How to Remove Old Paint on a Porch With a Power Planer Level

Lay a level over every area of your porch to determine the sections that need to be leveled. You will be using the planer to remove paint from the entire porch, but you want to pay special attention to the uneven areas. With a pencil, mark the areas of the wood that are raised. Slats that are uneven by more than 1 inch should be replaced; with porches that are sagging, structural issues should be thoroughly solved first.

Adjust the level of the planer to cut through 1/16 inch of the wood.

Put on goggles and a dust mask to protect yourself from wood shavings and sawdust.

Turn the power planer on, and place it so that the front of the planer is on the edge of the porch and the back blade isn’t yet in contact with the wood. Position the blade so you will push it along the grain.

Push the power planer across the wood in one long stroke as far as you can comfortably reach. Lift it straight up. You will notice the area now has been stripped of paint, along with a thin slice of wood.

Lower the blade where you picked it up and continue the process. When you reach an area you marked with the pencil, slide the power planer over the area several times to remove several slices of wood. Use the level to determine when the raised area has been leveled with the surrounding area.

Continue in the same manner until you’ve removed all of the paint from the porch.

Turn the planer off and hold it until the blade has stopped rotating. Unplug it and store it in a safe place, away from children or pets.

Sand the porch rails and any small crevices with medium-grit sandpaper. This will allow you to remove paint from areas that the planer was unable to reach.

Sweep the porch to remove the sawdust and paint chips.