# How to blend drywall patches that look too smooth... ?



## recklessninja (Aug 12, 2011)

All the drywall repair patches I've made seem too smooth against the original drywall. The patches are most notable when you look up close and at an angle. It's a subtle transition from the patch to the original wall texture (which is pretty smooth), but there's way more than just a few patches on the walls and I'd like for them to blend in seamlessly. I have yet to prime the walls, but I've purchased BM's latex primer for the job. Would a thicker paint roller for the primer help to blend in the patches?


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## Jay 78 (Mar 2, 2011)

There were a lot of smooth patches like that in one of the bedrooms of my house. Looked horrible.

What I did to address it, after prepping and priming the walls as usual and letting it dry, was to go back over the just the smooth areas again with more primer a few times (letting it dry in between coats) to 'rebuild' the texture. Drywall itself is smooth. Any texture there is just created from the roller - and possibly years of re-priming/repainting on top of each other. A patched area is essentially the same smoother surface as newly hung drywall, so I basically simulated the effect of many coats of paint on the patched areas, and it turns out really well.

Also, if it's not to late, or for future reference, a good sanding of the entire walls to knock off some of the texture also helps. It reduces the difference between the textured areas and the patched areas. 

This is just my experience and opinion. I'm no pro. I get really good results, though.


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## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

Give Jay's advice a try........good advice. I admit, after 35 years in the paint biz, I have yet to master the blending of new drywall patches in with the old. It is one of the toughest things to attempt as a painter. One other piece of advice........try to make the patch as small as possible. Obviously you have to "feather" it out to make it flush, but be sure to sand or wipe off with a wet rag any excess dried joint compound that is outside the main patched area. The problem with patches is that they want to absorb primer/paint more than the surrounding sealed drywall & this causes "flashing." That's why I think Jay's advice is sound. Apply several coats of drywall primer and then perhaps a sealer coat to limit the absorbtion of the finish coats.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

If someone at one time tryed to just paint and not bother to prime first it will look shiny and smooth.
If you just use a 3/4 nap roller it should all even out.


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## jsheridan (Jan 30, 2011)

Gymschu, jay's advice is something we would never discover because the average pro can't budget to do something that time consuming. Ninja, there are two types of flashing, one is an issue of sealing, the other of texture. A drywall patch that is effectively primed/sealed prior to finishing can still flash, a texture flash, which Jay was addressing, building up the texture on the smooth patch. However, if you do Jay's technique, you are still altering the area around the patch. If you roll a four foot square area on a wall, you have changed the texture of that area compared to the remainder of the wall. If you then rolled the whole wall with a satin finish, you would probably be able to see where the four foot sqaure was rolled, especially if you have strong sidelight.
If you tediously rolled only the exact areas of the patch, you could probably pull it off. That's not practical. Even if you rolled the whole wall five times, the patched areas would still have a different texture than the non-patched areas, and would still show. 
Light, especially sidelight, is extremely sensitive. The slighest/minute deviation in surface will be highlighted. The problem is compounded as you go up in sheen levels. Even a dead flat finish will reveal differences in texture under the right lighting conditions. High walls and long walls, where you have a long side view are where you're dead. They're not quite as visible looking straight on. Smaller rooms are not usually an issue, unless you have very strong sidelight. 
I've never been able to overcome this issue, and I'm sure Gymschu will agree. You're not going to outsmart or defeat light. I cringe and live with it. The best you can do is minimize it with lower sheen levels and adjusting light sources.


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## Wiscbldr (Nov 1, 2010)

If your drywall patching is properly feathered so you can't feel or see the difference, then the priming and painting shouldnt be an issue. When you do your priming, make sure you're adding sand/texture to give the same type of texture. The raised bumps, texture is usually created with a hand brush and dabbed on to blend to the existing other drywall texture. If you need more texture, either add more sand, or simply reapply more primer texture (thats what I do). When the texture blends from patch to existing, color match and paint the entire area. If your original paint is an older, faded color, you may have to feather out further, or paint the entire wall. Light will tell you how well you've blended the texture and paint color.


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## 95025 (Nov 14, 2010)

jsheridan said:


> I've never been able to overcome this issue, and I'm sure Gymschu will agree. You're not going to outsmart or defeat light. *I cringe and live with it*. The best you can do is minimize it with lower sheen levels and adjusting light sources.


You touched on some excellent points - especially the difference between the professional whose livelihood depends on covering a lot of square footage, and the DIYer who can fiddle around for hours and hours on one small area.

I bolded one of your comments that I think is key. I've sometimes had to do "blending" like this, as well as "making do" with finished work that's not quite what it should be. Because I did it myself, I know where it is, and it bugs the heck out of me. But people who don't know what happened will probably never notice, or even be able to tell.


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