woodchip paper removal and flaked paint ceilings

Widelats

The property i moved into was previously held by a old man, it was disgustingly dirty when i moved in.

On the ceilings there is woodchip paper, and over 30 years or so he has painted over it multiple times, when i get the steamer on it i can scrape a layer at a time, when i finally get down to the wood chip i can just about scrape it off with lots of effort, its very slow going but heres the problem, with so much hard effort having to be done with the scraper it has inevitably caused cracks in the ceiling, one of them is very big and not sure if i'm going to be able to fill it with regular filler, is anything else i can use for this stripping without damaging the wall so much?

Also for paint that has flaked over time, i can easy remove it but i can't paint over it as it will show through, there is no way i am papering it so would it be ok to just sand the sand down all over with some wet and dry paper and then re paint it?

Widelats

Bump for help.

Dave_C_2

What I have used successfully is a one of these to put holes in the wallpaper. The one shown is 3-way mine is one-way. Also available at your local DIY stores.

Go over the paper lots of times. Then brush on a proprietary brand of wallpaper stripper a couple of times. Wait 10 minutes (important) and the woodchip almost falls off the wall. Even removes painted woodchip.

I've never felt the need to buy a steamer!

Dave

Widelats

Thanks dave, any ideas on sanding the flaky paint too?