Black glue removal

[ianaleonard]

Help!

I've just removed a whole load of wood panelling from my hallway, stairs and landing and am left with a whole load of black, tar like glue on the walls.

I've tried scraping it off to no avail and am now using a heat gun to melt it then scrap it off. However, at this rate I will be here until christmas doing this every weekend!

Does anyone know of a quick (doesn't have to be easy) way of removing this stuff?

Many thanks,
Ian

 

[54aardvark]

If its slightly rubbery it could be the old black Bostic stuff my old man used to use years ago, I remember does respond very well to solvents not sure which - knowing my old man he probably used petrol! - not that safe (or cheap nowadays), but you could start off with white spirit. Hopefully someone else will have a more definitive solution, or, you could try googling Bostic and asking their tech dept.

Problem comes afterwards - what are you planning to do with the wall once its stripped? I would imagine that you would have a layer of glue/solvent soaked into the top layer of plaster and I don't think this would be a suitable base for paint and paper may be a bit iffy. You may need some specialist prep.

Sorry I can't be more helpful - but I can sympathise, many's the time you open up a simple job and everything goes downhill from there!