Lucky me: Lincrusta glue

[mark482]

Having incorrectly identified some brown/yellow gunk on my walls as some kind of oil-based distemper, I've now found a patch of pattern which makes it perfectly clear it's actually lincrusta adhesive

On top there's a brown "putty-like" layer which is dusty to the touch, softens with a steamer and comes off like an oil-based paint with hard and careful scraping...

On the bottom there's a yellow "skin", very hard and very smooth, which will just about soften with the steamer but is proving very hard work to remove that way...

I read that this may have lead in it. Assuming that I haven't already damaged myself too bad by using the steamer on it, has anyone had to deal with this and how!!?? I presume that sanding it is not a good idea, but would have to be done to put lining paper up...

Please please help! Three more walls of hell to get through somehow...

 

[Nige F]

Could be your lucky day I have in front of me a decorating book C. 1935 and about Lincrusta it says.......solidified linseed oil forms the chief ingredient.......and linseed/lin olem etc is a natural sterile product before microban was invented.......so no lead fears there.......But there may be some lead in the paint applied to the paper.........Dextrin paste was used to hang the lincrusta.......so it seems like you`ve got the remains of the linseed oil stuck to the wall...

 

[Zampa]

Lincrustra glue is also yellow...but you right about daxtrine too

Im sure the old glue did have a trace of lean in it..i'll be some research on this

 

[mark482]

Thanks for the info. However, after some googling I have the impression the brown stuff on top is a clay-based adhesive. Obviously I'm not too worried about what's in that, but it's a real pain to get off - I tried scrubbing with water and detergent, but it only seems to get the top dusty layer off, which then goes dusty again when it dries... A steamer and scraper works (slowly) but leaves the hard smooth yellow layer underneath. Steaming the yellow layer very slowly and scraping does get it off, but is veryyyy slow, and I wonder what harm I might be doing myself...

It might be of interest that the previous owner's solution seems to have been: two coats flaking emulsion, thick deep patterned vinyl wallpaper (not lincrusta) then paint thickly with orange gloss. As you can imagine, I am rather keen to find an alternative

 

[mark482]

On further investigation, I think I might have been really stupid...

Scrubbing hard at the brown stuff gets it off... I think what is underneath is just some old brown-yellow paint, allbeit very hard and smooth. Can I just sand this and put lining paper up?

Having spent (wasted?) days scraping two walls back to the plaster, can you tell me what sealer etc. I should use on the painted and unpainted walls?

Doh.