Replies

1. 
   Heck | Sep 29, 2004 04:36am | #1

   Hi, Rich!

   That will take about a third of a bucket of mud.
   Thin the mud enough to get it on the surface with a rough surface paint roller, roll out the entire surface.
   Then plop away with your brush!

   Then, if you like, wait several minutes for the mud to dry enough to keep its' design, and then 'strike' it with a drywall knife to flatten and smooth.

   Luck!

   What the HECK was I thinking?
1. 
   pyroman | Sep 30, 2004 08:06am | #9

   Hey, Heck..

   No one has ever showed me drywall texturing so forgive me if I seem a tad dense on this.

   You said to thin the mud so that it rolls on well with a rough roller. When you "Thin" do you mean make it soupy (like liquid-ish) or thin enough that if I held it on my knife it'd fall off on its own right away?? Again having never been shown this.....being dumb.

   What's with the part about letting it dry a bit but while still wet hit it with a knife???? What does that do? I'm just a drywall finisher, never been shown, or ever asked to texture. Yikes..what am I missing.

1. 
   Heck | Sep 30, 2004 03:51pm | #10

   Pyro, I have seen and done many different textures, this one we are discussing I just did on the ceilings of a custom home I am building...

   The joint compound is watered and mixed to the consistency of runny pancake batter, again, runny enough to apply with a paint roller.Then we use a texturing brush on a broom handle to plop into the mud; the style of brush will vary the look.

   Normally I will do one entire room surface at a time, rolling and then 'texturing'. Then I will go into another room and repeat.  I keep checking the first surface to see if it has dried enough to strike. Striking with a knife (actually I have a curved stiking blade) smoothes the roughness of the pattern, the same thing we do when applying a texture with a hopper to achieve a 'knock down' rather than an 'orange peel'.

   If the texture is too wet when struck, it simply flattens into blobs, too dry, nothing happens.

   Very rarely here in the west will you see drywall without texture. Walls done as flat finish here are likely to be plaster.

   Luck!

   What the HECK was I thinking?

2. 
   Mooney | Sep 29, 2004 05:15am | #2

   Wont take hardly any

   1/2  to 1 gallon I would guess , less you are gonna stick it up really thick and wipe it down .

   So a four gallon box will be way too much any way you would like to do it.

   Tim Mooney

3. 
   JeffBuck | Sep 30, 2004 02:06am | #3

   one ...

   and you'll have most of it left.

   me .. I'd just buy one 5 gal'er .... thin it to how ya like it ....

   then toss what ever's left.

   it's too cheap to try and nail this one on the head.

   life's short ... go nuts ... buy the whole 5 gal!

   Jeff

   Jeff

   Buck Construction, llc   Pittsburgh,PA

        Artistry in Carpentry                

1. 
   RichBeckman | Sep 30, 2004 02:50am | #4

   Would your answers be different if I mentioned that this is newly hung drywall and the ceiling has only been taped with no further coats of mud (level one finish)??

   I had to put it on thick enough to cover the color diffences between the tape and the drywall (custormer does not plan to put any paint on it!). I used almost ten gallons of mud.

   I think it looks like crap but the customer is happy (I really dislike textured finishes!)

   Thanks for the positive attitude in the answers. You guys sent me out the door feeling a whole lot better about doing this than I would've otherwise.

   If I was going to do this again, I think I'd stick a coat of primer on the drywall to even out the background color. That would require a lot less mud.

   Thanks, Jeff. But you're Johnny-come-lately on this one!

   Rich Beckman

   Another day, another tool.

   Edited 9/29/2004 7:54 pm ET by Rich Beckman

1. 
   JeffBuck | Sep 30, 2004 04:23am | #5

   next time mix the primer right into the mud ...

   soupy .. so just a tad more goes on the ceiling than on you ...

   then roll it on ....

   and come back when still wet and texture.

   or ... tape and mud the joints.

   thin-skim the whole ceiling ...

   then dab on the texture.

   JeffBuck Construction, llc   Pittsburgh,PA

        Artistry in Carpentry                

2. 
   Mooney | Sep 30, 2004 05:32am | #6

   You didnt tell us that . Why were you texturing drywall not finished ? I think you could have finished it and used a lot less labor and texture material. But , this is probably what the owner wanted and you missed giving that detail.

   If you had a high level finish you could have mixed the mud with primer . Top coated out and it it would have been the teachers apple.

   At any rate there is not a lot of difference in cost in one five and two four gallon boxes and the boxes mix in a five with paint added. [or water]

   Tim Mooney

1. 
   Heck | Sep 30, 2004 07:12am | #7

   Yeah, Rich, why didn't you tell us up front you were doing something weird?

   What the HECK was I thinking?

1. 
   RichBeckman | Sep 30, 2004 07:40am | #8

   "why didn't you tell us up front you were doing something weird?"

   LOL!

   Hey, it's me. I just assumed that everyone would assume that I was doing something weird.

   Rich Beckman

   Another day, another tool.

2. 
   Heck | Sep 30, 2004 03:53pm | #11

   :-)

   I will always assume so from now on, Rich........What the HECK was I thinking?