Distemper removal General decorating topics, questions and answers. find help, tips and advice on completing your decorating projects

[Billi-Jane]

I live in a Victorian terraced house and have recently started to renovate the decorative plaster work. The paint layers came off easily with the use of a steamer, but I found a layer of distemper beneath them. I have managed to remove some, with great difficulty, and would like to know if there are any prodcuts available that would speed up the process. Does anyone have any ideas?

[chris_on_tour2002]

a pva water solution should seal it.

[Billi-Jane]

[quote="chris_on_tour2002"]a pva water solution should seal it.[/quote]

Thanks, but I really want to renovate the plaster work, sealing over the distemper is really not an option, it really needs to be removed, especially as I've already started the job. I was really hoping there was some product available to speed up the process, rather than the laborious method of soaking and scraping.

[rosebery]

Distemper is made from a mixture of whiting and glue.

If you're having trouble removing it then yes you should seal it but I wouldn't recommend PVA. Firstly PVA is glue and just leaves a skim on the surface and will not penetrate and secondly it's water based so will go live again the moment you put new wet paint on it.

Use either a stabilising solution or an oil based sealer/primer. BIN or the shellac based Bulls-Eye (both by Zinsser) are particularly recommended - but they ain't cheap.

Cheers

[rosebery]

I posted the above before a moderator cleared your reply to Chris. It isn't that I can't read!

Have you tried a steam stripper in that case?

Cheers

[Billi-Jane]

[quote="rosebery"]I posted the above before a moderator cleared your reply to Chris. It isn't that I can't read!

Have you tried a steam stripper in that case?

Cheers[/quote]

Hi, thanks for the tip, got to be quicker than my present method! Think I'll wait til the warm weather's over first thought!