How should I attack this wall?

Question

Hey BP,

I’m about to find myself with a lot of free time and thought it would be a good idea to knock out one of the projects in a home I recently purchased. We are tearing these wooden boards off from the bottom half of the wall, and I definitely underestimated how many layers would be pulled off. Since I have no drywall experience whatsoever, other than paint, I have a few questions that hopefully somebody who knows what they’re doing can answer.

- What would be the best way to handle the top layer that’s still painted? I was planning on just taking an electric sander to it and going to town.

- What’s the product I’ll need to apply to the cardboard looking layer when I knock all the edges down?

- What is the easiest way to texture?

- Should I stop while I’m ahead and just hire a pro?

I really appreciate any advice you guys have. Thanks!

JD Martin · Answer

As best as I can tell, you tore off the top paper layer of drywall when you removed the bottom boards. That's probably not your fault, as they were likely glued in place.

So, two ways to handle it other than covering it with something else:

1. Cut out the bottom 4 feet of drywall (you can see the seam in your picture, look at the area just above the torn paper in the purple paint), put up new 4x8/4x12 sheets of drywall, tape, mud, sand and repaint;

2. Skim coat the bottom area where you've torn off the paper, feather into the purple, sand, repeat until you can't recognize where one starts and the other stops with the palm of your hand and your eyes closed.

#1 is probably faster, and is what most drywall guys are going to recommend. #2 is definitely cheaper if you do it yourself, probably more money if you have a drywall guy do it, less disruptive than tearing out the old drywall but way more mess from sanding.

You can skim coat that yourself with decent results if you're willing to take your time, buy a few tools, and stop when you see something getting screwed up - most newbies think they can just keep going over drywall screw ups to hide it. If you want to skim coat it yourself, you need: 8 & 12 inch drywall knives, a mud bucket, a 5 gallon bucket for mixing, 45 or 90 minute drywall mix, and a bucket of premixed drywall mud. Plus some sanding sponges and a dust mask, and a shop vac with a drywall bag inside it (otherwise you will destroy your shop vac with dust).

Mix up a decent sized batch of drywall mix - DO NOT use the premixed for your starter coats, it is too soft - and start applying it at a decent enough angle & thickness to cover all that rough paper at the bottom. Use the 12" knife everywhere you can, the 8 inch for corners. You might even need a 6" knife if you have some tight spots. Work in areas small enough that the mud doesn't harden while you are working; if you think you will be slow buy the 90 minute set mix. Once you have everything covered, clean up and quit. Once it is set hard enough that you can't dent it with your finger, lightly run a clean knife over the ridges and knock them off. Repeat the whole process if you didn't get all the paper covered. Once it is completely hard, you can sand. Use a lamp close to the wall to see your high and low spots - you can also use a long level to make sure you are applying & sanding even. Once you get that sanded to where it's pretty smooth and close to blended with the top, you're going to use your premixed mud to put another coat, very thin, blending it into the top. This is going to fill all the voids and air bubble holes from your premixed. Let this dry at least a day, maybe 2, then lightly sand and repeat if you have to until you can't notice the transition from the skim coat to the old wall. Then 2 coats of drywall primer - don't try to just use regular paint, the mud is going to suck that paint up - and top coat.

It sounds kind of complicated reading it but it's not really hard. I've skim coated a bunch of walls before and I'm not a professional drywaller. It's a messy job but if you have the patience for it you can get a wall that's smoother than a finished drywall wall.

If you decide to cut and replace, you can probably have that done by a drywaller better than you'll do it yourself - because you're going to do just about everything I listed above, except you're also going to tear out the old stuff, pull the baseboards, hang the new, tape, mud and sand the joint pretty wide to hide the seam, and paint. A professional will kill the job you can do there because butt joints are not easy to hide, especially for amateurs.

Bridgette Delva · Answer

@Stephen Spradley we would slap some shiplap up and call it done. Not sure if you have it in your budget but shiplap could solve all of your problems and offer a modern, clean look to brighten up the room.

Mike McCarthy · Answer

I would recommend skim coating. It will be time consuming and frustrating as it’s not a good first-timers drywall project... but that’ll give you the result you want.

I’ve gotten pretty good at it over the years, but I’m always in awe watching a pro do it.

Stephen Spradley · Answer

Thanks for all the help. We are almost done with the skim coat process. Definitely a good learning experience. Moving on to texturing next. If anybody has any advice or good tutorial videos I’m open to suggestions. Here’s the latest photo of the room

JD Martin · Answer

That's not too bad for a first coat. The ridges are caused by small debris caught in your knife, which is understandable if you were dragging on exposed gypsum. A second coat will smooth that out; I'd hit the high spots with a sanding sponge first.

Marian Smith · Answer

@Stephen Spradley  I cut an x on the bubbles and use glue, I use wood glue but elmers should work.  next time you damage your wall board seal it with guardz primer...like a coat of clear penetrating glue.  And on amazon you can order a nice 20" squeegee for skim coating drywall.  use an 18" paint roller extension pole with it.  good luck.

JD Martin · Answer

Hi Stephen, post up a picture and we can offer suggestions. There's no way to avoid ridges completely, but the goal is to minimize them, then knock them down by hand when the compound is dry so you can minimize sanding. Hold your knife as horizontal as possible with as little pressure as necessary to keep ridges down. Also, don't keep working the compound as you get it on the wall - you can definitely overwork compound.

Tiny air bubbles: don't worry about those. You can fill those with your final coat and with lightweight spackle. Soft paper should be covered or removed.

JD Martin · Answer

My eyesight is not as good as it used to be - I thought the top was just smooth drywall. If it has a texture, you'll have to skim coat the bottom and then retexture everything, as you're never going to match it no matter how good you are. That's the case whether you're talking about sand, popcorn, orange peel, etc. In that case, you might be better off skim-coating the entire wall. That will alleviate having to feather the joint between the top and bottom. More skim coating work but less joints to contend with, and most of the time joints are where you see if someone is a pro or amateur when it comes to wall finishes.

*IF* that is the only wall you have to repair, and if just sandwiches between two other walls, you could cover just that wall with 1/4" drywall (mentioned above), tape and mud the joint, and do new corner beads. But it looks like there's a window there at least; if you have any trim or openings to deal with, your reveals are going to get messed up and your trim will have to be redone.

Lynnette E. · Answer

I would just hire someone to put a 1/4 inch thick drywall and mud/finish it over the entire wall.  Faster than having them patch and the thin drywall will give you a smooth surface without difficulty.

JD Martin · Answer

Hard to tell from pictures but looks like you did a good job!

If you want to texture the wall, I personally think orange peel paint with a nappy roller is the easiest, as it will be the same every place you roll. Tricky part to that is that you have to cut in with a brush and roll at the same time otherwise the edges will be really noticeable, so you kind of need 2 people working together, and you have to roll almost to the very edge of where you cut in, but you don't need any special skills other than knowing how to roll a paint roller on the wall. Next easiest I think is sand, which you just pour into the paint, mix it up and roll it on. Beyond that you can get really fancy with stucco finishes, etc, but it sounds like you're just trying to make it all look good.

How should I attack this wall?

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