Stripping walls that haven't been mistcoated + possible blown plaster General decorating topics, questions and answers. find help, tips and advice on completing your decorating projects

[brassjaguar]

I started trying to repaint my bedroom, but when digging out cracks to make them deeper before filling, the paint started peeling. My friend who is a decorator said it looked like the walls were never mistcoated, so the paint didn't stick properly and now layers and layers of paint has built up but is not properly stuck to the plaster. I've been trying to strip this back to plaster so I can mist coat it and start again. However this is taking ages - I've tried with various scraping tools, heatgun and chemical paint stripper. While trying to scrape the paint off, I have made scuffs in the plaster which hopefully will be fixable with some easifill but I'm aware as I strip it I'm creating more work for myself. I'm wondering is fully stripping worth the effort if the paint is not currently peeling off the walls? And if not, is it possible to sand between what is stripped and not stripped so I can paint over it without obvious lines?

Also on one wall beneath a crack in the plaster, the plaster moves by a few mm when pushed. I'm not sure if this is blown and if there's any repairs I can do myself or if I need to get a plasterer in?

Videos of wall when pushing it:
* https://images.b177y.dev/xfESplNa.mp4
* https://images.b177y.dev/CBJ3r6mV.mp4

[stoneyboy]

Hi brassjaguar,
There is no need to strip the whole wall provided you have used a filler knife (very thin flexible blade) to remove loose paint to a sound edge. You may have to fill around all remaining edges to conceal them.
Regards S