venetian plaster removal

[Rich]

Hi,

I have been living in my 80 year old house for about 1.5 years. The previous owners decided to renew the bathroom by putting their version of what looks like venetian plaster on the walls. It's got to go (they did a terrible job). My question is - can I sand what's there a bit and then skim coat the walls with joint compound, prime and paint to "restore" the walls back to the drywall?

Thanks for the help.

[hallerb]

yeah that should do it.

[Bob (but not THAT Bob)]

Depends on how they did it - I think true venetian plaster requires a wax coat - if so I'd start with a wax remover rather than gumming up the sandpaper and leaving wax to repel the mud.

[Rich]

Didn't know about the wax coat, so I might try that first...thanks for the info.

[Rich]

quick follow-up question...what kind of wax removers do you recommend? I have been looking for specifics online, and the only ideas I had were that of scrubbing the walls with paint thinner to remove the wax, but that sounds very caustic?! I thought there might be something specific for removing this kind of wax (assuming that what they put there).

Thanks again.

[curmudgeon]

For their venetian plaster paint, Behr recommends sanding. No, you can't use huge slabs of joint compound like it was plaster...unless of course you're into cracking and peeling.

Thanks again.