A beautiful knockdown ceiling accents your home interior and value.
It was common in the 1960s and 1970s to enter a home and find all the ceilings covered in rainbow-like swirls or bumpy popcorn texture. Modern ceiling textures tend to more sophisticated yet simpler designs such as knockdown texture -- commonly called skip trowel, Santa Fe or Spanish knockdown. Resembling perhaps a sponge's surface or a topographical map, knockdown covers slight surface imperfections and allows you to customize the look. Add colors, use thicker or thinner compound, change your stroke while applying the texture -- most any small variation achieves an individualistic effect. With a little patience and practice, you will get the feel for applying it.
Instructions
1. Repair any damaged areas of the ceiling, patching the drywall if needed or spreading drywall mud across blemishes, letting it dry and sanding it smooth. While knockdown covers minor imperfections, holes and deep damage will show through.
2. Remove as many of the room's furnishings as possible, including the ceiling fixtures. Spread plastic sheeting across the length of each wall and tape it in place at the top of the wall with duct tape. Cover the floor and remaining furniture with sheeting as well and attach it to the wall sheeting.
3. Apply at least one coat of primer -- preferably a stain-covering latex primer -- with a paint roller if the ceiling has never been painted. On previously painted ceilings, the old paint acts as the primer. Sand a painted ceiling lightly to scuff the finish, which helps the texture to adhere.
4. Pour two or three gallons of powdered all-purpose joint compound or texture in a five-gallon bucket. Add water, as specified in the product instructions, and mix. Alternatively, use premixed compound, thinning the mixture with water until it has about the consistency of a thick chocolate shake. Let the compound rest, like pancake batter, for a little while before applying to allow it to dissolve and blend better.
5. Dip a paint roller in the texture compound. Scoop some of the mixture up and spread as necessary across the roller to help distribute the texture. A thick layer of compound coating the roller is ideal.
6. Roll across a small section of the ceiling -- perhaps four feet square -- applying the texture in a layer about one-eighth-inch thick. Use up and down, sideways and diagonal strokes to create a thick, even coat with varied brush strokes. This variation helps create the irregular appearance when complete.
7. "Knock down" each ceiling section once it has dried to a tacky surface -- sticky but not nearly as wet as when applied. Drying time to this point will vary depending on the mixture applied and the environment. Estimate anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes from application to tacky.
8. Scrape across the ceiling texture lightly, using a trowel or special knockdown knife held at a slight angle. Aim to cut the top layer of texture off -- knocking down the peaks of the texture -- rather than smashing it all flat. Think of it like a cake where you must flatten and remove the tips of frosting that curl up above the cake without touching the deepest layer of cake frosting that rests on the cake.
9. Scrape excess texture off your knife or trowel back into the bucket of texture. Continue applying texture in small sections, waiting for it to dry and knocking it down until the entire ceiling is complete. Prepare more texture compound as necessary.
Tags: applying texture, frosting that, , knocking down, paint roller, texture compound