I'm doing some decorating and under some very ratty paper in the hall/stairs I've found a lot of flaky emulsion on ok-ish plaster.
SWMBO doesn't want paper but painted walls so I need to get the old emulsion paint off if it's going to be anything like flat.

Of course while there are big flaky patches other bits are stuck on using sikaflex.

I've tried mechanically removing with a 6" scraper and that works really well on the flaky bits bit doesn't really touch the good bits. Sanding doesn't seems to touch the paint but removes the plaster at a frightening rate.

I've tried a wallpaper steam stripper and that takes of the paint, but if you leave it on for 2-3 seconds too long it strips off a patch of plaster

So what's the best way to get a nice flat surface for paint?

skim the plaster its the only way for a finish fine enough to paint.

Have to agree - you'll spend a lot of time and drive yourself insane trying to get that good enough for painting.

Clean as best you can and get it skimmed over with fresh plaster.

Agree with above - dont bother. The alternative is lining paper, then paint that, but if you want a mirror smoth wall, then a good skim is the only option.

Alternatively, give the mrs the scraper, and tell her to get it as smooth as she wants it!

I've had good results using the waterproof foam sanding blocks (basically a lump of fairly stiff foam with abrasive glued on the outside) and a spray bottle of water. It's hard going and makes a bit of a mess, but we had some shockingly bad walls in our house with what looked like crumbling distemper with multiple layers of emulsion on top and they were perfect afterwards.

However, in retrospect a skilled plasterer could probably have skimmed them in about a 1/20th of the time it took...

i had the same problem, but my father-in-law is a plasterer, but now i know why he retired, he was poo and my walls look like artex lol.

I ended up sanding the newly plastered walls