Power Sander VS Skim Coat on these walls

Submitted by meldy54 t3_122synd in DIY

So I have a bit of question for you guys. I recently purchased this home, and I am looking at repainting the entire house. The problem is, the walls appear to at some point have had some kind of texture. Either that, or the owners did not know about the existence of sand paper.

The house is covered in all sorts of reds, yellows, blues, and even in one room, hot pink. Yes. One entire room is hot pink. So, the entire house is getting painted a nice classy white with white trim, or light grey with white trim undecided on it..

Regardless of the atrocious paint colors, what do you guys think needs done with these walls? The jury seems split as I have a few contractor friends. Some say a good sanding will knock these back down flat and may take a more agressive grit to start. Some are on the side of the entire house needing a skim coat.

I am looking for opinions on people that have dealt with this. What options do I have to make the walls flat again? I have never done a skim coat, but am pretty DIY savy. But, if. I don't need to do it obviously I want to avoid it.. I would really like to get rid of this texture

https://imgur.com/a/x8SHJKr

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iconoclasterbate t1_jdrsmv3 wrote

You can do both, probably should.

Knock down any peaks with a wall scraper blade or aggressive sanding, then skim coat till smooth. Sanding is messy, wear a mask, cover and tape places you dont want dust and test paint for lead first.

Your walls seem fairly flat, so you might be able to forgo the sanding and mess it creates. I would just give it a once over if so, just so a thick paint bump doesn't add 3 extra coats to your skim job

Either way step one is a TVP wash, cleans oils off, makes surface more porous and ready to paint/mud

Buy mud, mix till yogurt like, so a little more runny than the premixed comes. Add water slowly, cannot remove water. A mixing paddle and drill and 5 gallon bucket works fine

Thick roller on a pole is dipped in and applied to wall

Smooth with a wide trowel. I like the 24" rubber edged ones

Let dry, scrape peaks off, repeat till wall surface is all mud, sand smooth, primer, paint

check wall by shining a bright light against the surface, looking for imperfections in shadow cast

Its laborious and tedious, but not hard. Easier and cheaper than replacing with drywall, but not faster

You'll be proficient after a google search and you finish your first wall. Good luck!

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meldy54 OP t1_jdrvz6x wrote

Wow, that was a fantastic write up. I really appreciate that. Fortunately, there really is only 3 large walls that will require this doing it to it. I’m not afraid of the work, so that write up is likely what I will follow. I appreciate it!

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imnottrying t1_jds0ffi wrote

Just to add to this, you may want to paint with bin shellac primer to minimize any issues the mud may do to whatever is on the wall. Also, if your doing skim coating first time and want a dead flat finish, I would get the 45 min, 60 minute mud and do the thinnest coats possible. I’m talking less then 1/16” thin or pull it pretty tight so there’s almost barely any on the wall. You can scape any bumps and go again once dried. Skim coating is an art that pros who are good can get away with 2 to 3 coats or less. For people just doing it the first time, do 5 to 10 coats and do a 10 to 12” trowel and put the mud on the trowel, don’t paint it with a roller. It’s much easier to control but will take a lot of time which is why you should do the 60 min as you can go again once dry. You’ll have some divots from the old wall not being flat and parts that are uneven but each time you will fill it in until your last coat is flat and smooth. If you do thicker, you risk having uneven spots like you have. Some people like it but that is why your walls looks that way because folks do 1/4” or more of mud/plaster and then sand high spots but it’s left with larger uneven spots that looks similar to stucco.

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meldy54 OP t1_jds1lb6 wrote

That is something I will plan to do as well. Thank you also for the detailed write up. Seems like the thin coats seem to be the way to go as well! Thanks!

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Dewey_Decimated t1_jdrugcf wrote

This looks like older plaster and thus may have some inherent texture to it. But the linked photos also make it look like the paint is very high sheen, like semi-gloss, even on the ceiling. A high sheen paint is easy to clean but will show every imperfection. Something more flat will hide those imperfections. I like to use matte everywhere except kitchen and bathrooms, and only use semi-gloss for trim.

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meldy54 OP t1_jdrw5m8 wrote

Oh it’s a VERY high gloss pain, I don’t know if it is really high gloss but if it’s semi, it’s a really aggressive semi gloss. I plan to go matte or eggshell. There really is only 3 walls that need worked like this, 2 in the living room, and this wall pictured in the kitchen, but is a decent bit away from the appliances I would like to be able to use matte on as well. I appreciate the comment sir!

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Sometimes_Stutters t1_jdrorgb wrote

Hard to tell for sure, but it looks like it’s just lathe and plaster. That’s how it normally looks.

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meldy54 OP t1_jdrpqev wrote

Maybe I didn’t word my question well, but I would like to make the walls flat again and remove the texture, any idea what the best method for that would be?

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Sometimes_Stutters t1_jdrry25 wrote

You don’t. The texture is inherent to plaster walls. Both sanding or skim coating are absolute bears of projects, and you’d be hard pressed to make it look as good as drywall. Probably just as well to replace the drywall entirely (which is also a ridiculous project).

My recommendation would be to learn to live with it.

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