Best method / tools for removing plaster?

[steveharman]

I need to hack off a whole load of relatively modern plaster on internal solid brick walls, prior to having a damp course injected and dry-lining.

Are there any tricks of the trade worth noting to help me get this done as quickly as possible please? An aerosol product which dissolves plaster, makes tea & cleans up after itself perhaps?

Thanks in advance.

Steve

 

[Richard C]

You should be so lucky ; just hard dusty work I’m afraid. I use either a lump hammer & chisel + jemmy bar or, on larger areas, an SDS breaker with a chisel fitting to prise it off the wall but you need to take care with that one as its easy to damage the blockwork behind.

If you want to strip up to a line, run a bolster chisel across the wall first, this will crack the plaster locally so it comes off clean to the line rather than ending up looking like sharks mouth.

 

[steveharman]

Cheers Richard - your tip with making a line will come in very handy.

Steve

 

[roy c]

Sometimes it is better having it look like a "Sharks mouth",for when you blend the new plaster in it isn't in a straight line..

 

[Richard C]

Sometimes it is better having it look like a "Sharks mouth",for when you blend the new plaster in it isn't in a straight line..

Dressing a line in the plaster with a bolster at the point you want to remove allows the plaster to come away cleanly to the line, reducing the risk of local de-lamination on the bit you want to leave behind. When it’s time to re-plaster, break away the edge of the plaster with a hammer to provide a rough edge & a good key.

 

[jabaspurs]

I would draw a level pencil line across the wall break off any plaster etc abount an inch below and then carefully hammer and bolster across the line to give a nice straight finish to make the new plaster to blend to.

 

[Richard C]

I would draw a level pencil line across the wall break off any plaster etc abount an inch below and then carefully hammer and bolster across the line to give a nice straight finish to make the new plaster to blend to.

But you don’t want a nice straight line, that's the whole point; I am not disagreeing with Roy C. You need a jagged edge to provide a good key for the new plaster or it will invariably crack & show; the aim is not to de-laminate any of the base plaster above that you want to keep.

To be honest, I would base coat repair the wall up to the join line so it’s flush, reinforce tape the join & then re- skim the whole wall otherwise you will invariably see the join & in all probability it will crack open again.

 

[JohnD]

if it not very hard, you can get a lot of plaster off fast with a spade.

you will probably have some tough bits left you need to use a bolster and lump hammer on.

 

[jabaspurs]

I would draw a level pencil line across the wall break off any plaster etc abount an inch below and then carefully hammer and bolster across the line to give a nice straight finish to make the new plaster to blend to.

But you don’t want a nice straight line, that's the whole point; I am not disagreeing with Roy C. You need a jagged edge to provide a good key for the new plaster or it will invariably crack & show; the aim is not to de-laminate any of the base plaster above that you want to keep.

To be honest, I would base coat repair the wall up to the join line so it’s flush, reinforce tape the join & then re- skim the whole wall otherwise you will invariably see the join & in all probability it will crack open again.

Yeah know what you mean, a lip to plaster to so that it's flush rather than having to feather in

 

[joe-90]

If it's something like Browning then JohnDs tip is pretty good.

 

[legs-akimbo]

Chase a line across with a bolster at designated height better still an angle grinder if the room is clear so as not to disturb the plaster above the working area.
If you can get a decent heavy duty drill with a chisel stop function this will beat the labour intensive hammer and bolster or even pick up a cheap one from Argos for the purpose of the job, strangely enough if you add on the small fee for insurance on these cheap tools they have a habbit of blowing up a week before the guarantee expires and you march off to Argos and get a new one.
If the backing plaster is render then as you work along the wall give the area, a good few belts with a lump hammer to loosen it up chop it off then give the next sq mtr a good old bateing....so on and so forth.

 

[Richard C]

Spade OK if you want to remove the lot; not so good if you want to remove only the bottom 2 feet for damp treatment & still leave what’s above it stuck to the wall.

A heavy duty drill with a chisel stop function; erm I think that’s an SDS breaker isn’t it. Mine actually came from Focus & cost £32. First one only lasted a week but the free replacement I’ve now had for 3 years. it’s had hard use including busting down a few walls but still going strong; although the trigger is starting to get a little lazy.

 

[legs-akimbo]

Errrm yes it is