Should I be removing the polyfilla as well as the paint

[Ceci03]

Oh god think I've made a big mistake. Tackled staircase tonight. Just the corners as u go up
There is carpet . Rented place and I've lived with the bad paint job and yellowing old gloss paint for 3 years. Decided to have a go at sanding it and put some paint stripper on the thickest bits. Trouble is a lot of the top layer on the edges seems to be polyfilla which is coming off with the paint. A small job is turning into a huge one. Think I'll have to buy some tmw as I'm left with big chunks coming out. Anyone any advice

Difficult to comment without seeing it, but first off, don't panic.

Secondly, don't use polyfilla on wood. Depending on how much you have to fill, either get a premixed filler, or a two part filler (small amount of hardener goes into a larger amount of filler and you mix it yourself) both types you want specific to wood. Screwfix and Toolstation do them.

You'll want a filling knife too which is like a flexible blade. Apply as thinly as you can and expect to have to do a couple of passes as the filler will shrink back a bit. You'll need to rub it down but this will be easy as the wood filler is readily sanded. Use an 80 grit paper to get the worst off, and shape, then use a 120 grit paper to remove the sanding marks.

Plenty of YouTube videos on this, but I find a channel called Painting and Decorating very useful and informative.

Then prime with undercoat and use a water based gloss. You will have to paint the gloss quickly as it dries fast, but water based will stay white longer than oil based.

Good luck 👍

@HappiestSleeping thank you so much. They seemed to have used a lot of that silicon stuff. I'm left with some quite large gaps. Do I need to put that foam stuff in first do you think. Thanks for the tip about using wood filler. I've put a photo of the largest gap

Ah, between the wood and the wall is the job of decorators caulk. Sorry, I thought you meant in the wood itself.

Also, there is a plastic former you can buy to shape the caulk. Also usable for silicon.

You won't need foam 👍

I forgot to say to get a decorators caulk that can be painted if you aren't wallpapering.

Decorator's caulk is your friend once you've prepped the wall and skirting board.

I use wet wipes for smoothing, I've got quite long nails so saves on the mess.