How to Scrape Old Plaster Off a Wall

Put on your dust mask, safety goggles and work gloves.

Place a drop cloth on the floor along the wall where you will remove the plaster. This will help protect the floor from the broken plaster pieces, which can be sharp. It will also make cleanup easier, since you can then simply roll up the drop cloth and dump small bits into the wheelbarrow.

Place the wheelbarrow against the wall directly under the area where you need to remove plaster. The wheelbarrow will catch most of the falling plaster and cut down on cleanup time.

Hit the center of the wall with the back side of the flat-blade shovel to crack and dislodge a piece of plaster. Do not hit the wall with excessive force, because this can crack the wooden lathe behind the plaster. Repeatedly hit the wall until you expose a small area of lathe.

Place the tip of the shovel on the area of exposed lathe and hold the shovel parallel to the lathe. Push the shovel toward the wall plaster. Moving parallel to the lathe will prevent the tip of the shovel blade from getting caught in the narrow gaps between the lathe.

Pull back on the shovel handle once you've wedged the tip of the shovel between the plaster and lathe, which will pull the plaster away from the wall.

Work your way along the entire wall until you have removed an entire row of plaster, then continue this process until you have removed all of the plaster from the wall.