Emulsion Paint Removal...?

[troubleinstore]

Don't you just love decorating...:-(

I removed some wallpaper today that put on by the previous occupiers of the house. The paper was stuck ontop of emulsion paint, needless to say that in places much of the emulsion paint came off as well.

Question is, what is the best method to get rid of all the old emulsion paint...?

Would it be:- a. use steamer and scraper b. just use scraper. c. use hot air blower and scraper

Someone suggested that I should just sand down the edges of the paint where it came of f the wall and repaper, but surely this is:- a. bodgers way b. false ecconomy because if emulsion came off before emulsion that is left on will not be good bond to wall c. paint non emulsioned area with good coat of emulsion and sand then paper

What are tyour thoughts please.....?

-- troubleinstore

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[Michael Mcneil]

If it is emulsion, the layer is very thin surely? If it is acrylic why did it fail?

If it was the first painted coat on a new wall then it was probably acrylic and should not have been used. Mind that is no help for you. There must be a standard repair for such bodges though, as they can't be uncommon.

Sorry I'm no real help.

[rrh]

Don't think there is a way to do this. Steam is unlikely to work. Sanding will leave still-visible edges. Last one I did, I scraped all loose patches of emulsion off then put thick lining paper over the top prior to painting.

[troubleinstore]

AS a test to see what it would be like, I tried that, it was awfull. I think the reason it came off in large patches is because whoever put the stuff on used silk vinyl on a not so dry wall thus allowng the wall not to breath. The plaster is a little hollow sounding on the parts where the emulsion has come off so gently does it...... or I shall have to have wall skimmed.. I don't intend living here longer than I have to, but need it to look reasonable for prospective purchases.

-- troubleinstore

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[RichardS]

I think the only thing I'd suggest is sanding down with a very coarse paper - 60 grit or so. If you have a Random Orbital Sander that'd speed things up a bit for the bulk of the job. Also, one of those sanding pads on the telescopic poles are very useful for this kind of job.

The idea would be 1) to remove loose paint or patches where the adhesion is bad; 2) to provide a key for the nice, thick (1200 grade I would suggest) lining that you're bound to hang to cover up the imperfections; and 3) to feather the edges of any patches of well adhered paint so that you don't notice them.

There will be patches of well adhered paint, and in the absence of damp I would think this is unlikely to come off in the future.

If you really want to go to town and methodically remove every last bit of it, then you could always hire a belt sander - the paint won't stand up to this at all, but be careful you don't remove the skim coat as well. It's gonna be tough on the arms though, decent belt sanders are _heavy_!

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[adder]

I had a similar problem in a bathroom & the paint simply peeled/flaked off with an old chisel. I would have used a heat gun to make it more flexible but i didn't have one. In soem places the paint really was stuck so I had be be a bit mroe aggressive.

[Philip]

How thick is the existing coat of emulsion?

I would be tempted to :-

emulsion the bare areas to try and build up the same thickness of paint. overlap slightly with the existing paint when you think you have built the bare areas up enough run aroung the joins with a sander to try and merge them, blur the joins. thick lining paper

3 or 4 coats of emulsion if all else fails strategically place picture collection on ffending wall.

[Christian McArdle]

Has anyone attempted to use that Polycell Basecoat for this job?

Christian.

[Martin Wiseman]

I would not recommend that. My last house suffered terribly with the original coat of paint not adhering properly to the plaster. On any one wall about 50% of the paint just fell off under the influence of a scraper whilst the rest was stuck really well. When I tried to use a steamer it caused the top coat plaster to detach from the base coat and disintegrate long before it had any effect on the paint.

In the end I used a scraper to remove the loose paint and then smoothed the transition between the remaining paint and the bare plaster with polyfilla. Once the polyfilla had set it was lightly sanded and then the whole wall was repainted. The result was surprisingly good - it was next to impossible to tell that there had been a problem unless you knew exactly where to look.

Martin.

[Ged]

Had exactly the same issue in a porch i redecorated. Get a 2 inch wide chisel ( or the widest one you can find). Sharpen it up relatively well.

Use a scraper to remove the most obvious flaky bits.

Then get the chisel and use it like a cabinet scraper. Place it onto the wall at rough 45 degree angle with the bevel edge visible..Then drag it down/ across the wall. Remember your not chiselling with the bevel edge but are dragging the chisel backwards on the flat back. If your paint job is as dodgy as it sounds then the paint will crack and craze off the wall..Wear eye protectors as it fair pings around. Will take a couple of hours but will give a nice job

[Michael Murray]

Yes, I've tried it. I found it hard to work with (quite thick), and not particularly good results.

Others may think it's the best thing since sliced bread, but I won't be buying it again.

M.

[Stephen Gower]

I too have used it, and agree it doesn't work to cover up blemishes like this. What it is good for is covering over different textures to hide the fact that it's not one surface underneath. In my case, I have been chasing the walls, which have a shiny paint surface that is hard to remove and would be impossible to match after plastering the chase. A coat of Basecoat over the lot leaves the whole thing in a nice condition that takes the matt emulsion really well, removing the shine from the painted areas and hiding the chased plaster.