Very damp wall....

[Grade2disaster]

doing a renovation project. Noticed water pouring through and down an internal downstairs wall!! Lime render on the outside and removing soggy plaster showed a poorly applied layer of bitumen on what looks like cement render....so, that is coming off tomorrow and the stone wall will be restored and re-pointed with lime - so far so good.

But around the chimney breast the wall is also very damp/wet. I am chipping off the plaster which has been applied down to the floor to stop the damp rising and am confident that with a new wood burner and the room being used I can mitigate that disaster - but I want to paint the walls with breathable paint to assist however they are currently painted with vinyl paint (the previous owners even left me the tin!) I need to remove it so the wall can breathe.

How??

It's not flaking, it's only been on a few years ....it's a large area - about 15 square metres.

Scraping?
Chemicals? If so any recommendations?
Steamer? (Although it's so wet at the moment anyway)
Sanding???

I am at a loss. Please help. I don't want to rip all the plaster off - I can't plaster to replace it!!

 

[vinn]

Do you live in a stone walled house?
And is the exterior is rendered, and painted with bitumen?

Your intention is to hack off all interior plaster contact with the (solid?) floor?
Do you intend to hack off the chimney breast plaster?
The plaster on the walls of the room with the c/breast is
soggy and needs some kind of attention?
Do you have any kind of appliance in the fireplace?

Whatever your answers to the above - please post pics of the exterior down to ground level and up to the chimney stack, and the interior showing the c/breast and the interior walls.

 

[Grade2disaster]

[GALLERY=media, 99201]IMG_1920 by Grade2disaster posted 1 Feb 2017 at 4:21 AM[/GALLERY]
[GALLERY=media, 99200]IMG_1918 by Grade2disaster posted 1 Feb 2017 at 4:21 AM[/GALLERY]

First pic shows the bitumen wall
I am going to expose the stone and repoint with lime

Second shows the damp rising up

The plaster goes down to the solid floor so can prevent that contact

It's the vinyl paint that must be making everything worse that I want to remove but don't know how to

 

[vinn]

I can see the interior bitumen covered wall, and next to it a plastered wall showing damp signs up to some cable chasing-in.
The damp is penetrating damp - or perhaps damp/salts associated with a chimney breast flue. Its obviously a long standing problem - any painting is incidental.

Wherever there is bitumen or damp signs then all the plaster must be removed back to bare stone or brick.
The cabinet unit in the window recess will have to be removed to expose the wall surfaces for hacking off.

Your second pic is hopelessly out of focus and not showing the c/breast wall in full - can you show the photos I asked for in my first reply?