Our house has plaster walls, and almost every wall in the place has some kind of texture on it. The bedrooms have a vein pattern that I would like to get rid of. The vein pattern is quite deep (the veins are raised), and it looks bad with a light or a dark color on the wall, and even worse in one room where the previous owners tried a faux finish.
I’ve read some websites where people have skim-coated with drywall mud, or thinned it and rolled it on, but I’m reluctant to start in case I am inviting disaster. Does anyone have any experience with this, or any other ideas for covering up textured plaster? We’re not ready to rip out the walls yet.
Thanks
Replies
Having done the skimcoat method more than once, I suggest covering the whole thing with new layer of 3/8 board. Much less work, and better results, IMHO.
This is also easier and less invasive than demoing the walls.
I too have done the skim coating and I agree the wallboard would give better results, but I prefer to skimcoat if the plaster is in good shape and all you want is a smooth texture. I also prefer plaster over wallboard since it's easier to live with. Harder for the kids to dent and easier to wall paper/strip etc.
Remember if you do the wallboard method. You will need to rehang all your casing/baseboards and build jamb extensions at windows and doors.
If you know how to mud and want to try skim coating. I use Dura-rock products since they mix with water and are setting compounds. They setup fast and also are more like the plaster. These products do NOT sand so all coats must be smooth, but for a whole room you wouldn't want to repeatedly sand all the walls. I finish up with a thin coat of finishing premixed compound followed by a sand.
Dura-rock will stick to most anything, but treat the walls with a TSP mixture to clean and remove any shean from the paint.
With the construction in our rooms, I don't think that hanging new drywall would look right. There is a piece of wall that comes out over the window (like to hide the top of the blinds), that would be difficult to drywall around. Plus, I think our windows would look funny - we still have the old 1960's single pane windows with storm windows, and replacing the windows in the house is pretty far down our list of To Do's.
I don't mind some texture, I just don't like the veins. If I could pull off a venetian plaster look, I would be happy with that.
before i would get the mud out i'd try soaking a small spot and see if someone might have done the texure with reg. drywall mud. if so you could get it wet and scrap most off. if it doesn't budge next i'd get a sander [i'd use a d.a. type, if you don't have that i'd use a belt sander] and work at just knocking the worst of it off and then start skimming from there. my experence is by the second coat things will start looking pretty good. if things start loosing up on the wall put a coat of oil base sealer to hold it tight. have fun larry
Looks like the Mudding is your best option. Thats what I would choose.
OverBudget had a response about trying to see if the texture was added later and could be removed using water. Something to try.
I would however NOT use his other method of sanding the walls. Sanding plaster will cause a huge dust bowl, but more important, is the vintage of your house, has a large possibility of LEAD paint not to mention ASPESTES was added to some plasters. I would never belt sand old plaster even with proper ventilation or equipment.
Good luck
My advice, always trying for the least amount of work possible, is to try to live with it; try a flat, flat finish (not even eggshell) with a lighter color and you might not notice the texture/veins. It is at least worth a try before you go crazy.