On 29/01/2021 10:50, alan_m wrote:
On 29/01/2021 09:26, Andy Burns wrote:
Derek wrote:

When I moved into my house in 1975 all the ceilings were done with
polystyrene type materia.It was about the same width as a roll of
wallpaper and must have came in rolls. When you look up at it looks
like all the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and it is very hard to paint
if ceiling gets dirty from smoke. Does anyone know the name of this
material? I would like to remove it but am afraid to start . Has
anyone ever removed this and is it hard to remove. There is also
polystyrene? coving round the walls as well.

If you can get through the layers of paint, I suspect acetone would
dissolve it, but still leave a mess such that you'd want to get it
skimmed or overboard it with more plasterboard.


No need for any chemicals - you will be able to scrape it off
irrespective of top levels of paint. Polystyrene is so weak that
mechanical means that it should come off easily. The trick is to get a
small area cleared first so that you can run your scraper against the
original surface of the ceiling - underneath the polystyrene layer.



+1. 3 inch or wider flexible "filling blade" should make light work of
it. (The old fashioned type with a central handle is better than the
modern rectangular sort).