The application of a layer of joint compound allows for texturing.
Many homeowners find it challenging to complete their new drywall projects with a perfectly smooth finish. Textured finishes hide minor mistakes in taping and joint coverage. The types of drywall texture options available to you can be grouped by the way they are applied, the additives used or the finished effect.
Knockdown Textures
Many wall textures require a knockdown step to flatten and smooth them. Without this step many textures are too lumpy or raised for proper use on walls. Joint compound is sprayed onto the walls or ceiling of a room, says the Family Handyman, then scraped and flattened with a flat trowel or taping knife. The finished product looks like the slightly bumpy and pitted surface of an orange peel. Other types of knockdown textures use a thick-napped roller against the wall to create a lumpy layer that is then smoothed.
Sprayed Textures
Although basic knockdown drywall texture begins with a sprayer, there are other types of drywall texture that don't end with a smoothing step. Popcorn or cottage cheese texture may be the best known. This texture, usually used on ceilings, looks like a layer of bumpy cottage cheese was sprayed on the ceiling according to Drywall 101. Styrofoam, sand and other additives give sprayed finishes interesting effects that plain joint compound doesn't create.
Brush Textures
Slapbrush texture is smoothed with a trowel like knockdown textures, but the initial pattern is created by slapping the wall with a soft-bristled brush loaded with joint compound. This texture is also known as splatter, says the Reliable Remodeler website. Other textures, such as stomp and swirl, require you to draw patterns like circles and arches in a rolled-on layer of compound with a brush. The stiffness of the bristles determines the depth and sharpness of the ridges in the joint compound.
Knife Textures
If you've only got the taping or drywall knife you use to finish the coverage of the joints, you can still create an attractive texture. The Spanish knife texture requires you to simply apply a thick coat of undiluted joint compound, then slide the knife in different directions to create small ridges in the material, according to Drywall School. You can also create a ridged and rustic-looking texture by applying the joint compound in dabs with a knife instead of a roller.
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