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Drywall Texture

borgward | Posted in Construction Techniques on March 29, 2009 04:42am

Anybody have experience w/Graco drywall texture pump that Home Depot rents?

Whats the difference between Sheetrock brand drywall mud and their prepackaged texture? The rental guy told me that the prepackaged texture was too thick for the pump and needed to be thinned down. They supply a steel ball to measure viscosity. Ball stays on top, too thick. Ball plummets to the bottom, too thin. I’m thinking just use the mud if I am going to have to thin anyway.

What is light weight mud for? Ceilings?

Downstairs has 12′ walls. won’t texture those ceilings as they are beams and beaded ceiling board.

I will be texturing the upstairs ceilings. 10′ ceilings.

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Replies

  1. rez | Mar 29, 2009 07:12pm | #1

    Greetings borgward,

    This post, in response to your question, will bump the thread through the 'recent discussion' listing again which will increase it's viewing.

    Perhaps it will catch someone's attention that can help you with advice.

    Cheers

    94969.19  In the beginning there was Breaktime...

    94969.1  Photo Gallery Table of Contents

     

  2. User avater
    Ted W. | Mar 29, 2009 07:19pm | #2

    I don't know about Sheetrock in particular, but texture has granules in it, such as formiculite or similar agragate. I think it also has latex in it, which joint compound doesn't.

    I don't see why you can't use joint compound as long as it gives you the texture you want.

    ~ Ted W ~

    Tool Auctions - MyToolbox.net
    See my work - TedsCarpentry.com

    1. User avater
      BillHartmann | Mar 30, 2009 01:37am | #5

      "I don't know about Sheetrock in particular, but texture has granules in it, such as formiculite or similar agragate."I think that some of them use styrene bits. At least that is what is used for some of the patching materials.But only the "popcorn" or acoustical textures have granules in them.There are a number of other textures that don't. For spraying orange peel and knockdown are 2..
      William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe

  3. User avater
    G80104 | Mar 29, 2009 07:37pm | #3

    Last house we built, one stick at a time on weekends, uphill both ways to get there,

    We bought a Graco RTX 900 texture pump from Home Depot. It's list price was $688. It was a floor model & we left with it for $350 out the door. Textured the house, 225 sheet with a knock down texture. The machine worked like a Champ!  Took a full 2 days 11-12 hrs a day to texture.  I could not find any of the Big texture outfits in the city that were willing to drive the 125 miles to do the job. Locals gave quote in the $2500 range to do the work.

     I do have past drywall experience, hopper hooked up to an air compressor. The Graco is about 10 times faster then that method.

     We use the Plus 3 light weight mud most of the time, all around.

    If there is a drywall supply house in your area, buy bagged texture from them. Trick is to let the mix sit, overnight if you can before you apply. What type of texture are you going to spray? I never have much luck with using joint compound as texture.

    Few months after we finished the drywall I sold the Graco to a drywall contractor for $350. Would have been nice to keep but I still have my hopper for the small jobs we do now & then.

     Good luck with your project!

    1. borgward | Mar 29, 2009 09:55pm | #4

      What kind of texture?I built my house Johnny Cash style. One stick at a time.Finished out enough of the house to move into and stop paying rent.I am not a drywall pro, and have a lot of things to cover up. No apologies to anyone. I plan on doing whats called a heavy Monterrey Drag around here. My house is not perfect, but is nice and have no mortgage to pay. No foreclosure problems.I used drywall mud to texture the first part of the house. The kitchen had it mixed w/latex paint and rolled on. Bummer. A friend used a hopper to spray it on the dining room. I thinned down the mud and slung it on w/a brush and knocked it down in the bedroom. The texture is holding up well in all three rooms.I have 180 sheets to texture in the rest of the house. I looked at the Taunton Press drywall book, but was not impressed. They need to put out something comparable to their "Very Efficient Framer" that came w/video tape or DVD. I knew all the framing details, but did not know how to go about it in an efficient manner.

    2. borgward | Apr 18, 2009 07:00pm | #6

      About the Graco pump.How long can it sit idle w/texture in it before it clogs up? 1 minute? 5 minute? I am doing a heavy knockdown. How long do I have to wait to knock it down?

      1. User avater
        popawheelie | Apr 18, 2009 07:51pm | #7

        I haven't done much texture but from what I remember it dries pretty fast. The moisture gets sucked out of it by the drywall.

        Test it with your finger about ten minutes after it is sprayed. It should have some body or you will end up loosing your texture.

        We sprayed about half of a small/medium room before we stopped and started knocking it down. Ten minutes? "There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."Will Rogers

      2. User avater
        G80104 | Apr 20, 2009 06:02am | #8

        The machine can sit for hours with texture in it & it will not clog, the one I had could hold about 5 gals of texture. We would spray & knock down, then come back a few hrs latter & spray more without any problems.

         For the Knock down. we used a tool called the Magic Trowel http://www.texmaster.com We got ours at the local Drywall supply house.

        We knock down right after we spray the texture on, no waiting, just go light on the Magic Trowel. It helps if you do the learning curve inside closet, once you get the hang of it, you can come out of the Closet, & get with the program.

         I have seen the same rig in the local Home Depots around here that rent tools for $65 a day, just check to make sure they have a selection of tips for different size types of texture knockdown.

                           Good Luck!

        1. rez | Apr 20, 2009 02:48pm | #9

          Did you round over the two end edges of the Magic Trowel?

          I'm tempted to as ever once in a while it'll leave a light draw line where the edge of the tool meets the wall and makes you have to go back and deal with it.half of good living is staying out of bad situations

          1. User avater
            G80104 | Apr 20, 2009 04:13pm | #10

            No on the round edges, it's edge is made out of soft rubber & if you pull light enough we have yet to have any problems with drag marks.

            Would post a picture , but were back on dial-up. We use the 22" Magic Trowel with an 14" for tight spots.

               On a side note we got pounded with Snow here Thursday-Sat. 28" at the house skiing knee deep Powder for the past 3 days, most resorts closed Sun 4-19 me & my ski posse all got Grins that will last into summer!

          2. rez | Apr 20, 2009 04:52pm | #11

            22" Magic Trowel. Wow, didn't even know one was made that large as the SW paint store only had the 14".

            I'll have to ask them about that.half of good living is staying out of bad situations

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