How to Use a Sander to Remove Loose Paint

Find out how to use a sander to remove peeling paint from a door. Get tips on using a palm sander or a 1/4-sheet sander rather than a 1-inch sanding disk. Once you remove the loose paint, you can prime…

LESLIE: Sean in Tennessee is on the line who needs some help restoring a door. Tell us what the project is.

SEAN: Yeah. Actually, when I bought a house – I’m just fixing to sell it and whoever lived in the house before me had started trying to paint the door facings white to match the walls, I guess.

TOM: OK.

SEAN: And what I have a problem with is they used the wrong kind of paint and I guess they realized it halfway through the project, so they didn’t even finish. And the paint that they used is peeling off of the doors and stuff like that. Well, I’m going to sell my home and so that’s one thing that I would like to fix up.

TOM: Sure.

SEAN: I have a Dremel tool and it has a little-bitty, old sanding head on it and I kind have been trying to do that but needless to say, it’s very tedious and time-consuming.

TOM: Well, that’s a really tiny tool to be using for a big sanding project like that. Get a bigger Dremel.

LESLIE: I mean the Dremel sanding disk is an inch in diameter; they’re little.

SEAN: Well, I guess this is my deal. I have a bigger bit to use and I actually borrowed somebody else’s tool – somebody else’s bit – but it actually started kind of getting into the actual wood of the door.

TOM: What you might want to do is get a palm sander or a ¼-sheet sander. Or they have sanders that are designed for details like that. I know that Black & Decker makes one; I’m sure there are others. They’re kind of in the shape – they look like a small iron.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm. They’re triangular.

TOM: They have that kind of triangular – so that pointy shape? You can get in the nooks and crannies with that kind of a tool. And then start with a very coarse grit and work your way down.

Now, if you’re going to repaint this, you don’t have to get all the old paint off, just the loose paint off.

LESLIE: Just smooth.

TOM: And then you want to prime it and repaint it and that should be all you need to do, Sean.

SEAN: I’ll keep listening to the show and I appreciate you all’s time, man.

TOM: You’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.