What is this and how to remove?

cs90

Hi all.

Does anyone know what this is and the best way to get rid of it without damaging the old plaster behind?

Some of it I've managed to remove just by scraping it off carefully, other bits have come off with an orbital sander (again very carefully) but this last chunk just wont budge.

Any advice very much welcome. Thanks.

maninthestreet

The brown stuff???

phill99

What is it you want to achieve?


I would paint over it.

theonlywayisup

It looks like paint - if you are referring to the tobacco yellow on the chimney breast/section in the middle.

What are you trying to achieve?

EachPenny

It looks horribly like the stuff painted onto every wall in my house when I moved in, I think it was originally applied in the mid-1960's.

The problem I had was as soon as you tried painting over, it would start to bubble and flake. At the time I just set about scraping it all off, the solution for the tougher bits was to wet them and just wait for them to soften a bit.

If I was doing it again now I'd look at the various chemicals and paints that might have a stabilising effect, but it looks like you are beyond the point of no return. Some water and careful scraping might do the trick.

DavidDavidson

OP of it is indeed paint from the 1960s and you intend to sand it off, wear a respirator, chances are it's lead paint.

-taff

I think it might be old type of wallpaper paste. No idea how you remove it though.

cs90

Thanks all, sorry it's taken so long to reply!

House was built in '55, so from what I've read here and people in person it does seem to be the stuff that eachpenny is referring to!

I've been wearing a mask throughout and had it fairly well ventilated so hopefully I'm good. My father in law said about painting over it would probably make it bubble up and flake.

Most of the yellow stuff that has been easier to get off has been flakey but these last bits over the walls are so stuck on that even when sanding I'm not getting anywhere. I've tried digging it out as well without harming the plaster too much (but there is more filling to do now)

I'll give wetting it a go before trying to scrap it off again.

(The brown stuff on the walls was parcel tape.. I taped it everywhere up and down the walls and actually managed to remove quite a lot of the yellow stuff, but it's left the tape residue which I'll just sand off also)

Thanks all

Mutton_Geoff

You could try a wallpaper steam remover on it to soften and scrape off (masked up) or try paint stripper (suit up).

Slinky

I'd paper the walls with a good quality lining paper and repaint over that.