Match texturing

I just added a new section of drywall to an existing wall. Now I have to texture it to match the existing wall. The texture in the existing wall looks like this (hard to see, I know). The entire house has this kind of texturing so I figure it was done with a machine and not manually.

How can I match it?

 

Looks like it might be orange peel which is often thinned down joint compound sprayed thru a hopper gun. How thick/thin the texture is determines how prominent the texture is. How big of a section do you need to texture?

 

Best bet, hire a pro sheetrock company.
Even then there likely going to have to retexture the whole wall to get it to match.

 

You will want to cut back the texture at the seam between old and new enough to insert joint tape. Mud the raw side as you normally would and what ever feathers into the texture, have a wet sponge handy to blend the compound into the texture. The joint compound will fill in all the indents in the texture and want to leave you with a smooth wall. The sponge will allow you to gradually transition from texture to smooth.

Then you will need to rent a hopper gun and an air compressor. Practice on a piece of cardboard. Thin down some joint compound so that it if you took a heavy marble (round) and placed it on top of the compound, it would just sink below the surface. You don't want it to drop immediately below and you don't want it to float above. Then start at the smallest opening setting on the hopper and about 20 lbs of pressure and start spattering your cardboard to see if can replicate the pattern. Spray from 4' away and go back and forth until you get good saturation gently overspraying into the old texture to blend the two together. Wait overnight for it to dry. Then take a 12" putty knife and scrape it along the whole wall to knock off any buggers and high spots. Prime with a new drywall primer and paint.

If first attempt looks like dung, scrape it while it is wet and try again. Sometimes placing a utility light close to the wall (but out of spray pattern) will help you gauge how your spray is going. Oh, and mask off everything in the room including floor, ceiling, furniture and anything else you don't want spray on.

 

Not very big, just about 8' x 4'

 

I don't like the aerosol cans of texture but you might be able to get an acceptable job using them. Ideally you'd mix up the texture and spray it thru a hopper gun. As Z stated, it's not rocket science and if it doesn't come out right it's no big deal to either scrape it off while wet or sand it down when dry so you can try again.

It's also possible to roll on the texture but it won't be a perfect match