[srt1010]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I am at a loss. I moved from New York about 5 years ago. I have never seen interior walls like what we have in this city in my life. I have no idea what material it is that is over the drywall. I guess it's stucco? Or what the purpose of it is. Is it to hide the crappy job or to cover up laziness? Why is it on the walls? How is it applied? More importantly, how do you repair it?

My son dropped a heavy object on the corner bead joining two pieces of drywall. It slid down and scraped off all the "material" that is over the drywall and now you can see the metal rounded corner bead. Also have some other areas in the house where it's scraped off. Obviously can't just paint over it because it won't be the right texture and it will be 3/8 of an inch lower than the rest of the wall. Back east there is no such thing as anything being scraped off a wall. It is simply drywall and then paint. So I would just have to re-paint at the most.

Can someone please help? This is ridiculous.

[lvmensch]

It is called dry wall compound or "mud".

Here is a how to do it. There are also spray cans of stuff to approximate finishes. It can require skill to do other than a smooth finish. It is often a handy man skill and can be gotten done reasonably cheaply.


https://www.wikihow.com/Finish-Drywall

[srt1010]

Originally Posted by lvmensch

It is called dry wall compound or "mud".

Here is a how to do it. There are also spray cans of stuff to approximate finishes. It can require skill to do other than a smooth finish. It is often a handy man skill and can be gotten done reasonably cheaply.


https://www.wikihow.com/Finish-Drywall

Thanks for the reply. The article you linked looks nothing like the texture over the walls in my house. The walls in my house are not smooth. They look like more like the outside of the homes here with a rough texture. Are there tutorials that show how to replicate the walls here? How do they get the texture on the walls when the house is built? Is it sprayed on? There is drywall and then 3/8 of an inch of compound textured over every wall in the house. I didn't mean just the corners.

[WestieJeff]

Nearly every home I have seen has orange peel or knockdown texture, both of which are sprayed on.

I have seen a few older homes with a skip trowel type finish. As I understand it, those are applied manually and would be difficult to match.

[srt1010]

Originally Posted by WestieJeff

Nearly every home I have seen has orange peel or knockdown texture, both of which are sprayed on.

I have seen a few older homes with a skip trowel type finish. As I understand it, those are applied manually and would be difficult to match.

Thanks for responding. I just googled orange peel/knockdown and that is definitely it.

Do you think it is something that should be left to a professional? Is it hard to fill in little holes and whatnot without having the big professional sprayer? Or should I try home depot and grab a can of the cheap stuff to fill it in?

[lvmensch]

Originally Posted by srt1010

Thanks for responding. I just googled orange peel/knockdown and that is definitely it.

Do you think it is something that should be left to a professional? Is it hard to fill in little holes and whatnot without having the big professional sprayer? Or should I try home depot and grab a can of the cheap stuff to fill it in?

For a small area you can fake it pretty easily...just mold mud to approximate. As I told you in the first response there are spray cans that can approximate some finishes. Talk to a hardware store guy as to what might work for you. I am in general pretty handy and I would hire someone if it was much more than a couple of square inches. Takes skill to do well.

[srt1010]

Originally Posted by lvmensch

For a small area you can fake it pretty easily...just mold mud to approximate. As I told you in the first response there are spray cans that can approximate some finishes. Talk to a hardware store guy as to what might work for you. I am in general pretty handy and I would hire someone if it was much more than a couple of square inches. Takes skill to do well.

Thanks!

[WestieJeff]

Originally Posted by srt1010

Thanks for responding. I just googled orange peel/knockdown and that is definitely it.

Do you think it is something that should be left to a professional? Is it hard to fill in little holes and whatnot without having the big professional sprayer? Or should I try home depot and grab a can of the cheap stuff to fill it in?

I've used the can stuff as well as a full size pro sprayer. Both take skill to have a great match (skill I don't have!) If you're not super picky then you can pull off a decent match with the can stuff. I recommend practicing with the spray can stuff on a piece of cardboard until you like the results. Also, after you spray the texture on the wall, I recommend priming before painting it.

[WVREDLEG]

For a knockdown effect you can spray on with a can and trowel lightly to flatten the "lumps". The uneven distribution of the spray is what creates the texture.

All of our homes in TX had knockdown textured walls. My rental properties further east have smooth finishes. I don't know why it is so popular, but the textured walls consume tremendous amounts of paint to get all those low points covered. Try painting a white wall with a dark color.......sheesh.