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lonecat:
that’s a question that depends on where you live, relative humidity, temperature, etc.
the best advice is to follow that that has already been given and experiment w/ mud for consistency and splatter you want to achieve. I spray at about 25 psi. Test your viscosity and splatter on a scrap piece of drywall until you get a feel for how dry the mud is before you knockdown.
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lonecat:
that's a question that depends on where you live, relative humidity, temperature, etc.
the best advice is to follow that that has already been given and experiment w/ mud for consistency and splatter you want to achieve. I spray at about 25 psi. Test your viscosity and splatter on a scrap piece of drywall until you get a feel for how dry the mud is before you knockdown.
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This is one area where while I got acceptable results, they were not as good as I would have liked. There is a special mud with glue that is mixed with water. It is what I used and seems to mix to about the right consistency. In one room I tried regular drywall mud (not easy san) and I did get it to spray, but the pattern is more of a spatter than the orange peel I was looking for. One of the problems is that it requires a heck of a lot of mud, and it all doesn't set at the same time. Thus, for an amateur, some areas are perfect to knock down, and some are too soft. In the end, if the ceiling is painted flat, you don't really see it, except, I know it is there and not as good as good professional would do. Now, in my defense, I buy my materials from a major supplier and the delivery guys said I was as good as most. But, I could have done better. I might even sub the second half of the house out. Personally, I found getting reallly smooth, even textured walls to be challenging - though I did that with the help of a paint roller and a fourth coat of mud.
Dennis
*Lonecat, please note, I am not a professional, but I do much of my own work. While I was out shopping this evening, I was thinking back to the last ceilings I did. Here was my experience.First, as I mentioned, it takes more mud than you might think. The mud that is specified for texture seems to have more glue in it than the regular stuff. I don't know if this is all that important. In a small room, 12x14 I believe I used two bags. This material is supposed to set in the bucket about 10 minutes after the initial mix,before you add water to get the desired consistency. It is slow to mix and I found I had to use my plumber's 1/2" drill and a large paddle to make any speed. As I mentioned earlier, blading this stuff off was tricky for me as it didn't all set at the same rate - so if you have to stop and mix some more, it would only complecate things for me. This process is messy to say the least. Rosin paper the floor. As for the walls, you will have to knife them off unless you drape them with plastic. As I am sure you know, except for durabond, drywall muds dissolve in water. By the time you get to knife the spatter off the wall, it will have dissolved some of your third coat mud and will leave divits where they will show most. This is where I learned the roller and squeege trick - my smooth walls are as good as they get. Getting the tape to stick to wall board without paint is a trick I didn't master, though I am told there is a double sided tape that is put up first, and then plastic drapping is inturn taped to that. Don't know, I have never done it. Also, when you blade the ceiling, any high spots, such as but tape joints, will blade flatter than the rest of the ceiling resulting in a line if you know where to look. Here I am told that most people don't notice, but I am the type that can see those lines siting here in Iowa when the dcrn things are in Wisconsin. Hope this helps. As I said, I do it, but it would be nice to follow Ferguson around for a week and see how it is really done.Dennis
*Dennis: We did it yesterday, and the results are mixed. But we got paid. I am kind of a pro, but only a semi-pro rocker. I've hung and taped thousands of feet of it , but I hate texture and work mostly in old houses. My smooth ceilings are perfect if I have enough time. So I thought how hard could this be for someone as competent as myself. I'm glad I had this information that I did, though, because it wasn't easy at all. The mud really does have to be thin, really runny. We used plain old topping compund. If I had to do some more of this right away, I think about the third one would look pretty good. What we got was a real rough knock down splatter. I think orange peel would be harder. I tried a closet first and knifed it down to soon. So for the big room I opened all the windows and then damn near waited too long. I enjoy your contributions to the forum.
*Yeah, I have tried a lot of things in closets. Dennis
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Hello: I always vote for a smooth ceiling and I have never had to texture one. This time the homeowner wants a knockdown to match the rest of the house. I went and bought the gun and asked here how to do it a couple of months ago. Now I better do it soon and get paid. Louis and WarDan told me to thin the mud way down and keep the pressure real low. But I forgot to ask one real important question: How long should I let the splatter set before I knife it down? Thanks so much.