i was painting my upstairs when i decided to do the stairway as well. however, the stairway has been wallpapered (many times, i soon found out) and the paint seemed to slide right off. i decided to go ahead and strip the wallpaper off, using just a scraper. i finally got it all off, but the problem is the stuff underneath it. i believe the stuff is sheetrock. it just crumbles away to the touch. (the house is really old) if it is sheetrock, what do i have to do before i can finally finish painting? please help!

OK, I have a texture in our dining room (or whatever we turn it into) on the ceiling. I was going to leave it alone, while I patch some walls, paint, get the hardwoods refinished...etc make it a nice study. However upon looking closer the textured ceiling (about 90% sure on plaster) (1957 build Cape) is peeling and cracking in places. From what I have read, you can NOT scrape texture off plaster. Here is my dilemma. I have little cash right now, want the ceiling to look good, and want to get everything finished in that room over the next 3 weeks. (me working some nights and partial weekends on it) I have 2 pictures of the texture (in good areas) for description. I have NO idea what kind it is (orange, popcorn,....pork loin.....whatever). Questions: 1) Can you scrape the texture off plaster? 2) Can you "patch" the bad areas and get seamless results? 3) How much for someone to texture the ceiling for me (20X20') 4) Can I send a dig pic of the plaster to someone to identify? 5) How much for someone to plaster the ceiling smooth? Thanks all. This board has been a help to me. Peace: e3 - spamman