Do You Really Want Knock Down Drywall
Texture?- You should take a look at some walls that have the knockdown
texture to make sure it is what you want. Also remember that once
you have texture, you will have to reproduce that texture whenever you
must make a repair or modification to your drywall. For a small
hole, you can probably just splatter on some texture by hand and knock it
down, but for large repair pieces you will need to drag all the equipment
back in to match the texture. A picture of my father-in-law's knockdown
job is shown below. Note that this wall has also been sponge painted. It
is a nice looking wall.
Step 0 - Tape and finish your
walls. The walls must be level or you will have difficulty getting a
good knock down finish. I helped tape and finish the room shown in
this texture video. We took our time applying thin coats using the methods
from this site. The finished surface was level and we did not bother
to even sand at all, which was very nice!
Step 1 - Get your texture ready.
The fellow that did this knockdown job used a texture that was made up
from a dry mix. He followed the directions for adding the correct
amount of water and mixed with a large drill mixer. You can see what he
did in the video.
Note: You can also use USG
all-purpose joint compound thinned down to a consistency that may be
sprayed. The tapers that my father-in-law hired to do his vaulted
ceilings a few years back (not a DIY job!) simply used the USG all-purpose
compound - this has the green lid.
Step 2 - Get your compressor and
sprayer ready and then fill the hopper. The fellow that did this
texture used a Golblatt Sprayer and Hopper with a 3/8" opening and 60 psi
on the compressor. I have been told, however, that pressures as low as
20-30 psi will work if you use the largest openings.
Step 3 - If this is your first
time doing this, I would recommend setting up a piece of paneling or
plywood to practice a bit to make sure you operate the sprayer properly
and knock down the surface properly. You need fairly uniform coverage and
the mud needs to be thin enough so it does not clog the sprayer.
Once you know how to operate the equipment, spray your wall uniformly as
shown in the video. If you put too much on, you can simply scrape
off the compound (before it sets up) and redo. Only spray about 30 minutes
worth of wall at a time. You must let the compound set up for about
10-20 minutes before knocking it down in the next step! (Check after 10
minutes to see if it is ready) If you knock it down too quickly, you
smear it rather than form a texture.
Step 4 - Knock down the surface
by skimming a taping knife over the surface at a very low angle.
Work the knife from different angles as shown in the video. Watch
out for high or low spots in your surface that can lead to too much or too
little compound being skimmed off. There are various different ways to
skim off depending on your preference, but the key to any method resulting
in a good end result is consistency.
Watch a Short
Video of Matt Doing
Knockdown Texture
