Textured walls have become quite the trend recently. They help bring the room design together and give it a unique aesthetic. Not only can you texture a wall to give a given room a makeover; you can also texture it to cover up mistakes!
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So, how to texture drywall?
Adding texture to your room’s walls isn’t as challenging as it seems. If you follow the few simple steps in this article, you’ll find the process pretty straightforward.
Let’s jump right into it.
Step 1: Prep the Workspace to texture the drywall by hand
Firstly, you need to make sure that your workspace is ready for the process.
The following steps will show you how to avoid ruining your valuables and avoid any splashes on the ground, furniture, or other walls.
Cover any other surface with a plastic sheet and tape it tightly. This includes the ground, walls, windows, doorsteps, decorations, and unmovable furniture.
Wear an overall or an outfit you don’t need so that you don’t stain valuable clothes.
Put on safety glasses and consider wearing some gloves.
Step 2: Prep the Wall
Next, you need to make sure the wall is clean and dry by simply sanding it. You can do so using a roller or a sponge. This step will help make the wall as smooth as possible.
From there, you need to fill any holes in the wall to avoid unwanted droppings in the wall using a drywall knife and drywall compound. You shouldn’t worry about perfecting this step, considering it will be covered with paint anyway.
You should also use a primer. You can either use a drywall primer or a coat of white flat latex paint. The main purpose of this step is to help the compound stick. If you skip this step, all your work will go in vain. You need to let the primer dry.
Step 3: Mix Your Drywall Compound
You don’t have to buy an expensive compound. This is a DIY process, after all. Simply mix 4 gallons of the compound with 1 gallon of water, and make sure to add the water gradually.
Keep mixing until you get a texture similar to that of the pancake. You might not get the right texture the first time. If so, you can let it rest overnight so that the lumps dissolve.
Don’t forget to mix it again before you use it!
Step 4: Choose the Texture
There are many textured drywall styles to choose from. Read on to learn about the most popular ones as well as their application method.
Popcorn Texture
The cheese or popcorn-like appearance of the drywall is achieved by combining a popcorn mix with water, which causes little shards of polystyrene to expand.
Styrofoam and other materials are mixed into the drywall mud that’s used to produce popcorn textures so that the finished product has a puffy look.
For this method, you need a hopper gun, an air compressor, and a popcorn mixture
Orange Peel Texture
The orange peel texturing method also makes use of a texture sprayer in order to give the wall a sustained, choppy finish.
To do this texture, you simply need to mix the joint compound until it has the consistency of thin pancake dough. This will make the wobbles a bit smoother.
Knockdown Texture
This texturing method is almost the same as the orange peel method, but it requires one more step!
You’ll need to use a putty knife or a drywall knife to smoothen out the orange peel peaks until you get a concrete surface before the drywall mud dries and solidifies.
Comb Texture
The comb texture is one of the easiest ways to add texture, making it perfect for beginners. You simply use a roller to spread the drywall compound on the wall, then you use the teeth end of a notched trowel to smoothen it out.
Depending on your preference, the trowel can have teeth that are evenly or unevenly spaced. The end result looks like rainbow patterns that move around in circles.
Before priming and painting the texture, be sure to wait 24 hours for it to fully dry.
Skip Trowel Texture
During the application of the compound, a knife is held at a slant to produce a pleasingly uneven surface. This is how the well-known “skip trowel” wall texture is achieved.
Note that doing this texture requires a steady hand!
Make use of taping paste as well as a roller made of sea sponge. Apply the mixture to your wall using a rolling motion to achieve coverage of about 80%.
Before the compound dries completely, use a knife to softly smooth the portions that are higher.
Roll Out Texture
This texturing style is achieved by rolling on two layers of paint. It sounds simple, but you need to take care of the timing.
You’ll need to use a paint tray and a paint roller. You roll on the first coat, allow it to partially dry, and then follow it with the second coat.
Step 5: Pick a Color
After creating your desired textured wall, let it dry for 24 hours. All you have to do now is choose a color for the wall. Make sure the color matches the other walls as well as the furniture.
A Final Note
The addition of dimension and depth to any space may be accomplished with very little effort by texturing a wall. In fact, adding anything that has depth and dimension can immediately give the room more personality and enhance its aesthetic appeal.
The task is basic enough that anybody can do it, and it doesn’t take up a lot of time. You’ll only need a few fundamental items, such as a drywall compound and a paint roller, in addition to an afternoon of free time.
We have discussed if you can tile over drywall here. If you want to hang a heavy coatrack on the drywall, we got you covered here.
Good luck!
