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Heat gun: I thought it’d make things easier... but that old paint basically melted and stuck to the scraper.
Yeah, the heat gun is overrated for anything but the worst-case scenario. I tried it and just ended up with a mess. Chemical stripper was slow, but at least it didn’t gum up everything.
- Those mystery trim pieces—every project, I swear. I labeled everything, still ended up with one random bit left over.
- Dust is relentless. Even with plastic sheeting, I found grit in my silverware drawer weeks later. If you’ve got forced air, block those vents for real.
- I underestimated how much shimming and leveling would eat up time. Window looked “square” until you actually measured it.
- Heat gun: Same here—just made a sticky mess. I ended up with paint goo in the window tracks that took forever to get out.
- Trim pieces: There’s always that one leftover, no matter how careful you are. I’ve got a box of “mystery wood” in the garage now.
- Dust: Underestimated how far it travels. Even taped up every door, still found sawdust in the laundry room.
- Shimming: Took way longer than I thought, and I swear every old house wall is crooked.
Did anyone have luck reusing the old stops or did you just buy new ones? I tried saving mine but half split during removal...
I actually had better luck saving the old stops than I expected, but only after switching to a thin, flexible putty knife instead of a pry bar. The key for me was scoring all the paint lines first—otherwise they just split like you said. Still, a few pieces were too brittle, so I had to patch with new wood and filler. Honestly, sometimes it’s just not worth the hassle if they’re painted over a dozen times or super dry. New ones can look cleaner anyway, especially if you’re repainting the trim.