Drywall – How to prepare a painted wall before applying an orange peel texture

• Preparation: definitely use a drop cloth. Because it's a wet job, I'd also recommend a putting down a layer of painter's plastic on top of the drop cloth. This will catch most of the splatter and makes clean-up a lot easier -- simply roll up the plastic. I believe the texture compound has some adhesive properties, so as long as the walls are clean, it'll stick just fine.

• Fixing mistakes: you'll have several minutes to decide if you like how the job looks. If it doesn't, just scrape off the texture and start over.

• Tools: a knockdown knife is much bigger than most taping knives, so you have to do fewer passes with it for a given area, so fewer places where you could have lines. My texture guy actually uses a hawk instead of a knife (he puts globs of texture on the hawk, then presses it onto the wall), so the tool doesn't really matter.

• Tips: don't use too much texture compound; each droplet will get spread out quite a bit when you knock it down. Don't press too hard with the tool: you're spreading it out, not scraping it off. After it dries, you'll likely have little pointy bits sticking out where the tool pulls away from the wall; go back over the surface with your taping knife to knock them off (otherwise they'll break off when you roll primer or paint over them and you'll have little bits of texture in your paint!)

Here is a good article that sounds easy and fairly cheap (you can get a 5 gal bucket of compound for about $15).

Method One: The Roller Sheetrock Texturing Method

This is the easiest of the two wall and ceiling texturing methods outlined in this tutorial. You’ll need:

• Paint roller handle with cover and
• extension pole Paint roller pan
• Electric drill
• Ribbon mixer (found in drywall taping tool area of the home improvement store)
• Drop cloths
• 5 gallon bucket(s) of sheetrock mud (drywall compound)or powder

Begin by thinning out the mud with water. Transfer half the mud to a sturdy plastic bucket. Add a cup of water to the remaining mud and mix it in well using the ribbon mixer with your electric drill. You might have to add some more water or mud. Ideally, it should have a consistency of a milk shake.

Apply the Texture

First, spread out the drop cloths in the work zone. Pour some thinned mud in the roller pan. There are two factors that determine how pronounced the finished texture will be — the nap of the roller used and the speed with which you roll the wall.

Play around with this with the first area before it dries until you get it where you like it.

As you roll the nap will lift the mud off the wall in peaks. The slower you go, the higher the peaks will be.

Start rolling up and down in one corner and work your way around the room. For a more erratic pattern, roll back over it at random angles. Set your internal artist free!

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