How to remove oil based paint from plastered walls?

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Hi everyone, a newbie here.

We moved into our first home and wanted to decorate the rooms as they didn't look good enough. We bought all these tools and materials etc and started scraping off paint, then found out it was wallpaper:eek: and it took ages to finish as there were so many layers. We now can finally see the plaster but have big patches of pink&blue paint (I think oil based) and it is very difficult to remove it by using a scraper. As it was taking ages, we started using a heatgun thinking it makes it a little easier -although still using a scraper. Then started reading about heatgun on plaster and some advise not to do this as it might cause caking? And so we stopped. Googled what else we can do to make it quicker and it advises to use a chemical stripper- not sure if it's a good idea? I will try and attach pictures to this post. It is a small room but I'm starting to regret this whole decorating project. All we want is long lasting, smooth and quality looking white walls -nothing more. We need some advice as to how to get these walls ready for coating and painting. Any help is much appreciated. Thank you.
 

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Fill the cracks, rub it down, paper with lining paper and paint that. That’s what I would do anyway.
 
How old is the property? It is very rare to find oil based paints applied directly over plaster.

I have no idea where or what advice you have read. A heat gun (500 degrees centigrade) will make oil based paint become soft enough to scrape it off. Water based paints such as vinyl silk will become a little softer but will remain difficult to remove. A steam stripper will send 100 degrees centigrade out, which will soften the water based paints but the steam risks blowing the skim coat of plaster.

If the base coats are sound, I would recommend that you follow the advice offered by Motman. Fill as required and apply lining paper.
 
That is probably the original paint when the place was built. Don't know why you think it's oil-based.

No need to remove that if it's sound.

You need to sand the surface, fill the craters, or fill round the craters, sand, dust off, mist coat the bare plaster and filler, then apply ordinary emulsion.

At this point you will see imperfections, so fill, sand, mist coat and filler, emulsion where you have filled.

Check for imperfections.

Then think about the final coat(s) over the whole room.
 
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If you experience any of the new emulsion causing the old paint to lift, tell us.
 
How old is the house? This is very important.
 
Thank you all for replying. It is a maisonette that was built in the 1960s. From Opps' description it sounds like the paint may be vinyl based. Looks like the paper is the only way to move forward easily - would everyone agree? Plus, we now discovered a leak coming from the ceiling:cry: I will have to find someone who can come in to identify/assess where the leak is originating from and how it can be fixed as I wouldn't want to do anything while that leak is still there.
 
It will drive you nuts but I have removed paint like that with a scraper blade. 4-6" and a lot of patience
A steamer helps
 
It will drive you nuts but I have removed paint like that with a scraper blade. 4-6" and a lot of patience
A steamer helps
Yes! It was insane just for the 2 hours that we tried. It worked but we were only able to remove a relatively medium area in 2 hours and there is still another full-on painted wall to go over...
 
Motman has said the best solution for nice walls

All you are doing at the moment is giving yourself a lot of work for little gain if anything you risk damaging the plaster further and giving yourself even more work to do.....

If the room is upstairs it will either be a leaky water pipe or the roof , you will have to pop into the loft to see if you need a roofer or plumber
 

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