Dark brown paint? Contains lead?

[nebjamin]

Hi All,

Just started stripping off wallpaper in a bedroom in my 1932 house ready to have the walls reskimmed.

Underneath the wallpaper is a layer of what looks like brown paint. It peels off in big flakes.

Wondering if anyone has seen anything like this before? Did people really ever have brown walls? And is it likely to contain lead?

It stops at where the picture rail used to be.

Thanks,
Ben

Untitled

• nebjamin
• 4 Apr 2014
• 1

Untitled

• nebjamin
• 4 Apr 2014
• 1

 

[JohnD]

from the way it is stretching it is probably emulsion. If it dissolves in boiling water but not warm, and smells of dead horses' hooves, it will be distemper.

Either has to be removed, and does not contain lead. Old gloss oil paint on woodwork or metal might.

 

[joe-90]

It looks like a bituminous paint used to stop damp.

 

[nebjamin]

Its not bitumenous... I know what that looks like. And this is an internal wall. Just can't believe anyone would ever paint their walls that colour!! No smell of horsies either

 

[Bosswhite]

Its not bitumenous... I know what that looks like. And this is an internal wall. Just can't believe anyone would ever paint their walls that colour!! No smell of horsies either

Brown and Dark Green was the "In" colour in the late 1940`s

 

[joe-90]

Sorry but you are all wrong. Polymerization wasn't known years ago, there were NO acrylic finishes that it could be. It's an anti damp finish that came on a roll and often had foil too. A type of anti damp lining paper.

 

[emilybronte]

If it dissolves in boiling water but not warm, and smells of dead horses' hooves, it will be distemper.
.

What do dead horses' hooves smell like? (Apart from 'minging'!)

Seriously, I'm interested.

 

[JohnD]

they smell like distemper <boak>

 

[nebjamin]

Been stripping more of it off today.

Joe's theory about it coming on a roll has some weight - it looks like there are vertical lines at periodic intervals which could be the edge of something that had come on a roll.

It's brown with orange/yellow underneath. If you scrape it cold it flakes off, if you scrape it after it's been under the steamer it's all stretchy and comes off in big elasticy strips.

Whole bl**dy room is covered in it from the floor to where a picture rail was once installed.

Don't see why it would have been installed to stop damp though - it's a first floor room with 2 internal walls. Very odd.