more home improvement ?'s - wall texturing (1 Viewer)

[Philip_G]

seems like everyone is going to DIY it for the new year.. Here's another one, what's the most economical texture I can do?
The deal is my neighbors suck, so I want to put up a layer or 5 of 440 homasote sound barrier, it goes up like drywall, and infact I'll just screw it on top of the existing drywall. My biggest concern is the finish, I think mudding and taping I can handle, but I'm not sure how to handle texture, should I hire someone to come do it? use that stuff in a can? or use a foax finish of some sort and act like I ment it to be that way?
The first wall to be done is about 16'x16' I don't know if the texture in a can can even do that much. Home depot has a neat looking roll on finish, but it wouldn't match the rest of the room, maybe that isn't such a bad thing.

 

[Micah Cohen]

Do you rent or own?

If you rent, let the landlord do it. (Or move away from stupid neighbors!) If you own, hire someone to do it. In my experience, it's much less expensive in the long run to let an expert do textured wall cover than to be horrified by your own amateur results. Because this is the kind of thing you'll have to live with and see every day, it may be worth your while to get a couple of estimates from some contactors or handy-people around your town. You buy the materials, and see how much labor will cost. It'll be worth it in the long run to pay a buck or two more for a pro-looking job.

MC

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Why texture at all? If you ever sell the property, a textured wall or ceiling is always a minus point to a potential buyer. Flat walls, flat ceilings are the way to go. Can't go wrong.

 

[Lee L]

If you are trying to match an existing texture, you best bet would be to hire someone, it takes some skill to make it look right, especially to match something adjacent. IF you don;t have texture somewhere you have to match, I would agree that it would not help your resale to add it.

 

[Keith Mickunas]

Mu builder textured all my walls, and it annoys me. Sure it makes it less monotonous, but I think the builder mainly did it so they didn't have to spend as much time on the drywall. But now I have to deal with fixing it if any damage happens or if I remove something screwed to a wall. Plus since the texture flows right onto the ceiling, it's hard to paint the joints and make it look neat.

Aren't there ways of using a real thick, soft roller to apply the paint that gives the paint a texture, but one that isn't too thick? That will make it have some character, but be easy to fix or get rid of in the future. Plus wallpaper could go right over it.

Does homasote reflect sound or absorb it? Could I buy some of it and make some panels to absorb some of the reflections in my room?

 

[CameronJ]

After retexturing most of my house, I've finally found the right stuff to use. I've talked to a few painters about texturing, and unless you're doing multiple rooms it is more cost effective to do it yourself.

Home Depot basically has two different brands of spray-on textures. I don't remember the names, but one can has red highlights and looks like a spray paint can with a plastic tube that fits in the nozzle. This is the one to get. The other can has orange highlights, is rounded at the top, and has a special nozzle. This one sucks.

Make sure you protect everything that you don't want to get texture on. Start in one corner and holding the can about 2 feet away from the wall spray in a circular motion. Go light at first until you get the feel for it, and then go back over any areas that don't match.

Texturing hides a lot of small mistakes in drywall. I'm a crappy drywaller, so a good texturing application really hid all my little screw-ups.

 

[Philip_G]

I own, otherwise I wouldn't be worried about it, kind of pissed about it actually, it's a town house and the real estate bastards told me there were 2 seperate walls, one on the neighbors side and one on my side, and I'd never hear a thing. Yeah right, I can hear the bastards talking over there. Moving just isn't an option right now, I'm stuck here for probably 5 years until I can turb a small profit and get out of here. Luckily the builder is about done with the neighborhood so I won't have to compete with him when it's time to sell, I'll watch the paper to see what they're selling for and get out ASAP.
Anyway, in the meantime a little sound barrier might do me some good. maybe I'll just slap it up and not finish it at all, just take it down when I'm ready to sell or if it doesn't do the job

 

[Keith Mickunas]

Well, you could rip out the existing drywall, add insulation, then put up the homasote. Or there are methods of adding insulation by putting holes in the drywall and spraying in insulation. That'd probably do a lot to stop the sound.

 

[Philip_G]

it's already insulated, the wall has to be a 1 hour fire wall per code. they sell a pour in foam that I could use, but it's quite expensive, I think the sound is just reasonating through, or between the 2 walls if there are indeed two of them. Homasote is pretty cheap, I think less than 4 or 5 dollars a sheet, I'll just screw some up and try it out for awhile, then consider finishing it maybe, if it works.

 

[Lee L]

Philip,

You could always cover the homasote with fabric, then take it down when you leave. In office building lobbies and conference rooms and the sort, fabric panels are made that way all the time.

 

[Micah Cohen]

Ach, townhouse living. I hear you, literally.

I padded my basement home theater with sheets of inexpensive mattress cover "egg crate" foam, then pleated black cotton fabric over that. The room is dead as a doornail and my neighbors do not hear my plane crashes, gun fights and shouts. (I checked, by playing loud stuff and going into their basements!)

Hang sheets of padding mounted on 4x6 plywood from hooks set in the ceiling joists close to the wall, and you may solve your problem.

Neighbors. Who needs em?

MC

 

[Philip_G]

Not sure the foam would look too good, problem is my theater room is in my livingroom, right inside the front door, so I'm somewhat concerned about looks I guess. Also, I could care less if they hear me, I don't want to hear them. Hell, I put in the NIN DVD and crank it just to drown them out

 

[Keith Outhouse]

Your best bet is to use a texturing knife to do a skip trowel finish. It takes a little practice but is not all that hard to do. Or you can usually rent a spatter gun at home depot. An air compressor is also required. Very easy to do.