We spray texture quite often at our company, NorthWestern Contractors. Wall texture is the bumpy stuff on your homes walls and ceiling. If texture was not applied to those walls, then the surface would be smooth. There are many styles of texture, however in this post we will focus on “orange peel” texture. In the US, most residential properties are sprayed with texture and orange peel is the most common style. Commonly, residential properties will often have “knockdown” style texture applied to ceilings. Knockdown is simply texture that has been sprayed onto a ceiling and flattened with a trowel or drywall knife. In this post we will discuss the spray can texture and hopper/compressor applied texture, and how they are applied to drywall.
How To Spray Texture a Wall
Since we are talking about orange peel spray texture in this post, we will first look at how it is applied to a wall. Note that the method of application does not differ much between texture sprayed from a hopper or can, the technique is pretty much the same for both. Also, this post is focusing on SMALL texture jobs. The tools required for large or even medium texture jobs are different. Application is simple. Take a piece of cardboard, some construction paper or some masking plastic and place it against your wall. You will use this to test your spray pattern until you achieve your desired look. Spray against your test medium and adjust pressure until desired look is achieved. When spraying your walls, spray with circular motions. Always keep the sprayer in motion or you risk blasting a spot with too much material.
Air Compressor & Hopper
For small to mid-sized spray texture jobs, we prefer to use an air compressor and hopper gun with premixed texture. Premixed texture comes in 4 gallon boxes and needs to be thinned down before used. Mix water into the texture and until the consistency is slightly heavier than pancake batter. Learning this takes experience, but luckily you can test the consistency of the texture by practice spraying on cardboard. For your standard orange peel, we set our air compressor to 100-120 psi output, depending on how thing the texture is. Hopper gun kits also come with various sized tips. Use the smaller hole tip for fine texture and the larger hole for heavy texture.
Canned Spray Texture
Spray texture in a can is great for very small jobs. It is costly but we save on preparation and clean up costs when using canned spray texture. Firstly, shake the can hard for 1-2 minutes before spraying. Use the dial on the top of the trigger to dial in spray thickness. Be sure to test spray on some cardboard or painters plastic. We love using oil based spray texture because it dries in 5-20 minutes and can then be primed and painted. Oil spray texture is awesome for saving on dry time. Water based textures can take 6-18 hours to dry.
Conclusion
There is much more to talk about when it comes to spray texture. In this post, we focused on orange peel style and how to apply for SMALL jobs. Larger jobs require more equipment, that home owners are unlikely to have or go out and purchase. If you need some texture sprayed in Vancouver, WA and surrounding areas, consider giving us a call or filling out the contact form below. Thanks for reading!