ᐅ Removing paint from a house built around 1900

How can I remove the old paint from the plaster? Or would it be enough to just remove the flaking parts? Or should I remove all of it?

Pressure washer. What sticks stays.

Is the plaster underneath still intact? At least in the lower left corner, it doesn’t look very good anymore. Before applying new paint, I would check if the plaster needs to be repaired or replaced. A pressure washer is a good option. We also used a wire brush on the basement base.

The loose plaster will come off along with it.

Hollow render does not come off with a high-pressure cleaner, as I have personally experienced at our place. The render in the picture is probably not something that should simply be painted over, but to each their own.

If nothing is done to address the rising damp, the new paint will soon look the same again.

The noticeable repair attempt to simply apply a very thick layer of what is estimated to be remedial plaster on the constantly peeling base has only made the situation worse because the moisture is now rising behind it and causing the paint above the base to peel off. So: break off the base, dry it out, then plaster everything. Ideally, leave the lowest strip from the base down to the masonry exposed so that this area can always dry out, and nothing will peel off the rest of the wall.