To Peelaway or not to Peelaway, that is the question...

[swee'pea99]

Plan A, in trying to retrieve my bay window...

...has always been to start off with Peelaway, which did such a cracking job on the mouldings in the hall:

Now, though, when I'm finally able to take a proper look at it, I'm a tad concerned about what might actually lie beneath 150 years of paint. It all looks a bit....crumbly?

These houses were thrown up in the mid-late 1800s very much to a budget, and it wouldn't be the first evidence of cheap, low grade materials I've bumped into over the last 20 years.

I really don't know now whether doing the peelaway might just introduce me to a world of pain, and whether it might actually be more sensible to just do a bit of basic sanding of the loosest and worst sections, then slap on a couple of new coats of Mr Dulux's finest, accepting that it's never going to be perfect.

Any thoughts? Especially related experiences. Thanks in anticipation.

 

[sleuthey]

1 scrape loose bits
2 wire brush partially loose bits
3 sand stubborn bits
4 paint

 

[Beebo]

They look like they have been filled before.
I would do as above but maybe fill the worst areas to stop water penetration.

 

[sleuthey]

I thought it was a post about sunburn when I read the title.

 

[swee'pea99]

So stripping back to the stone not favoured?

When you say fill the worst areas...you mean with polyfilla, sort of thing?

(Have to admit I worry that once I start scraping the whole lot will just crumble )