Can we plaster over polycell basecoat?

[Slightlytired]

Hello.
We have stripped the wallpaper in my daughter’s room to re-decorate and uncovered old, flaky plaster covered with what I believe is Polycell basecoat which is itself peeling quite a lot as well. We’d like the walls to be re skimmed but we’re not sure whether we can just PVA the walls and skim or whether we’re going to have to peel and scrape a full rooms worth of the basecoat off before sizing and then skimming.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[joe-90]

Whatever you skim over is going to hold the skim on the wall. If it's loose - it'll all come off.

 

[stevethespreader]

are you talking about the polycell base paint that is used to cover cracks? if so that stuff is not like normal paint it just sits on top of the surface hiding all the cracks and what have you, i had it in my hallway and a bed room i scraped it all off before reskimming as i knew there was cracks underneath, and the polycell paint wasn't stuck proper anyway i managed to get most off easy , but there was a few stubborn spots, i wouldn't skim over it myself

 

[Slightlytired]

I did mean the Polycell base paint. I was just lazily hoping that I didn't have to put the effort in to scraping it off. Thank you for your help.

 

[stevethespreader]

I was just lazily hoping that I didn't have to put the effort in to scraping it off. Thank you for your help.

it will be worth the effort, you will be able to see what it was hiding its main purpose is to hide cracks, its a flexible paint and has elastic polymers in it to make it flexible and stretch over the cracks, in my opinion it don't act like a normal paint which would normally adhere to the wall it do not make a good base to skim on, once off you will get a good idea of the state of your walls, i must say though it took me most of the week to scrape it off my hallway

 

[Slightlytired]

i must say though it took me most of the week to scrape it off my hallway

Yeah, that's what I was hoping to avoid. I'll get my scraper out.
Thank you.