a big old Qlder, built circa 1920s. The previous owners had thoughtfully clad all interior walls and ceilings with AC sheeting, which we've had removed by licensed asbestos removalists.

The original VJ walls behind it look pretty daggy, having not seen a coat of paint in 30 - 40 years. Paint is flaking off, especially in the joins between the boards. A couple of walls are a little better than others.

We went in on the weekend with a couple of ROSes to sand the walls back to bare wood (masked & suited up and with the area we were working in sealed off from the rest of the house to contain dust) and the progress was pretty slow.

So before I resign myself to spending the next 6 months sanding, I thought I'd ask here if there's a better way.. besides paying someone else to do it for me. :) I tried paint stripper, but that's even slower, given it doesn't penetrate all the layers of paint.

We're using 5" ROSes I picked up from Bunnings, one's an Ozito $50 job, the other's a $70 Ryobi. The Ozito seems to work a bit better. I'm wondering if it's worth lashing out on a couple of more expensive ROSes, but I figure the extra dollars are for quality and lifespan of the tool, so the more expensive ones won't necessarily make the job any easier.

The girl at Bunnings mentioned that there are places that hire out special wall sanders, but didn't really know how they worked differently or how they'd make the job easier. Anyone know what she's talking about?

The other thing I'm thinking about is not sanding everything back to absolute bare wood, just scrape and sand enough to get a decent looking paint job on there, then sand back and recoat patches when they need it down the track. I'm expecting most people will tut tut at this idea.

Phew.. that was a long one (said the actress to the bishop). On an unrelated note, I've found this forum a great source of info as a naive first time renovator. I'm yet to find anywhere on the net nearly as useful.

Cheers,
RC.

My ozito ROS was a better sander to use (before it died) than my Bosch ROS.

To rip the paint off very quick use a 7" panel beaters sander ( it looks like a big angle grinder)
Use panel beaters discs instead of ordinary sandpaper.
Then smooth up with the ROS

Hi mate and welcome to the forum - you will find a wealth of information and sound advice here - I know I have! To your issue - I want to say there's a better way than elbow grease but I doubt it...... unless you can high-pressure hose it off The old VJ looks great once done, but I recall my childhood pocket money efforts back when I lived in Brissy and my arms ache at the thought of doing it again. :D:D:D I do recall using a wire brush or similar to get the paint from off the joints. Maybe a sugar soap solution and a scrubbing brush might work?

Either way have fun - I am my arms will be thinkin' of ya!

RC, Welcome to the forum
as to your sanding task this is how I would approach it:

It's an 80 year old house. When you finish it should look 80 years old, not brand new.
So I'd scrape as much paint off as possible using a Skarsen scraper — it uses a replacable hook and is pretty fast at removing loose or flakey paint.
I'd only sand back to bare wood where I absolutely had to.
I'd then paint over everything with a sealer coat.
Then I'd put on the top coats.

As to sanders, not all ROS's are the same. For your task I'd reach for a Festo Rotex RO150 set for coarse sanding, a relatively coarse paper AND the dust extractor. This setup is not cheap, but from experience hooking up the extractor not only prolongs the life of the sanding paper, more importantly it up captures over 99% of the dust as it is generated. I used it to sand the kitchen wall and had no dust to wipe off flat surfaces afterwards.

Lastly, be aware that in a house that old you've almost certainly got lead and possibly cadmium paints. Both are nasty particularly for kids and women who are or might become pregnant.


enjoy your challenge

ian