Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler DIY Ceiling Texture?

Texture is the easiest part of the process. It’s pretty hard to screw it up whereas taping is a down right pain in the ass, especially if you are going flat with a semi-gloss paint.

The hardest part about spraying texture is getting the mud to spray a pattern that you like. This is done by mixing dry texture with water to get a runny consistency, but not too runny. – does that make sense? When I do this I dump the powder in a 5 gallon bucket and add water while mixing. I add a little bit at a time until the mud is light enough to run off a trowel without clumps. In other words, it should just run off the trowel in a thick, but steady stream and not drop off the trowel.

Then you have to set the air pressure on your compressor and the spray gun. Air pressure should be as low as you can get it (usually around 20 PSI). You don’t want to blast it, because when it hits the walls or ceiling, it will splatter and flatten. But if you don’t have enough pressure, the drops will be too big. Depending on the size of drops you want, the gun will have several holes on a rotating plate of different sizes. The larger the hole, the bigger the drop. You just rotate the plate to where the hole size you want is in front of the nozzle.

Then you mask off everything you don’t want overspray to get on, and don’t be bashful with the masking. This crap will go everywhere. You will want to put up plastic in the doorways that lead to other areas of your house too, or you will be cleaning up dust for months.

The fun part is spraying. Just point and shoot. It won’t take you long to figure this out. The trick to this is to get a consistent amount of texture wherever you shoot. I start in a corner and shoot back and forth keeping the gun perpendicular to the target. If you sweep too much in an arch, the drops will not hit directly, but will sort of hit at an angle and they will not be round, but oval. You want round drops.

After you spray a wall, let it dry for about 30 minutes to the point where the drops can get knocked down and not flattened. You do this with a 12” or larger trowel and knock the drops down with light pressure. Or, you could just let it dry completely and knock down the high parts later. It really depends on the look you want.

Before you spray your walls, practice on a sheet of rock. Play with the mud mixture, air pressure and gun settings. Also experiment with drying time to see just how much of a knockdown you want.

I know that all sounds sorta complicated, but it really isn’t. Once you start, you’ll be surprised at how fast you will figure it out.

You can either buy a gun at Home Depot for about $70 and use your own compressor, or rent one from a tool rental shop. If you rent them, they will usually rent you the gun and a HVLP air compressor.