# What's this Blue stuff? I'm paper stripping



## jennifertemple (Oct 30, 2011)

View attachment 68417

What is the blue stuff. It is not paint, it scrubs off with plain water. Is it some kind of old paste. I'm stripping off a couple of layers of paint + old wall paper. Walls are plaster.


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## chrisn (Jul 15, 2007)

I would guess it's the original paint, applied maybe too soon, so it did not adhere to the new plaster?

That or that horrible stuff they used to paint ceilings with way back .
the names not coming to me right now.


calcimine?


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## Wolfgang (Nov 16, 2008)

jennifertemple said:


> View attachment 68417
> 
> What is the blue stuff. It is not paint, it scrubs off with plain water. Is it some kind of old paste. I'm stripping off a couple of layers of paint + old wall paper. Walls are plaster.


Clear over it and charge them faux prices.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

chrisn said:


> I would guess it's the original paint, applied maybe too soon, so it did not adhere to the new plaster?
> 
> That or that horrible stuff they used to paint ceilings with way back .
> the names not coming to me right now.
> ...


That would be my guess, based as much on the appearance and color as anything.

From what I understand, being able to wash it off was a feature, not a bug. It minimized the buildup of paint on elaborate plasterwork like moldings, medallions, strapwork, etc.


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## jennifertemple (Oct 30, 2011)

So, No caution is required in washing it off. As I was scrubbing away, bare handed, it occurred to me I had no idea what I was plunging my hands into repeatedly. Thank you for the replies. Clearly, this was not a "scrubable" paint or even washable. They must have developed it on my son's way of thinking, who at the age of 7 said' " every time you paint a room the room is smaller, right?" I said that indeed it was, in fact, correct.


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## Underdog (Mar 9, 2013)

jennifertemple said:


> So, No caution is required in washing it off. As I was scrubbing away, bare handed, it occurred to me I had no idea what I was plunging my hands into repeatedly. Thank you for the replies. Clearly, this was not a "scrubable" paint or even washable. They must have developed it on my son's way of thinking, who at the age of 7 said' " every time you paint a room the room is smaller, right?" I said that indeed it was, in fact, correct.


 Ha ha... you brought back a memory.
I had a helper once and I taught him to float walls with joint compound.
He told me he kept having this dream where I drew a square in the floor towards the middle of the room and told him to float the walls until it came out to the lines of the square. 

I must have been some kind of task master.


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## Jazz_Painter (Feb 22, 2015)

I found this interesting link about calcimine and it's removal:

http://www.plasterlord.com/notebook/fcalcimine.htm


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## jennifertemple (Oct 30, 2011)

Jazz_Painter said:


> I found this interesting link about calcimine and it's removal:
> 
> http://www.plasterlord.com/notebook/fcalcimine.htm


I am doing the "complete removal. 3 layers of wall paper & at least 3 coats of paint before come to the scrub and was stage. Thank you for the great link!


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## Wolfgang (Nov 16, 2008)

4 layers of wallpaper on the walls of our house when we bought it. 2 layers on all the ceilings except the kitchen and bath. Took it all off with 2" wood chisels except for the ceilings. Left the wallpaper on them and installed 3/8" drywall over it. I was going to have to skim coat all the walls anyway so it didn't matter about a few gouges from the wood chisels.


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## jennifertemple (Oct 30, 2011)

Wolfgang said:


> 4 layers of wallpaper on the walls of our house when we bought it. 2 layers on all the ceilings except the kitchen and bath. Took it all off with 2" wood chisels except for the ceilings. Left the wallpaper on them and installed 3/8" drywall over it. I was going to have to skim coat all the walls anyway so it didn't matter about a few gouges from the wood chisels.


When you do the skim coat do you use plaster or mud? I prime everything and do the skim in mud because I have no experience with plaster. 

In this case I need to rebuild sections of the wall from the keys on up. I use durabond 90 for the keys and drywall mud for the finish.

Just curious.


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## Wolfgang (Nov 16, 2008)

Jennifer, I primed with oil based CoverStain and then skim coated with drywall mud. I was skimming every wall from floor to ceiling. Sounds like a lot of work, but it actually went rather quick. As far as repairing the plaster & lathe, I do the same as you.

I used to do a lot of homes that had the plaster and lathe. I'd actually rip my own lathe with the table saw to get the proper thickness. The plaster that was used around here we called "horse-hair plaster" because it looked like horse hair was mixed in it with who knows what else. I'd usually go with a thick 20min mud.


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## jennifertemple (Oct 30, 2011)

Sounds like our methods are the same, except my mud is a longer set.

I like skim coating walls, it always seems to give the paint a nicer finish. I used to do it a lot in Toronto. Around here the HO's want "economy" work so not to many fine finishes now, just patches & spot prime.

My point: no, it does not sound like so much work. Once one gets their methods down one can skim right along. I use Venetian plaster blades and that makes the sanding a dream.

A GC I once subbed for told me he wanted perfect walls. I'd been working for him a few days & finally asked, "Just what level of perfection are we talking about?" (I'd been skim coating every wall and ceiling) He said "You do nice work, just keep doing nice work!" So he clearly did not think it was taking too long. I love it when people let me do my best work.


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## Jazz_Painter (Feb 22, 2015)

If I have to skim coat but there are bigger holes or areas to fill, I like to mix my drywall mud with paris plaster, using the donut technique (make a donut form with your mud, fill the hole with water, add powder, know your proportions, then you can mix parts of it separately). It hardens well and very quickly so you can do multiple coats basically as fast as you can apply the plaster. For big holes I let it harden a bit more before applying. I've also used this to recoat a small wall which was in bad shape after wallpaper removal in the same hour (oil primed first of course). Put two coats of plaster of paris mix then a finishing coat with drywall compound. Since the plaster of paris is much harder, it's not sandable friendly, so the last coat is always only drywall compound.


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## jennifertemple (Oct 30, 2011)

Jazz_Painter said:


> I like to mix my drywall mud with paris plaster, using the donut technique (make a donut form with your mud, fill the hole with water, add powder, know your proportions, then you can mix parts of it separately). It hardens well and very quickly so you can do multiple coats basically as fast as you can apply the plaster.


:blink: Son of a Gun! I had always heard that plaster and drywall compound were incompatible.


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## Jazz_Painter (Feb 22, 2015)

Well plaster guys have been doing it often and for many years. Here are a few examples :











Some hardeners are quicker than others, I find the red top sold at HD works well. Be careful with the amount of water you add. If you add lots of water, you'll need lots of power in order for your mix not to be too watery, then it'll harden super quick, even the rest of the unmixed pie will be painful to mix, if not impossible, especially with a faster hardening plaster.


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