Preparing walls for plaster skim?

[Andy F Batter]

Right, I've decided to embark on my first ever large scale DIY project. I'm going to retile the shower room.

So far I've pretty much stripped the room, everything is out of it except for the light bulb, the walls are the problem. Where I've taken the old tiles off, I'm left in most places with remnants of the old tile mortar, and in most places where the tile mortar has gone the fine layer of plaster beneath that has gone too.

I've resigned myself to having to have another skim of plaster put on - But what's the best way of tidying the mess I've made ahead of the plasterer's arrival? I've tried getting the tile mortar off with a steam/wall-paper stripper type thing, but that doesn't seem to do much to the tile mortar, it just makes the fine layer of plaster beneath that come away too.

Is there a product I can use to dissolve the mortar, or a tool I can hire that will make light work of the mess I have to clear? If I carry on as I am it's going to take days!

TIA

Andy

[Christian McArdle]

I used a belt sander. Smoothed off the old cement ridges in about 10 minutes. A bit dusty, mind.

Christian.

[Andy F Batter]

I'm getting there, I guess I was looking for a no-effort solution, but I've ended up steaming off the worst of the mortar, then finishing with an electric sander... That makes lighter work or if than the hand scraper.

Thanks.

Andy