Skim Coating ? From A Painter

outsidethelines

I am a painter and I am working on a project where I just removed gobs of wallpaper off of some fairly ugly textured walls. I am thinking to skim coat them and have never done that to remove texture before, so I am not sure what to expect. It is not a hugely large area because only about half the walls have texture. But, I am concerned about the dry time (will be using 20 min. mud) and whether or not two coats would do. Time is an issue on this job. I am able to pull the mud pretty tight and usually have to sand very little. Also, the HO is not looking for perfection. I would just like to make the walls fairly uniform. Sorry to sound so naive, but this is sort of new to me. I am usually the one who comes in after to dust the walls, prime and paint. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I hope this was the right place to post this.

Thank you

willonet

You should use an oil primer on the wall before skim coating. Can't usually get it done in two coats either, depends on how bad it was. So your dry time is unavoidable. Good luck.

boman47k

Imo, using the hot mud will reduce the drytime, but I don't really care to sand that stuff. I would prime, skim, knock off ridges then coat with regular mud, prime and paint.

neolitic

On a different tack, the Porter-Cable
drywall sander will quickly make
a serious dent in ugly texture.
Then I think you could skip prime
and skim less.
What say the pros?

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boman47k

According to what the texture is. Can you wet it and remove it like pop corn? If not, I would think sanding it might be the way to go. If sanding, keep in mind safety for you and the people around you.

Rx8

I did this about a month ago. I scaped it with a real stiff 5 inch knife then first coated it with durabond, then skim coated it with lightwight and I couldn't be happier with the finish, it is very smooth and can't even tell the whole wall was skimmed in. Good luck.

outsidethelines

If I were working on a high end home, I would press the idea that the walls need to all be consistent. But given that it is somewhat lower budget, we have decided to leave the existing texture, retexture any drywall repairs, and leave the walls that have no texture as is. However, I will keep in mind all your responses and likely I will run across another situation where I will need to do the skim coating to remove texture. I used to sub out this sort of stuff, but I just can’t afford to do that anymore and need to broaden my skills. Thank you for your responses.

neolitic

Don't be such a stranger.

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