I need to scrape paint off of a bunch of windows where the painters painted over the glass. I know I can use a razor, but that takes a long time.
Are there any power tools that I could use to make the process faster?
Power tool for scraping paint off windows
paint
Related Solutions
Perhaps you should consider using a chemical help to supplement your heat gun approach. Obviously the very old paint has lost most of the oils and resins that can help it bubble for heat removal. You are probably dealing with mostly pigments (many metal based, including lead) and very dry resins.
There are newer less caustic strippers, such as citrus based products, that take several hours to cut through the old paint and may need a subsequent application. But they may allow more complete removal without gouging the old wood.
Once you stop making satisfactory progress with the heat gun, let the wood cool than then test the stripper in a small area. NOTE - Do not, under any circumstances, use the heat gun when there is a chemical stripper on the wood. Serious chemical reaction or fire could result!
You also could try cabinet scrapers. these are much less likely to gouge than the heavy duty paint scrapers. Some have sharp corners or curves that allow you to scrape out moldings and insets. Again, these could be used once you have removed a good bit of the old paint with the heat gun.
NOTE 2 - Given the age of the paint, there is almost certainly lead (and maybe other unpleasant metals) present in the finish. Use a mask to avoid breathing the dust and chips with all these techniques.
Cement is acceptable as an interior finish. The reason why it isn't used more is that it is heavy and terribly hard to make look nice. Basically once it is dry it is done for good. Also cement adheres to dry cement but not that well so patching is not easy.
As for durability it depends how you prepare the surface and the thickness of the install. In my area it was a thing to finish basements with a cement coating (over the poured cement walls). These went on about 1/4-1/2" thick and looks a bit like plaster after a few coats of primer and paint. You can certainly give the concrete a pigment but it has a pretty prickly surface that a thick coating of paint would help smooth.
The other thing to think about is hanging things on the wall or doing things like electrical. You have to know that if you hang something on the wall you will need to use adhesive. If it is something heavy you might have a hard time taking the adhesive off without ripping out the underlying cement. In the older basements we would go in we would see dozens of little cement patches missing from things like pictures or whatever.
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Best Answer
No no no, you really don't want to do that
As Alaska Man says... "power tools near glass, what could go wrong?"
I strip a lot of paint off a lot of windows because I hate masking. And it's not super-easy latex paint either - it's alkyds or LPUs (which are a fight) or worse, 2-pack epoxy primer, which has an uncanny bite on glass (how??) Or silicone sealants.
Just go to town with a bottle of Windex and a stack of sharp razor blades. It's really fast work, and I don't see how a power tool could help. Keep the area wet with Windex. If you don't want to waste Windex that way, dilute any lliquid soap; the purpose is to lubricate the razor blade to keep it from scratching and extend its life. Let a good rain take the soap away and windex it at the end. Do Not Do This Dry.
If it's slow going, you're doing it dry, or using dull razor blades (change those lickity split, they are your enemy as they will scratch the glass! Also, there are no medals/awards for conserving razor blades, and they recycle 100% because the landfill shreds your trash and runs a magnet over it to pick up ferrous waste).