Re-texturing my walls...

8/15/2012 at 12:11:36 PM

You will have to apply a skim coat first, and then apply the knock down coat.

8/15/2012 at 12:53:52 PM

Lauren,

Is the 3 texture painted? Or did it have paint in it when applied?

Painted walls makes it much harder. You will need to use some kind of scraper first, drywall knife, 12" scraper. Scrape off as much as you can with some effort. You can then sand with hand or powered sander. I would use one with a vacuum system.

After you get it fairly smooth, less than 1/8" divets or pits. Skim with joint compound, 2-3- coats or until smooth, sanding lightly between coats (remember to wipe down the wall before the next coat) and sand the last coat.

If you are "good" at plastering, and don't want to sand, skim with a hard-coat plaster. More for the professional.

David

HC&D, LLC

8/15/2012 at 12:56:41 PM

Tough question. With a little elbow grease so to speak, you can tackle this job with kids gloves.

I would advise you to start from the beginning, if you really want a good job. I think you should just take down what is on your walls completely. Probably messy, but if you want a professional looking job, it is best to NOT go over the old stuff. I would also suggest to use a light grain sandpaper, and go over the spots that seem to rise above the evenness of the wall. After you have completed that task, take some warm soapy water, with a sponge, and go over where you sanded.

Next on the agenda, is to purchase some BIN. You can find that in any paint store. It actually is a covering for either the new texture you are going to put on your walls, or a new paint job, whatever you are deciding to do. BIN comes on thin, you may want to use a roller and go over the walls twice.

After it dries, add on your new texture. If you wish to spray pain the texture, it is best to ask the salesperson in the paint store, like Benjamin & Williams for instance, about spraying the texture over the walls. He could probably give you some advice on that topic.

I hope I have been helpful. I tend to want a good job, and for it to last. In order to do this, (for me anyway) I start from the beginning and do it right, so I don't have to do it a million times over.

8/15/2012 at 1:33:07 PM

John... Thank you for the tip. I google searched some how-to's and tutorial videos. It looks like that's a task I can handle... though more time consuming than I had guessed going into this project. No biggy, I want it done right.

David... In response to your question, yes the walls are painted. Basic run down of what we did: Wiped the walls down with soapy water (lightly dampened sponge), went over the walls with TSP, applied mud to areas that were damaged etc., and sanded accordingly. From there we sprayed the walls with the texture. To clarify: I'm not sure it's actually orange peel texture. From the info I found, it looks like he sprayed the way you would for knock-down, he just forgot the knock-down part. He used the smallest size goobers. We allowed it to dry, primed and then painted. In short, I kind of figured some amount of scraping/sanding would go into this as far as prep. Thank you for your response.

Thomas... are you my brother from another mother?? I 100% agree!!!! I would love to start from the beginning and get a clean, professional looking finish that I can be happy with for the long haul. I have looked up many tutorials, trying to mentally prepare myself for the project, answer questions, etc. I ran across a tutorial on how to remove texture and thought, reeeeaallly, out with the old, in with the new right???

That said... My house is old. OLD. When we gutted the kitchen for upgrading, the walls in there were lathe and plaster. I'm really not sure the walls throughout the rest of the house are drywall. How do I tell??? Is that going to open a humongous can of worms that I'm not going to be able to tackle? In short, I have found a lot of information just with the few tips you guys provided. I thank you all for that. At this point, I'm up to the challenge, I want it right, and I'm willing to do it alone if that's what it's going to take to get it the way I want it. I have an open floor plan, single story home... needless to say I have a few walls that are just ginormous. I think no matter what, I'm going to have to do one wall at a time. Any ideas that will make it easier??

You guys are awesome!!! Thanks for the help and support. ...On a mission...

8/15/2012 at 9:22:23 PM

I suggest to sand all texture off and start over with new texture because it is going to be hard to match if you go over what is there.