The Silent Paint Remover, aka infrared paint stripper, might be your ideal solution for assassinating old paint. Let’s face it, stripping old paint is a hassle. You could use methyl chloride stripper, but then you’d risk it eating your flesh off, and there’s the potential carcinogen issue. Heat guns are effective, but carry a high risk of lighting your house on fire or risking lead poisoning. I have now tested a Silent Paint Remover on a couple projects and have found it to be one of the better paint stripping options out there. The tool works fairly quickly (10-60 seconds per section, depending on the paint you’re working with), and it bubbles and softens the paint nicely and cleanly. You just heat a section, and then use a high quality pull scraper to strip the paint.
The lower temperature on the tool is designed to prevent dangerous vaporization of lead paint. However, because this is a dry stripping process that involves scraping, I think there is still a likely risk of causing paint dust to become airborne. Before you strip any older paint, I would highly encourage having lead testing done. If you do plan to work with lead-based paint despite the risks, carefully observe lead safe work practices, or hire a reputable lead abatement company. The Silent Paint Remover is available for $395 from the friendly crew at Viking Sales.

Cutting insulation cleanly used to be like cutting your airline chicken dinner with a TSA-approved knife. . . not fun, not effective. I recently had a small insulation install that included cutting angles in the insulation batts. I decided to give Cepco Tools’ Insul-knife a shot. Insul-knife is designed to cut sponge foam, insulation batts, and pipe insulation. It can also be used to trim insulation around doors and windows. I used a scrap of plywood to compress the batt before cleanly cutting through the insulation. Worked like a charm, with nice, smooth cuts. Beware, the blade is sharp and the manufacturer recommends gloves be worn when handling the tool. I ordered mine from the friendly folks at SoundAway.com for about $35. More details also available at Cepco Tools.

It is summer in San Diego and that means keeping landscaping alive is high priority. I have set up most of our plants on an automated drip system, but one tricky leg remained unfinished. Unfinished mainly because I had to get 1/2″ drip tube under a section of sidewalk. Luckily, I discovered the sidewalk sleever. At around $100 it seemed like a pricey way to get under a sidewalk, but I knew I would need to do it again several times in the future. The traditional “attach high pressure nozzle to hose and spray mud everywhere technique” just did not seem as appealing.

Basically, you just slide a length of 1″ pvc over this very heavy-duty tool, line it up in your trench, take several swings with a sledgehammer, and then withdraw it. Presto! You now have a pvc tunnel! The Sleever even has a hole drilled into the tip so that you can use itl to fish wire through your conduit as you withdraw the tool. Super fast and super easy! I likey! Just make sure there are no underground utilities before you get sledgehammering. Actual tunneling took me about 3 minutes vs 45 minutes and 700 gallons of mud with the traditional water nozzle setup. They come in two lengths for your tunneling convenience. I bought mine online for $99 with free shipping from SprinklerWarehouse.com. More information is available from the manufacturer at SidewalkSleever.com

The other day I got the brilliant idea that we should restore a few of our more dilapidated older windows. After what seemed like an eternity of scraping, I realized we then had an extra eternity of sanding ahead. I had tried a Dremel contour sander in the past and it vibrated a lot and just was not that effective. Enter German engineering and the Fein Multimaster. This little tool sands, scrapes, polishes, cuts, removes grout and more (with the appropriate attachments). I used it mainly for sanding and scraping, both of which it handles remarkably well. You have to be careful with the scraper though, it’s very easy to gouge wood with. The sander works fantastic if you are sanding what the tool is designed for: small areas and details. The only downside to the tool that I have discovered is amazingly expensive accessories. Be prepared to shell out $50 or more dollars just for a cutting blade, and lots of recurring expense of sanding pads and paper. Despite the expensive attachments, I highly recommend the tool. It’s very well engineered and effective. Get more details at the Fein website. I got mine from AllProTools.com, and they are running a holiday Fein drill/Multimaster combo worth checking out for $389. Or you can get just the Multimaster starting at a little under $200.

Starting a screw on hard wood or especially metal can be a challenge. A couple years ago I discovered the joys of punching, with a center punch that is. I like the style that is spring loaded with adjustable tension. Once you set the tension, which controls the force of the impact, you just apply downward pressure until the punch shoots forward and dimples the surface. The resulting dimple then makes it easy to start your fastener. Available at most home improvement stores for about $10-20. Gemplers has them for about $15.

Caulking is something just about every homeowner finds themselves doing at some point. Usually it entails lots of paper towels and results in caulk all over your fingers. Thankfully the team at Dap (makers of many caulking formulations) has devised a tool to make a smooth professional bead. All without coating your fingers with caulk. The foam tip smooths and finishes caulk beads and works with silicone or latex caulking. It is reusable or disposable depending on how messy and environmentally conscious you are feeling. Available from home improvement stores, or online from Builders Depot for about $2 for a pack of three.

If I had a dollar for every time I have accidentally hammered my own fingers, I would have at least four dollars. Chances are you would too! If you really value your digits, consider the Nail Gripper. This nifty tool made of soft PVC lets you grip nails from a (theoretically) safe distance. Despite the buffer I might still hammer my thumb on one of my wilder hammer swings. Once the nail is started you can slide the tool off and hammer away. Highly recommended for pianists and surgeons, and others whose hands are insured by Lloyds of London. Available for about $4 from McFeely’s.

Cutting circles in drywall can be a dusty, inexact process. Trying to stick to the pencil line you drew around your coffee can, especially with your 14,000 rpm rotary tool, sometimes results in ovals rather than circles. If you’d like beautiful circles cut into your drywall, try a tool like this Stanley circle cutter. It is adjustable in 1/8″ increments up to 8-1/4″. You can even look like a pro with its one-handed operation. Available for about $10 from All-Wall.com, the drywall superstore.

Apparently I could have used a handy Zipwall last weekend. I was doing a little plaster patching that at one point involved a circular saw and a massive dust cloud. I was wearing a respirator, but my poor wife wandered through at the wrong time and has been sneezing for 3 days straight. Zipwall has devised a handy set of extendable poles designed to create a dust barrier with plastic sheeting (sold separately). This seems like a brilliant idea for projects that involve dust storms. I might try using them when we do some refinishing work and see if I can get them to work as a barrier to fumes in addition to the dust. They can also be used as a light duty third hand for jobs like installing crown moulding. Zipwall has a dealer locator online. I found them listed at Jim and Slims Tools for about $130 for a set of two poles and their accessories. They also have a handy Zipwall Zipper for about $12 that let’s you easily create a zippered entry into your new plastic work zone.