Stripping paint from Waddle and Daub ceiling plaster

For the last 3 night I've come home from work and spent 4 hours stripping paint from my plastered ceiling so I can get it reskimmed.

So far I've removed about 3m square, although there is approx another 2m square that looks flakey enough that it shouldn't be too much trouble, but the majority even with a new blade the scraper just can't seem to get into it.

I tried starting from corners but would eventually only get so far before it put up too much of a fight, I even tried steaming it but even this struggled with the undercoat, the same with the heat gun too.

Sander with 40g paper did about the same, worked OK on flaky but would only get down as far as the undercoat.

I don't fancy using chemicals as most of it will land n my head, face or eyes.

I still have 12m square left, wickes are selling 12.5mm x 2.5m x 1.2m for £5 for 5 so approx £25 for a new ceiling.

Is there a good reason why I don't just do that (apart from all the dust taking it down will generate coz frankly I don't give a ***k at this point).


had enough.. off to tesco's for some cheap booze,,, those packs of little continental lagers for £3.50 sound really appealing right now.

Hope the booze was good.... coz I gotta ask, why are you removing paint in the first place? Can skim over paint no probs as long as the paint is sound.

where is this house, and how old?

Is the ceiling plaster, or is it mud and muck?

House is 1930, the paint is a bit patchy, some parts really tough and sound, other parts quite flaky but really spotty where it's flaky and sound. One area about 5 square meters it's pretty sound, but the rest is flaky parts between 1cm to 3cm big and peppered all over the place about 1-2cm apart over an area of about 7 square meters.

So when you're trying to get into it your trying to dislodge a flaky patch the size of a 10p peice thats surrounded by the tougher paint.

My worry is that if I don't get most of the flaky bit's off it will reduce the longevity of the fresh plaster.

Maybe I should have a go with an orbital sander with a vacuum attachment and hope it takes out most of the loose stuff and an extra layer of bonding will help.

myutopia said:

House is 1930

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So when you said "wattle and daub" did you mean "lath and plaster?"

Perhaps you are trying to remove distemper. It will scrub off with hot (not cold) water.

yup, lathe and plaster.

I tried direct steam and also closing the windows and doors then letting steam build up to see i it would moisten the plaster behind the paint.

I might try a few treatments of this again before having another go.

myutopia said:

I still have 12m square left, wickes are selling 12.5mm x 2.5m x 1.2m for £5 for 5 so approx £25 for a new ceiling.

Is there a good reason why I don't just do that (apart from all the dust taking it down will generate coz frankly I don't give a ***k at this point).

Click to expand...

Nothing stopping you doing that, but...and this will make your day... There's no need to remove the old stuff, just overboard with the new. And you don't need to use the thick 12.5mm stuff either, use the lighter grade. The down-side is you'll need the joint s ames taped, and this looks rubbish if not done properly.

I did think about overboarding, I also want to install led spotlights.
Plan A was work out where all the joists were and cut away only the plaster from those points so I could thread the wires through then get it skimmed.

Probably a bit of a bodge