What is this wall texture technique and how can I get rid of it?
This wall texture came with the house and, well, I hate it. It makes the room look dirty and cluttered, and the weird gray-green color doesn't help. Does this technique have a name? It seems really well-adhered and it's got a thick protective/shiny coating over it, so I'm sure it'll be a pain to remove. Could I wallpaper over it?
Answers ( 1 )
It appears your walls were free-form textured with a putty of some sort- looks like a skip-trowel or Santa Fe- and it also appears either no one has ever washed the walls, or the previous artists tried to antique the surface after creating the texture and painting it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW2w8hzLn8k
I can see why you would like to get rid of it.
Textured walls do two things: They provide interest with the textured pattern which is inexpensive (usually) and they can often hide small amounts of dirt- like children's fingerprints and such. There are some wonderful tetures out there- beautiful fan shapes, and laid-back blocks of geometric lines- but, mostly, it's orange peel and its variants.
In your case, the finish- the final layer- is likely NOT the texture material, but a lacquer paint- a high-gloss finish- probably meant to make it look excitingly industrial, or maybe oddly neutral- hard to say. You can paint over it** in a more appealing hue, but you will still have the texture. If you clean your walls regularly, it won't get that antiqued look, but it's a big job, and needs done at least once a year. With my mother, we kids "spotted the walls" once a month around doors, switches, windows and wherever folks were wont to lay their hands on a wall- and I only remember actually cleaning walls once- which is done- pro-tip- from the bottom up- not the top down.
You cannot wallpaper over that- the texture will show through or the paper won't stick. There are a few ways to get rid of that texture, these are easiest, to me:
Sanding- sand the texture off and hope you do it well enough you don't just create dips and hillocks; or, re-mud the walls. https://www.remodelista.com/posts/how-to-get-rid-of-textured-walls/
The stuff used to finish walls is called "mud", and it is smoothed over usually drywall, then lightly sanded and the surface painted or papered. This will be a big job, but I think re-mudding the walls is your easiest and least-costly choice. If you have a friend in the building trades, might be a good idea to get him or her to help- although I know youtube has videos that teach almost anything. You will simply add a layer of smooth mud over the top of the textured walls, let it dry, lightly sand, then paint or paper as you wish. I have to tell you, if you have no experience doing any of this kind of work, you might want to hire a professional. Messing this up will be an expensive and very time-consuming, messy mistake.
Here is a stunning example of drywall mud being used to create art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqwgB9A6teY And something to make you drool- whether you want it in your house or not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbfQIAMzxkM (<-----takes awhile to get interesting)
**You will need to sand the surface a bit to rough it up, or the paint will streak- it will slide off the surface somewhat.