Removing paint off plaster?

[Anonymous]

I am suffering through years of botched up painting on plaster walls. The old paint wasn't removed, but was painted over again and again so that there are multiple lumpy layers of varying thickness as well as different types of paint. Also there is plaster of paris used to fix holes in the lime plaster and it seems to have a devilish hold on the paint.

Using a brush on product seems to lead to a gluey, smeary mess and little visible progress. I've chipped off the dry bits beforehand, but the rest is loathe to let go!

What would you do if you wanted to put a lime finish coat on and this residual mess was on your walls?

 

[Anonymous]

I would use a wallpaper steamer with the end removed (wear gloves unless you have builders hands) and go easy with a scrapper and just peel it off when it gets nice and soft.

 

[Anonymous]

Steam may also have a bad effect on historic plaster though.

Is there nowhere you can purchase a paste stripper from? Maybe Strippers of Sudbury will ship some out!

Where are you in the US? Maybe you get in touch with some of the historic building preservation groups who could give some advice?



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