Hi,
My relation has been allocated a housing association home and I went to round to decorate.
I started to strip the wallpaper with a steam stripper and heard cracking sounds. The plaster is coming off the wall in huge chunks and large cracks have appeared!
I only held the stripper in place for short periods of time, having removed the top layer of the wallpaper first.
Is this my fault or is there a problem with the plaster?
Thanks in advance.

The best way to strip wallpaper without damaging the plaster is to remove the top layer of paper first, for the sake of argument let's assume your wallpaper is, say, a standard blown-vinyl. Peel of the top surface layer with a standard wallpaper stripping blade/knife (I've always used Ultima ones) then half fill a bucket with warm water and a bit of detergent (detergent optional but it does smell nice, you can use cold water too but it's bloody freezing when it runs into your armpit!). Take any large brush, 3inch or higher unless you want to be there all day and liberally 'paint' the water on to the backing paper still attached to the wall. The water will re-activate the paste used to initially secure the wallpaper to the wall. Leave to soak in for about 5 mins then wet again. Keep doing this and eventually you will be able to literally peel the backing paper off the wall in large strips. The amount of 'wets' you must apply obviously varies from wall to wall with regards to paper thickness, absorbenscy etc. Oh and if the decorators cheekily put PVA in their paste mix you may be there for some time!. It's the quickest and least destructive way trust me... I use a steam stripper in only very isolated cases for exactly the reasons you seem to be having trouble with. Hope this helps? First post so you may have to bear with me!

ps: don't be tempted to wet it once or twice then like an eager beaver start going mental with the stripping blade!. Like the age old adage says... patience is a virtue, make sure you let the water soak into the backing paper... a good rule of thumb is when you apply the water the first time it will 'sit' on top of the paper to begin with until absorbed making the wall 'glisten' (for lack of a better word). Once this visible glistening has gone apply you second 'coat' of water to the whole wall and so on and so forth. You'll know when it's ready as it will literally peel off in huge strips.

I think the fact that the steam stripper removed plaster indicates that the plaster had already blown i.e. lost cohesion with the wall. If you tap areas you have not yet done, and it sounds hollow, then it has blown.

Warning: I am a beginner at this lark, so the above is to be taken with industrial quantities of salt.