Removing paint from plaster
I’m trying to remove many layers of paint (at least 3 colors) from original 1928 plaster walls. At least one of the layers contains lead. I have been taking the necessary percautions, and I have been using a heat blower/scrapping which is going painfully slow. Has anyone tried Peel Away and/or a KS3 stripper for…
I’m trying to remove many layers of paint (at least 3 colors) from original 1928 plaster walls. At least one of the layers contains lead. I have been taking the necessary percautions, and I have been using a heat blower/scrapping which is going painfully slow. Has anyone tried Peel Away and/or a KS3 stripper for such a job? Or does anyone have another suggestion, perhaps something a little more green?
Okay so I’m stupid. I have already scraped HALF of my plaster wall. The other three walls are pretty much intact. The ceiling is HOPELESSLESSLY RUINED by me – from scraping what is probably lead – all over my living room.
Fortunately, no little kids – my youngest is almost 6. Was going to use a heat gun – glad I read this thread.
Now I want to skimcoat walls and ceiling, and use peel away on the moldings around the floor and windows.
Think it’s a good idea?
I strongly believe that the first poster is 1000/100 correct get somebody and skim coat it all the way.
I agree with the above, there is NO SAFE WAY to use a heat gun on lead paint. You are essentially vaporizing (i.e. turning into vapor) something that would otherwise easily be covered up.
For what it’s worth, I have used Peel Away 7 and it works fine. If you’re concerned about lead issues, you can use this on the ‘binding surfaces’, that is, any door edge, door frame, cabinet door, etc. that will be creating lead dust by friction. THAT is worth doing for safety reasons, and Peel Away is good for this since it encapsulates the dust in a liquid/gel.
What are you doing?
Are you stripping plaster mouldings? or just the flat wall?
If you are doing this to the walls, STOP!! you are nuts. Plaster is a porous material and the paint soaks into it. Skim coat it. The lead paint will be gone forever. And your walls will be nice and smooth like new
If your intention is to leave the wall in place (if the plaster is in good enough condition to keep, and if not you should just demo the wall with appropriate precautions now), you are creating more lead problems withe the heat gun than you are solving by removing the paint. I agree with the other poster – seal the paint in, either with mesh & skimcoat or with a lead encapsulant like backtonature (http://www.ibacktonature.com/Pages/leadencapsulants-LAP.html).
Note that heat guns are a very bad choice with lead as they vaporise lead which then gets dispersed .
Please stop what you’re doing and hire a professional painter to skim coat and paint the walls. Stripping paint from plaster walls is insane. Lead paint won’t hurt you or your family as long as it stays on the wall.