# Comments on textured walls...



## BabsHoney (Jul 25, 2012)

Made a new thread because I didn't want to hijack anyone else's but...

The whole time I was growing up I always equated textured walls (not necessarily ceilings) with a more expensive home. Growing up and seeing our house and friend's houses I thought texturing was a sign of luxury. For example, if your house is the type to have granite countertops, well your walls are probably textured. Laminate countertops? Probably not. 
Even in planning on renovating our own house it's so small and in a plain Jane neighborhood that I never would have thought of texturing. 

But now, here, in these forums I see/hear all these people saying that texturing is just for covering up imperfections!? Well that turns my world for a loop. In my brain I would think a less expensive/less experienced drywaller would like texturing while a more expensive/more experienced drywaller wouldn't feel the need for it. As in, an unskilled diy'er wouldn't texture but paying a good professional would. Hrm. 

Maybe I'm thinking to hard about it but this one got my gears turning. Thoughts? Comments?

Am I just bonkers?


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## creeper (Mar 11, 2011)

Maybe its a regional thing. 
When I was a kid some of my friends had expensive homes and the thing I remember was wainscotting. Maybe I just don't recall, but even today I don't see a lot of textured walls. On either high end or more affordable houses.

In the 70's the trend, particularly in basement rec rooms was faux wood paneling


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## BabsHoney (Jul 25, 2012)

I guess it must be regional because around here wainscoting is pretty rare. As far as I know it is anyway.


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## chrisBC (Dec 28, 2010)

Not many textured walls around here, mainly in common areas of older apartment buildings.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Textured anything is by far harder to paint, near impossible to clean, and a royal paint to try to do even a simple repair on and not have it show.

I get to work on many homes, some well over 100 years old, some worth millions and I can not remember the last time a saw a textured wall.


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## havalife (Mar 23, 2011)

Orange peel, Knockdown, Santa Fe, Mediterranean, Hand troweled plaster, It all takes a skill and price. 
I think you are looking at levels of quality, craftsman, skill, price as if they are the same post.
Try to find a laminate countertop in a hand troweled finished house.


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## BabsHoney (Jul 25, 2012)

havalife said:


> Orange peel, Knockdown, Santa Fe, Mediterranean, Hand troweled plaster, It all takes a skill and price.
> I think you are looking at levels of quality, craftsman, skill, price as if they are the same post.
> Try to find a laminate countertop in a hand troweled finished house.


Maybe this is my problem. I'm just not understanding the differences in texture, vs hand troweling, vs etc.


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## Sir MixAlot (Apr 4, 2008)

Yes it's a regional thing.:yes: 
Most all of the homes in my area are textured. I like texture and it's one of my specialties. :thumbup:


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## sixeightten (Feb 10, 2009)

Sir MixAlot said:


> Yes it's a regional thing.:yes:
> Most all of the homes in my area are textured. I like texture and it's one of my specialties. :thumbup:


Here in Ohio, ceilings are generally not textured in high end homes. Walls are only textured in closets and garages in lower priced homes. Texture hides imperfections in walls and ceilings.


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## Sir MixAlot (Apr 4, 2008)

sixeightten said:


> Here in Ohio, ceilings are generally not textured in high end homes. Walls are only textured in closets and garages in lower priced homes. Texture hides imperfections in walls and ceilings.


Ohio has spoken.:laughing:
Maybe, just maybe things are done differently around the country. 
Just because that's how it's done in your area, doesn't make it the golden rule.:no:


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## sixeightten (Feb 10, 2009)

Sir MixAlot said:


> Ohio has spoken.:laughing:
> Maybe, just maybe things are done differently around the country.
> Just because that's how it's done in your area, doesn't make it the golden rule.:no:


Paul:

I didn't say it was the rule. I have been to Florida and noticed all the texture. May have something to do with the Spanish influence. I was just giving the OP the info for this region.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

Nothing but an eye sore and dirt catcher IMO:laughing:


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## Sir MixAlot (Apr 4, 2008)

chrisn said:


> Nothing but an eye sore and dirt catcher IMO:laughing:


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## stoner529 (Nov 12, 2010)

Here is a way to put your mind at ease.

Texture to cover up flaws. Yes this is true. 
A great finisher needs no texture because his walls are perfectly flat with no imperfections. Yes this is true.

If you forget the above statements exist, it comes down to this..

If you like the look of a textured wall, put the textured wall in your home. There is no rule on how expensive the home is to have textured walls. IMO, they are not hard to clean if you have a nice semi-gloss paint on the walls. Yes most have satin which isnt the easiest, but in all honesty. A good homeowner should repaint the walls every few years anyway to make it look new. Most dont. IM A BAD HOMEOWNER! 

I have knockdown walls and ceilings that i did my self in my 1960s home, that yes was probably loaded with asbestos and lead paint, even as a drywall texture company owner, I didnt even think to get it tested at the time. MY BAD no lectures necessary. IM gonna die one day anyway so if its in pain due to asbestosis, then so bit. 

Either way, consider texture a LOOK and STYLE, and not a means of hiding anything. If you dont know its real purpose you would have no clue why its there other than you either like it or you dont. Because I used thinner type mud when i did my living room, My ceiling looks kind of like a coral reef because the type of popcorn/paint, whatever the feck it was, i decided to just scrape the balls off to make the process faster and not take a week to get that crap off because it was stuck to the mud joints in previous rooms. so the thin mud basically didnt cover the bumps as much as i hoped and i should have made the mud more thick, but it is basically a style that probably a few people have. Im happy with it as well.

Thats it. Not a rant. Not saying you have to like or dislike texture because everyone is different. 

People say screw that you are covering flaws and want slick walls, others say cover the flaws, and the rest just want their home to be different and love what ever it is they do. One texture i do not approve of.....POPCORN CEILINGS! unless i got paid to remove it at $2 a sq/ft. and yes Sir Mix Alot, i was actually starting to bid that way towards the beggining of 2011. If i didnt get the job, i didnt care. because that was what it was worth for me to spend 2 days in a house and do it right, rather than rush it to turn a profit fast and pay the help. If i didnt work, they didnt work. Just how it was. anyways.


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## stuart45 (Jun 20, 2009)

Textured walls and ceiling used to be really popular here in the 70's and 80's, but have gone out of fashion now. Known as Artex the ultimate was the comb which was the most difficult to do, but looked really good if done properly with it radiating to the centre.


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## stoner529 (Nov 12, 2010)

stuart45 said:


> Textured walls and ceiling used to be really popular here in the 70's and 80's, but have gone out of fashion now. Known as Artex the ultimate was the comb which was the most difficult to do, but looked really good if done properly with it radiating to the centre.
> View attachment 55755


Have you seen the videos on youtube regarding that stuff. you can do some really interesting designs with combs.


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## stuart45 (Jun 20, 2009)

Just had a look at the oyster shell one. Really nice looking ceiling.


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## Dwillems (Jul 14, 2011)

I grew up in IL thinking textured walls meant more luxury also, at the least textured ceilings since that's the only texture I've seen. But then I moved to California, every house i've been in is textured throughout. I guess this explains the region part. 

The preference part... I hate it. I understand texturing and the different reasons it's done, but I don't want my entire house done like this. it's hard to patch, preventing me from opening up various walls and ceilings for electrical work. I can't patch cracks without it being more noticeable. 

So I decided to slowly redrywall some rooms to fix my craziness lol. One is almost done now, then another bedroom will be done, then bathrooms. And I think I'll leave it at that so I won't have to redrywall the entire first floor. But I think that little bit will help my house a lot


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## stoner529 (Nov 12, 2010)

Dwillems said:


> I grew up in IL thinking textured walls meant more luxury also, at the least textured ceilings since that's the only texture I've seen. But then I moved to California, every house i've been in is textured throughout. I guess this explains the region part.
> 
> The preference part... I hate it. I understand texturing and the different reasons it's done, but I don't want my entire house done like this. it's hard to patch, preventing me from opening up various walls and ceilings for electrical work. I can't patch cracks without it being more noticeable.
> 
> So I decided to slowly redrywall some rooms to fix my craziness lol. One is almost done now, then another bedroom will be done, then bathrooms. And I think I'll leave it at that so I won't have to redrywall the entire first floor. But I think that little bit will help my house a lot


I guess for me as an ex pro drywall texture company owner, learning how to patch texture was no problem, and i can match it. the problem i have with slick walls is almost the same though.. when you patch it. you have a huge flat spot on a wall that you arent quite sure how it was painted on. so the patch will always stick out to me as looking like an unusal flat spot on a wall. 
But all in all. texture is a preference to some. to others its a cover up.


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## BabsHoney (Jul 25, 2012)

Thanks everybody for the thoughts. I was asking out of pure curiosity. 
I mostly think it's interesting because it always seems like people feel so strongly one way or the other.


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## stoner529 (Nov 12, 2010)

BabsHoney said:


> Thanks everybody for the thoughts. I was asking out of pure curiosity.
> I mostly think it's interesting because it always seems like people feel so strongly one way or the other.


yw and you will find this is mostly the two cases ive pointed out. they either think texture is trying to hide something and that is why they are against it, or they like the look.


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## Dwillems (Jul 14, 2011)

stoner529 said:


> yw and you will find this is mostly the two cases ive pointed out. they either think texture is trying to hide something and that is why they are against it, or they like the look.


Yeup. let me add to my previous post... I do like the look of textured walls and ceilings, but I feel that it should be limited for that room where you want that type of look and feeling in the room/or rooms. I don't believe the entire house should be finished like this. To me when the whole house is textured, they are hiding something. Maybe the fact that the house was built quickly and cheaply, and they didn't want to spend money or time to make a flat wall look perfect?

Edit: however ceilings don't bother me if they are all textured. Just my opinion, however weird it may sound lol


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## bjbatlanta (Jul 16, 2008)

If you're from MO (I'm originally from IL), you might seeing the texture more on plaster walls in older houses. The home I grew up in had a "stucco" look. After remodeling, the upstairs had "sand" texture. That's the way things were done. Ceilings were all slick, by the way.
I move to FL in '72 and got into construction. By '74 I partnered with a guy in the drywall business. We did smooth finish on the walls. The majority of the ceilings were "popcorn" spray.
Moved to GA in '77. Walls still slick with some spray, but the majority of new and existing homes had "stipple" (crow's foot). Spray was more of a commercial (apartment) thing, but did some homes and condos.
As the years went on and I got into the higher end homes ($250,000+) everything was slick finish and still is in this area.
I've been doing this for a few years and I can't really say there is ANY texture I like....


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