I'm afraid of the answers I'm going to get (paint, sink, sand)

[tahiti]

Many years ago, when I apparently was not of sound mind , decided to paint my master bath in a "sand" finish. It looks ok, but I've grown tired of it and want to completely remodel (not gut, just decorating-wise) it and remove the finish - how do I do that? Has anyone attempted? Have you lived to tell the tale?

TIA

[GregW]

Use any of the less hazardous paint removing techniques. Paint is paint. The sand was added for texture.

[Cosmic]

Just try going over it with a drywall sanding screen. Is the typical way to get dirt and crap out of a coat of paint between coats.

Should work to get the sand and bumps out of your paint without having to actually remove most of the layer of paint. Should give a nice smooth surface to repaint without too much work. Might go thru a few sanding screens. Do not use sand paper, sanding screens work so much better and do not clog as bad or throw off as much dust. Hand sand only. Put a fan in the window to blow out. Good to have a fan(s) blowing into house in another room(s) to pressurize the house and prevent crap from getting back into the rest of the house. Close door in bath but not air tight.

Be sure to plug tub and sink drains before sanding. Vacuum it all up afterwards. Never flush any sanding junk down drains. One good trick is use the vacuum hose with the drywall screen. If you want to get real tricky they make a tool that attaches to the vacuum and is designed to hold a drywall sanding screen. Bon Tool sells them. (Web search) should be ~$20. It has a water trap bucket in the hose line to trap all the sanding junk in a water bath. Works good with a wet / dry shop vac. Remove its filter, suck on the water bath bucket, put another hose in the vac discharge, throw that out the window.

If you have the proper lash up, get almost no sanding junk in the room, don't even have to wear a mask. Use both the fans and vacuum tool for the Pro approach. Cleaning persons will love you for it, so will your lungs.

[BobKovacs]

As said above, get some sandpaper or sanding screens, and get the heavy stuff off. You'll probably have to put a light skim-coat on the walls to get them smooth enough for paint afterwards. Please tell me that it was just the paint with a little sand in it though, and not the stuff that you trowel on and swirl around with a brush to make it look like stucco? That stuff is deadly if you rub against the wall.....lol.

[sgresident]

I think that sanding is your only option. when that paint finish first came out, I was really tempted by it, then I realized what I would have to do when I was tired of it and wanted a change. hope all works out.

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by sgresident

I think that sanding is your only option. when that paint finish first came out, I was really tempted by it, then I realized what I would have to do when I was tired of it and wanted a change. hope all works out.

yeah, i honestly don't know what i was thinking, lol. thanks!

[tahiti]

thanks everyone - cosmic, I will print out your post and start investigating the tools you mention. This isn't going to be fun (and a freakin' mess), but I suspected as much. Sand finish is my new wallpaper - never again!

thanks