What's the best way to remove peeling paint from an unprimed wall?

[Doggiedog]

A wall is starting to crack and peel and I noticed the previous owner did not prime the dry wall underneath.

Besides taking a chisel and chipping it off, is there any way to remove paint from a wall?

 

[Chunkee]

teeth

 

[Bryophyte]

Ouch. I'd probably use sandpaper on a pole sander (like for drywall) and see if it worked.

 

[Kenazo]

Use a scrapper to try and get most of it off, then pull out the sander.

 

[Literati]

Set it on fire.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Latex paint is pretty cool...you can take a drywall knife and scrape the wall. Once you get under the paint, start to peel it back.

Sandpaper won't work cause the paint is too thick.

 

[Bucks]

Rent a heat gun. It is pretty much a high power hair dryer. It is tedious work, but it works well. It bubbles the paint making it very easy to just make one swipe with a scrapper.

 

[Frodolives]

I hope we're not talking about seriously old paint, in which case please be cautious of possible lead content.

Apart from that I agree with Bucks about a heat gun. An alternative method that I've done lots of is using a disk sander. Makes a big mess, and you'll need to wear a mask, but it gets it done.

Either way I don't envy you

 

[DrPizza]

Another option: remove drywall. Re-sheetrock the room.
The stuff is dirt cheap (5-10 bucks a sheet, depending on the price of tea in China or whatever it is that causes the prices to fluctuate wildly)

We have to remove wallpaper from an unprimed wall and realized that it's far more difficult and time consuming to do that than it would be to just gut and redo the sheetrock. For speed, I have a friend who does it for a living. He's going to do all the finishing work for a couple hundred (2 large rooms)

 

[Doggiedog]

Ok. I just came back from HD. They suggested using a paint stripper and spraying it on. The paint is latex so there should be no lead problem. The house isn't that old either.

 

[chowmein]

brake fluid

others just knock a hole, get a $5 piece of sheet rock, compound.... easy stuff