textured wall issue

[kverde18]

so our new house (built in '83) has textured walls in every room and some strange paint choices to boot. we decided to tackle the guestroom which was a demin blue color with a deep texture (that is curiously a totally different texture than the other 2 BRs). after priming with kills2 and painting a lighter blue flat latex, i found that the whole job could be scratched off with a fingernail. areas that i had taped off will peel down to the bare texture (i.e. through both my paint and the existing paint job). it appears that the previous owners did a plaster coat of texture and did not prime before painting.

should i scrape everything off and start anew? how would i go about doing so? should i just hire a pro?

 

[glennjanie]

Welcome KVerde:
I would want to take the texture off to the sheetrock. It may be a daunting process but a smooth wall is that improtant to me. Once you can break through the paint, the texture can be dampened with a spray bottle of water and scraped off fairly easy.
Stanley sells a rasp that is more like a thin blade with holes in it mounted on a plastic frame; they are very good for such applications in that you can control the depth you cut and preserve the paper on the sheetrock.
Glenn