Painting over powdery old plaster

JuliusCaesar

Hi

Have been trying to paint a ceiling in a 1930-ish house. First tried wallpaper; it fell down. Then tried painting it with Paint For Troublesome Walls & Ceilings; large strips of paint were hanging down overnight.

Then emulsioned it. BUT that started hanging down in strips. Gradually I'm coming to the conclusion that the powdery plaster is the problem. It just won't hold anything. It didn't look bad when I gave it a quick wash before I started out on this exercise. I skimmed it with a damp sponge to get rid of cobwebs etc.

Now that I've had to remove hanging bits of paint with a scraper, I'm concluding the plaster is old and powdery, and that's the problem.

But what can I do, short of getting the ceiling re-plastered?

Thanks, wise people!

M5

Pva?

dok_golf

Stabiliser then a sealer ( either Bloxx It of BIN/Terminator) then paint as per normal

JuliusCaesar

Stabiliser sounds like the thing! Is it just called 'stabiliser'?

(The gluey Problem Ceiling stuff just peeled away )

dok_golf

Yeah, stabilising solution. Available in any decent paint shop.