According to painting contractor Noah Kanter, when faced with damaged walls and a damaged ceiling or a textured ceiling you want to be smooth, the best repair method is to skim-coat the surfaces. Skim-coating can make a huge difference in the look and feel of a room, and compared with other home-improvement projects, it’s not that expensive.
In this article, Kanter explains his process from start to finish. He begins by thoroughly sanding the surfaces to be coated, then repairing and priming damaged areas. He then applies the first coat of compound, first to the ceiling and then to the walls.
When the first coat has dried, he gives it a light sanding before applying the second coat. Two or three coats are enough for most projects. With the skim-coating done, Kanter gives the surfaces a final sanding before priming them.
Too Much Texture
Sometimes I get calls from prospective clients wondering what’s involved and how much it will cost to remove textured ceilings from one or more rooms in their house. It’s hard to give an answer because a lot of textured ceilings come off easily, while others—like the ceiling shown in this article—are too labor intensive to remove and you have to smooth the surface another way.
The best method I’ve found to smooth over tenacious textures and large expanses of damaged drywall is to apply two or three skim coats of joint compound to the surface, with light sandings between coats and before a coat of drywall primer. On this project, which happens to be a duplex I own, the ceiling’s popcorn texture had been painted over several times, and the walls were covered with 1/4-in.-thick dark wood paneling.
When properly wetted, lightly painted and unpainted ceiling texture can often be removed with an 8-in. or 10-in. drywall knife in a single pass with little or no damage. Unfortunately, wet-scraping adds drying time and often damages taped joints that are prone to peeling and tearing when wet. And if the texture has been painted multiple times, as it had on this project, wet-scraping won’t work.
A Resistant Ceiling
This ceiling’s textured, painted surface resisted sanding and wet-scraping to the point where I decided a skim coat of compound was the only option. The problem with the walls was different, but the solution was the same. Likely installed in the 1970s or early ’80s, the paneling was attached with 1-in.-long ring-shanked nails. When I removed the paneling, I was left with hundreds of little holes to fix.
Skim-coating a ceiling with a dingy texture makes a room feel bigger, and it is faster and less expensive than hanging and finishing new drywall. Walls like the ones shown here with their hundreds of nail holes will also benefit from a skim coat of compound.
Even after spackling, filled holes will likely show through with raking light, especially under paints with moderate or high levels of gloss. However, two or three skim coats of compound provide a uniform surface that looks good with nearly any paint or lighting condition.
Good Tools Help
Skim-coating means sanding large sections of drywall three or four times, which produces a lot of dust. Enclosing the space and cleaning every day to manage dust collection is labor intensive.
Because of this, my Festool Planex drywall sander is my go-to tool for dealing with texture and many other tasks. It’s faster and less tiring than hand-sanding; more importantly, when equipped with a HEPA vacuum, it saves a lot of time that I would otherwise spend protecting the rest of the house from dust and on daily cleanup.
The sander’s suction also helps hold the sanding head to the ceiling, so it both figuratively and literally carries its own weight. If a Planex is too expensive (it costs around $1400), consider another vacuum-connected power drywall sander.
Skim-coating completely changes the feel of a space for relatively little money compared to many other home-improvement projects. For a space with 8-ft. ceilings like the one shown here, I give myself a week to complete the job from start to finish. It often won’t take 40 hours, but the coats need time to dry overnight.
The Full, Step-by-Step Process
Start by Sanding
Removing ceiling texture is a good reason to get a drywall sander. Sanding removes unpainted or lightly painted texture quickly with little mess, and you don’t have to wait for the ceiling to dry before moving on to other steps, as you do when wet-scraping. Even if all the texture is not removed, sanding reduces the necessary thickness of skim coats for easier application and faster drying.
Protect the Space: Whether repairing damage or covering texture, skim-coating starts with clearing the room of furnishings and protecting the floor, built-ins, and anything that can’t be removed from the space. Roofing underlayment with taped seams and edges makes sturdy waterproof floor protection.
Tame Textures: I use my Festool Planex drywall sander to knock down the texture’s peaks so that I can apply a thinner coat of compound later. I use 60- or 80-grit pads to remove texture. My goal is to remove 20% to 30% of the texture and then move on. I work in a grid pattern to make sure I don’t miss spots.
Clean Up Corners: A smaller dust-collecting sander equipped with 80-grit paper flattens the texture where the ceiling meets the wall. Any texture on the walls must be removed or flattened too. A 4-ft.-long work platform allows me to reach 6-ft. to 8-ft. sections at a time.
Low-Cost Option: The Full Circle Dust-Free Sanding System ($200) is how I sanded walls and ceilings before I bought the Planex. It provides good dust collection but is a little flimsy—and as with any manual setup, it’s not up to the challenge of sanding resistant texture, and sanding compound is hard work.
Skim-Coat Ceilings
Before skimming, I repair damaged drywall and prime repaired sections with drywall primer. When necessary I use drywall repair primers like Gardz from Zinsser, which stabilize the untreated brown paper and prevent it from bubbling. Let the primer dry fully before skim-coating.
Mix the Compound: For large areas, I set up a 1⁄2-in. mixing drill, but a paint mixer in a cordless drill is fine for smaller jobs. I start with a half-bucket of normal or lightweight all-purpose joint compound so I have room for mixing. I add a few ounces of water and mix until it looks like frosting with distinct ridges.
Pick a Corner: I roll a 1⁄8-in.-thick layer of compound on the ceiling using a MudRoller, which is designed for rolling joint compound. I start in a corner and work outward in sections of 30 to 40 sq. ft. at a time. Start smoothing before the compound starts setting, which makes it harder to smooth. Temperature and humidity will affect how much time you have.
Smooth In One Direction: Starting at the inside corner between the walls and ceiling and holding the finishing blade at approximately a 30° angle, I smooth the compound by pulling the blade parallel to the drywall butt seams. I overlap passes by a few inches.
Smooth in the Other Direction: Once I finish smoothing the layer of compound in one direction, I take another pass perpendicular to the butt seams. Once again I hold the blade at a 30° angle and overlap passes by a few inches.
Add More Mud: If you find that a section of compound you’ve applied is insufficient to fill the low spots in the texture, roll on more compound and apply a thicker layer in subsequent sections.
Clean Corners: I make an effort to reach fully into corners with the larger finishing tool, but for touching up, I scrape excess compound and smooth corner sections with an 8-in. or 10-in. taping knife as I go along.
Touch Up and Let It Dry: Once the ceiling is fully skim-coated with compound and smoothed, I look for low spots, ridges, and other imperfections. I fill or smooth them before I leave for the day or move on to something else.
Skim-Coat Walls
Before skimming these walls, I primed them with a shellac-based primer to seal in the nicotine stains and then filled and sanded the nail holes left by the ’70s-era paneling with 3M High Strength Small Hole Repair filler. The primer prevents the wet compound from reactivating the brown stains, causing them to bleed through the compound. The process for skimming walls and ceilings is similar, but these walls required thinner coats of compound in comparison to the textured ceiling.
Start by Sanding: I use 150-grit paper to smooth the spackle that fills the nail holes. I sand in sections from left to right, being careful not to miss spots. Sanding also gives the walls some texture so the compound sticks reliably.
Roll on the Compound: A roller’s worth of compound goes farther on these walls than on the textured ceiling. There are no nail holes at the very tops of the walls, so I save time and keep compound off the ceiling by starting about 1 in. below the inside corner.
Smooth Up and Down…: Working from left to right, I smooth the walls with the finishing blade. On tall walls I use the handle to reach the top of the walls and then remove the handle to smooth the lower parts. On these 8-ft. walls, I don’t need the extension.
…And Side to Side: Once I’ve smoothed up and down, I smooth side to side starting in the corner and working from left to right. I work fast, as the thin coat of compound dries quickly, especially in warm conditions with low humidity.
Touch Up Small Areas: After smoothing with the finishing blade, I smooth small areas like those around electrical devices and the top and bottom of inside corners. Before leaving for the day, I set up a dehumidifier to speed drying if I plan to sand and add a second coat the next day.
Fix Gaps, Cracks, and Holes
Damage to drywall joints and missing or poorly adhered joint tape should be fixed before the first skim coat. The exception is taped joints under texture. These require smoothing the surface before you can reapply joint tape.
Repair Drywall Tape: Ideally, taped seams and holes are repaired before skim-coating, but you need a smooth surface under new tape, so I had to coat with compound and sand before taping this corner.
Apply Compound, Embed Tape, and Smooth: To repair taped joints, I apply a layer of compound and place a piece of prefolded joint tape into the corner, then smooth it to force out the excess compound. Once the tape is bedded, I apply a thin coat of compound over the tape.
Skim a Second Coat
Applied much like the first coat, a second skim coat of compound further smooths the walls and ceiling. While the first coat builds thickness, successive coats are for smoothing the surface. Two or three skim coats are enough for most projects and finishes. Additional coats may be required for high-gloss paint.
Start With a Light Sand: I give the first skim coat a light sanding using 180-grit paper and a soft-surface interface pad on the Planex and 220-grit on the DTS 400 that I use for corners. Stop when the high spots are mostly flattened to avoid oversanding.
Wrap, Don’t Wash: It’s unnecessary to wash the MudRoller roller cover between coats and even between jobs. Instead, I keep it wrapped in plastic to prevent it from drying out. I also use the plastic to remove the small chunks of dried compound that build up in the end before I start using it.
Roll and Smooth: I apply compound to the ceiling and walls like I did for the first skim coat. A roller’s worth of compound spreads farther than it does on the first coat, so the sections I cover are a little larger. Again, I first smooth the compound parallel to the butt seams, and then perpendicular.
Small Tools for Small Areas: For hallway walls and ceilings and other tight spots where the MudRoller and finishing blade won’t fit, I use a wide taping knife to spread and smooth a thin layer of compound. I prefer thin, flexible joint knives with round corners, which make it easier to get a smooth surface.
Prep and Prime
For the final sanding, the goal is to flatten the high spots and do minimal smoothing on the low ones. If there are still a lot of imperfections, another coat of compound may be in order. Small imperfections can be handled post-primer with 3M Small Hole Repair compound.
Sand Corners: I like to use a combination of the Festool RTS 400 with an interface pad (made for soft substrates) and 220-grit paper, and an angled fine sanding sponge that reaches fully into corners. I also carry a taping knife to scrape down any compound in the corners using repeated jabs to shave the compound away.
Sand the Ceiling: After I sand the corners, I use 220-grit paper with the interface pad on the entire ceiling. Like previous steps, I work around the room in a grid system, overlapping passes by a few inches.
Sand the Walls: Like the ceiling, I sand the walls with 220-grit paper and the interface pad. I use the Planex for large sections and the RTS 400 around outlets and corners. Tool-triggered dust-collection helps keep the space clean during all the sanding steps.
Look for Defects: Using a handheld LED, I shine light across the surface to look for imperfections. It’s easy to fix imperfections now but increasingly more difficult as the project moves on to top coats of paint.
Clean Up Dust: Before priming, I remove dust from the walls and ceilings with a vacuum and sweep out corners with a dry paintbrush. Many drywall finishers say this step is unnecessary, but it only takes a few minutes and ensures that the primer will be fully adhered to the drywall.
Mix and Strain the Primer: PVA primer is the traditional prep coat for new drywall, though I prefer Benjamin Moore Drywall Primer, which spatters less and leaves fewer ridges than PVA. I thoroughly mix and strain it before filling a roller pan.
Prep for Paint: I start priming in the corners with a 4-in. mini roller and 2-in. brush before rolling the field with a larger roller. Applying drywall primer to a skim coat takes more backrolling than putting paint on a wall to fully seal the porous surface. For larger areas, I use an airless sprayer to apply the primer and then backroll.
— Noah Kanter; owner of Nth Degree Painting in Chittenden County, Vt. Photos by Patrick McCombe.
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