Hi,

I'm having a heck of a time matching the orange peel texture in my house. The problem is that it's quite subdued compared to other orange peel textures I've seen, and it starts to look "off" when painted. I've come pretty darn close, but somewhat accidentally and it's hard to stay consistent. I'm hoping someone can give me a few pointers. Here is a close-up of my wall in sunlight (original):



First: I have one of these that I have used for some textures in that past somewhat successfully. Unfortunately, it's too "splattery" for my walls. I find myself having to sand down the sharp ridges it produces to get the look and feel, but after sanding the bumps just don't look right, it's very clear it's not the same method the original painters used. When using the PowerTEX, the texture looks like this (before sanding):



....after a bit of sanding it looks okay on its own, but it doesn't come close to matching the wall. The most success I've had is with a 3/8-inch nap roller and very watery mud. I soak the roller with the mud and roll it onto the wall, I then clean the brush and roll over it slightly moist a second time. The slight damp brush seems to "squash down" the sharp ridges of the drywall and give that squashed effect. The best I've done (and it's really hard to be consistent across large-ish areas) is this:



...it looks pretty darn close! But I only managed to do it a couple of times on spare drywall; once I start trying to do it again on the actual wall, it becomes inconsistent.

At this point I feel like I'm engaged in battle with these walls and it's a matter of principle to get it right. I have a lot of repair and reworking to do and I really want to match the original texture as much as possible. I'd really rather not mud all the walls in the same room just to match a few spots.

I hope someone can give advice. Buying new hardware is a definite option; getting it right and learning is the goal here. If anyone has matched / created any texture that looks like the original (top) picture, I'd love to hear how you did it.

 

I have a goldblatt hopper and it has a dial over the nozzle that allows you to use different size holes. Am I understanding correctly that your hopper gun only has 3 settings ?? Thinning the mud a little more may help. Also feathering the texture out over a larger area will make the texture difference less noticeable.

 

Have you tried the aerosol cans of texture? Had a house in CA with textured walls and with some practice I was able to get it pretty close. of course they are all different!

 

Hey,

Yes, in fact I'm not altogether happy with this gun. You can pull and hold the trigger half or full to change the spray size a bit too. One problem I have with it (aside from just the three levels), is that it tends to spray "chunks" alongside the finer spray. Perhaps I'm not mixing the mud well enough? So, for example, if I spray with it then I'll get a fine texture followed by a blob that'll shoot out randomly. I've watched several YouTube videos of people using it and they didn't seem to have the problem, but I do for some reason.

...it sounds like you've had good luck with the sprayer method, then. I think that must be the thing I need to figure out.

 

Hi. I have, actually. It's not a bad idea, but the problem is I have a rather large space to tackle. The cans seem to work well for a patch job, but I've got many such patch jobs. I might give it a go on this, though. Thanks for the response.

 

There are several things that can cause that, improper mixing of the mud, stopping and starting that allows mud to build up on the tip and equipment failure [often from improper cleaning]

 

It's actually brand new and started doing that almost out of the starting gate. I guess it's likely improper mixing of the mud. When I first tried it, the mud wasn't thinned out enough and actually clogged up the nozzle. I'm using premixed mud and watering it down, but I'm stirring it by hand and not using a mud mixer. Maybe that's the reason I'm having little luck with it.

 

While I've mixed small amounts of mud by hand in a mud pan, I've never tried mixing texture by hand - I always use a paddle and drill. That sounds like the most likely reason for your issues.

 

Spot repairs yes.

And, like trying to touch up paint, you may have to just respray the entire wall to get the desired texture.

 

I do acres and acres of patching. I am always looking for a better way short of dragging in a hopper and compressor. For small patches less than abut 4’ square I used aerosol cans. No those really complicated sophisticated looking ones. The Homax ones with a variable sized nozzle. They are pretty expensive. Then I the tried the sprayer you have. I was just not fine enough for some walls. I got the EZ Tex sprayer. The material comes in little bags that you squeeze to control thge flow. This works well for fine orange peel. I don’t do so well with knockdown. But you have to have air. I bought a little, quiet compressor that I can Carry from room to room. it does not quite keep up with the air demand but recovers quickly. I sometimes use the little Harbor Freight hopper. It does fine but takes more air therefore a larger, heavier louder compressor.
You can do a lot of good by experimenting with mud consistency, air volume and pressure, distance from the wall and Nozzle size. Try using some tape and make an elongated cone with a smaller orifice for the rig you have. If you don’t have a compressor the aerosols are hard to beat. start fine and go heavier with a second pass if you need it. Goo side to side with one pass and u0 and down with a second. Remember yu are not looking for 100% coverage. New work is never 100% covered. it is just nice and even.