# How To Get A Similar Wall Texture After Spackling



## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

Use a 4" roller and a 1/2" nap sleeve should get you close.


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## hellohello (Oct 17, 2013)

ToolSeeker said:


> Use a 4" roller and a 1/2" nap sleeve should get you close.


Thanks for the response. What am I rolling? Just paint? Or am I rolling on some watered-down joint compound to help apply texture?


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## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

If you figure it out, let the rest of us know. It's one of the greatest difficulties in the painting universe. With a patched area, you have a coat of primer and 2 coats of finish paint. On the rest of the wall, you have roller stipple from dozens of previous paint jobs and that's next to impossible to match. All you can do is experiment with HOW you roll it on, how thick you can roll it on without making a mess, and, yes, maybe you WILL have to roll on some thinned down joint compound to get a match.

Also, Homax makes Spray cans of texture which you might be able to experiment with to get a match. Like I said, it's one of the great difficulties of painters everywhere.

Here's the Homax in a can:


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## hellohello (Oct 17, 2013)

Gymschu said:


> If you figure it out, let the rest of us know. It's one of the greatest difficulties in the painting universe. With a patched area, you have a coat of primer and 2 coats of finish paint. On the rest of the wall, you have roller stipple from dozens of previous paint jobs and that's next to impossible to match. All you can do is experiment with HOW you roll it on, how thick you can roll it on without making a mess, and, yes, maybe you WILL have to roll on some thinned down joint compound to get a match.
> 
> Also, Homax makes Spray cans of texture which you might be able to experiment with to get a match. Like I said, it's one of the great difficulties of painters everywhere.
> 
> Here's the Homax in a can:


Thanks for the info. When I couldn't find much info by Googling, I figured it probably wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Dang. Oh well. I'm going to experiment with rolling on thinned-out joint compound with like a 1/4" nap and see how that looks.


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## Jmayspaint (May 4, 2013)

It takes some work but what I do if I have several patches on a wall is sand the rest of the wall smooth to match the patches rather than trying to texture the patches to match the wall. An orbital sander and some patience will slick down a wall pretty well. It's pretty standard practice to sand walls before painting, this method just takes that idea a little farther.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

The thinned joint compound won't work. If it's orange peel the spray cans work fine. But from the first post it sounded like all you were matching was the roller stipple. 

If it's a heavier stipple then use the Homax with the adjustable nozzle. Remove the texture till your repair area is about twice the size of the repair that way you can feather it in when you spray it. If you don't sand it down you get a build-up where the patched and the un-patched meet.

Big patches are harder, say half a wall, then if you don't get your mud mix the same as the previous or your tip is not the same it will show. Then it's easier to do the whole wall. With a little practice orange peel and knockdown are pretty easy to match. And believe me living in Fla. the land of texture you get a lot of practice.


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## hellohello (Oct 17, 2013)

Jmayspaint said:


> It takes some work but what I do if I have several patches on a wall is sand the rest of the wall smooth to match the patches rather than trying to texture the patches to match the wall. An orbital sander and some patience will slick down a wall pretty well. It's pretty standard practice to sand walls before painting, this method just takes that idea a little farther.


What grit sandpaper do you recommend?


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## Jmayspaint (May 4, 2013)

hellohello said:


> What grit sandpaper do you recommend?


 I usually use 120 and change the paper often. Might could go as low as 80 to speed it up. 100 grit would be ideal but for some reason it's almost impossible to find 100 grit discs for an orbital in stores.


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## AlphaWolf (Nov 23, 2014)

If your going to sand the entire wall and than proceed to paint the wall i would recommend just sand the patches smooth as you normally would. Roll the wall out in Tuff-Hide. Its made to make walls level 5 Drywall finish. If u roll the wall the entire wall will become a smooth surface than paint it. Also you can try to use a small roller soaked in water. To the point its dripping with water. This is will help not pull drywall mud off the wall. Or just use a high quality hi build paint and roll the wall and it will disappear. Over all painting it is the easiest of options. Get a hi-hide/build primer. Use a small roller and roll the patch. The key is not to roll till its smooth. this will give u some what close to wall texture than paint. Hope any of these ideas help you out. Best of luck


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## Jmayspaint (May 4, 2013)

Sanding the walls is one of the first steps we take on an average residential re paint. If the walls are pretty smooth and in good condition, a drywall sanding pole is all that's needed. More often than not though the walls either have heavy stippling or require enough patching to justify bringing out the power sanders. For bigger rooms we use a Porter Cable wall sander. For bathrooms, or if there isn't enough room to use the big sander effectively, we use orbitals. I find that the difference it makes in the smoothness of the finish makes it well worth the effort. 

Couple tips on sanding walls. If using an orbital, go slow and steady across the wall. Let the action of the machine do the work. On many common brands of orbital sanders the port where the dust collection bag is attached can be fitted with a shop vac hose for dustless sanding. As your sanding sometimes small blobs of paint will build up on the pads, scrape those off or change the pad.


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## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

I do the same, JMays. The orbital is the best way to get all those goober, boogers, and what not off the walls. It also allows you to assess the bad spots, some of which, get overlooked if you don't sand. I don't know how to explain it, but a solid sanding followed by 2 coats of high quality paint just "feels right."


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## mathmonger (Dec 27, 2012)

By me, there are a bunch of older homes with lead paint. I wouldn't dream of sanding the walls with an orbital sander.


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## Jmayspaint (May 4, 2013)

mathmonger said:


> By me, there are a bunch of older homes with lead paint. I wouldn't dream of sanding the walls with an orbital sander.



Yeah, pre 78 work changes the equation for sure. Although dustless sanding with a HEPA vac can still be done if necessary. (By certified contractor)


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

AlphaWolf said:


> If your going to sand the entire wall and than proceed to paint the wall i would recommend just sand the patches smooth as you normally would. Roll the wall out in Tuff-Hide. Its made to make walls level 5 Drywall finish. If u roll the wall the entire wall will become a smooth surface than paint it. Also you can try to use a small roller soaked in water. To the point its dripping with water. This is will help not pull drywall mud off the wall. Or just use a high quality hi build paint and roll the wall and it will disappear. Over all painting it is the easiest of options. Get a hi-hide/build primer. Use a small roller and roll the patch. The key is not to roll till its smooth. this will give u some what close to wall texture than paint. Hope any of these ideas help you out. Best of luck


Tuff Hide You got to be kidding, right. This is just a sample from USG's website;

Needs to be applied 15 to 20 wet mils- minimum 15, and should be checked during application with mil gauge.

To get level 5 first need almost perfect level 4

Only comes in 5 gallon buckets or 50 gallon drums.

Can only be sprayed with an airless with a 1 gpm pump with 3000 psi and can handle a .031 tip. These machines cost about $4000 and up.

This is just a partial list from USG"s own website. This is not a DIY product. Have used SW and a few other hi-build primers, all only came in 5er's but I wasn't really impressed with any of them. Welcome to the forum but keep in mind DIY is different than the Pro forum and sometimes we need to adjust our replies to fit the circumstances.

.


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## Sir MixAlot (Apr 4, 2008)

mathmonger said:


> By me, there are a bunch of older homes with lead paint. I wouldn't dream of sanding the walls with an orbital sander.


Skim coating would be best for anything built before 1978. 

Actually, I very rarely sand texture off. I usually just skim coat corner to corner if there is a sizable repair on a wall. Then retexture the entire wall.


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## AlphaWolf (Nov 23, 2014)

i realise this. Tuff hide is very cheap and u can also roll he is not using it for a lvl 5 finish just to get the roller nap. SW sells a primer called peel bond does the same thing comes in gallons as well as says right on it ROLL AND BRUSH. Cant get more DIY than that


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

If sanding, I would tend toward 80 or 100 rather than 120. Home Depots seem to have 100 in stock in Diablo discs everywhere.

Skim coating with a large squeegee is also a fairly easy way to smooth out the texture over the whole wall. Definitely another tedious step though.

Personally, I'd probably try just getting a little build with paint and a mini roller (1/2" nap) on the area first. It's pretty quick to try it if you have a hair dryer - you can put on 2 or 3 coats in 10 minutes. Obviously this needs to be skillfully feathered in. If it's starting to look "nappy", then the final coat goes over the whole wall.


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## Twister (Jul 5, 2009)

Great topic. I'm trying to blend in a patched area with surrounding drywall texture right now.

Question:

If repeated coats of paint have left a slight orange peel texture (roller stipple?) to a wall, won't repeated/multiple coats of primer _eventually_ build up a similar texture? I understand that a professional painter lives by the rule that "time is money" so in that case repeated coats may not be practical, but how about to a DIYer? 

FYI, I admit so far I tried one very heavy coat of Sherwin-Williams "Premium Wall and Wood" primer with a 3/4" nap roller and it didn't do hardly anything in terms of leaving any texture at all. So it seems to me like I'm left with either trying multiple coats or perhaps rolling on some thinned down drywall mud?

If I try the mud option, what _kind_ of mud should I use and how much do you thin it down?


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## blackjack (Oct 21, 2015)

It's not the easiest thing to do but match g stipple is Wayyyyyyyy easier than matching other textures. Load a 4" weenie roller up and load your patches. Feather it a bit (heavier in the center and at the edges and gradually less pressure onto the surrounding wall.) Do it a couple of times. 3-4 times if the walls are really old. Let it dry between coats.then repaint wall to match sheen.


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## Twister (Jul 5, 2009)

blackjack said:


> It's not the easiest thing to do but match g stipple is Wayyyyyyyy easier than matching other textures. Load a 4" weenie roller up and load your patches. Feather it a bit (heavier in the center and at the edges and gradually less pressure onto the surrounding wall.) Do it a couple of times. 3-4 times if the walls are really old. Let it dry between coats.then repaint wall to match sheen.


'

Weenie roller.....you mean the foam kind of roller covers? If your answer is "yes", won't that kind of roller leave very little texture?


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## blackjack (Oct 21, 2015)

Nope. Not foam. I use 1/2" nap or higher. I buy the contractor packs but they sell em both attached to the very simple wire like frame or in 2 packs in most places that paint is sold. I would NOT roll mud on it. You're trying to match the texture of paint. Use paint! Just keep loading your patches till they dry the way you like. On really old places i load it till I think it's gonna almost run, let it dry then hit it again. Depending on the surface, you can let it tack up then pull some off or smooth it out a little more...it takes a bit of finesse but if you've got time. Just play with it a little. If ya don't like it, smooth it out and try again. Just roll it on gently. The harder the pressure, the smoother it will be. The goal is to get the stipple to stand up. It will dry down. Which is why ya gotta make a few passes. If it's newer drywall, you'll need fewer passes.


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## blackjack (Oct 21, 2015)

something like this:


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## Twister (Jul 5, 2009)

blackjack said:


> something like this:


Blackjack -

Yeah, that looks like about the same thing I used last night. I used a 4" cover with a 3/4" nap. Loaded the roller up a ton, so much so that _at first_ the cover just "slid" and 'pushed' paint instead of "rolled" across the wall. Was very surprised how little vertical texture it left behind. However, I admit I only applied one coat to that area so far.

Thx again!


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## blackjack (Oct 21, 2015)

It's a balance ya gotta find. Load it just right (don't dunk the cover, roll it) not to the point of rediculious dripping and slap it on the wall. Gently (very little pressure) roll it on. Like I said, play with it a bit.. and make sure ya got a rag.


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