# Orange Peel Texture



## dryrocker27

This texture is not popular where i live. I have a hopper and compressor. A friend would like me to apply this texture to some rooms in his home. He saw this at a hotel in Florida. Any advise?


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## jpeff

as you well know, any textured ceiling is hard to match in case of repair (water leaks etc.), but this may not be a problem for you as a drywaller. test your settings to find the right texture, log it (like a draw-down sheet for painting), and have fun!


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## drywallnflorida

thin spray almost like thick paint, small tip and a lot of air (not psi, but volume) for a fine orange peel
:thumbup:

test on some scrap pieces first


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## HomeElements

Prime the areas before spraying.


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## wyoming 1

Orange peel here is the standard we use the medium tip on our hopper and cut the pressure down to 35 to 45psi. We also thin our mud to about the thickness of cake batter and pour it through a piece of screen (this catches any chunks). Priming first helps but we also mix in a little black tinted primer this helps you see where you have sprayed. When you spray waith about 15 to 20 min and come back and take a look you will see lighter and heavier places and make touch ups. Las tip, when sprayingtry to spray in a circle pattern instead of going left to right it tend s to blend the texture better.


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## drywall icon

put hopper gun on biggest hole mix drywall mud about the same as bazooka or banjo mud start spaying you also have to knock down or drag your tex to make oreange peel this is also called splatter use a 24 inch knife to drag .


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## Capt-Sheetrock

So we have smallest hole, medium hole and largest hole on hopper,,,?????

We just use the same ole hole we always use,, I feel its ALL in the thinning of the mud,,, and then of course, you have to wait a bit and then "KNOCK IT DOWN" with a knive, can't really tell ya how to do that, it takes a time or two to figure it out. Just git ya pieace or two of scrape, and practice it,,, it ain't rocket surguery


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## Damonceles

we use small hole, mud like paint(strained),and about 125psi 
move fast and half trigger to start and get a feel for your passes


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## Sir Mixalot

drywallnflorida said:


> thin spray almost like thick paint, small tip and a lot of air (not psi, but volume) for a fine orange peel
> :thumbup:
> 
> test on some scrap pieces first


Yep!


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## NDbuilder

Start with 40 psi and put a air adjuster on the back of the gun, most of them come with these new. mix your mud until its like cake batter. If you are using more than one pail of texture, mix them together with a third pail to get all the mud the same consistency. If you don't have a texture machine, get a compressor that will keep up. Nothing is worse than stopping every five minutes and waiting for the pressure to build up again. Start by spraying a covered window or door to set the gun to desired texture size. If you use all green mud your texture will shrink about 1/2 of its size when it dries. Mix half green mud and half blue mud if this is a concern. 
I was taught by old timers that orange peel was plain splatter. If it was troweled down we called it knockdown texture. If you go with knock down and it is your first time I wouldn't add primer to the mix. You might have to do some sanding on the texture to take out trowel lines and such. There is no set time to start knocking it down its all by experience. Another thing is mix your mud thicker for knock down than orange peel, spray at a lower psi setting to get a little thicker and heavier splatter. Take care not to over spray the wall or when you knock it down you get big smooth spots where the mud was too thick. Make sure you clean your trowel after every pass.


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## dryrocker27

thank you for the help. I will be doing the work in a few weeks and will post the experience.


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## ryanterp

Capt and I are on the same page. We use the same hole for everything. Knockdown, Orange Peel, and even popcorn. The only difference is the psi. 20-25 for Knockdown, 40-50 for Orange peel, and about 20-30 for Popcorn. It has everything to do with the mud consistency.

Spray it on in nice circular motions, I wait about 15 minutes for the mud to set up a little, and knockdown. Don't use much pressure, you aren't trying to smooth the mud out, just trying to knockdown the blobs a little.


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## artinall

Definitely I would seal the walls first with PVA.

If you do need to touchup a small area a hand texture pump http://www.drywalltips.org/orange-peel-texture.htm willl help, and can be gotten _close to original._ Decent metal ones will cost you, however.

Try dampening your blade to remove the drag.

Most of all, if it were me, I would spray with a hopper that is tiltable (not fixed straight ahead) to make this easier and maximize your time. 

Would use with a 3m hand masker with pullaway sheets, though this can come at expense. These are available at paint stores. Depends on the amount of area you are doing. And if you will be using this repeatedly.


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## Big Shoe

We don't ''knockdown'' orange peel here in Florida. You spray it and leave it. 

Our finishes go like this.... slick .... smooth ... orange peel ... light,med,heavy splatter.... light,med,heavy knockdown. 

It seems to be a regional thing.


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## Axecutioner-B

Big Shoe said:


> We don't ''knockdown'' orange peel here in Florida. You spray it and leave it.
> 
> Our finishes go like this.... slick .... smooth ... orange peel ... light,med,heavy splatter.... light,med,heavy knockdown.
> 
> It seems to be a regional thing.


Same with here in Phoenix. 
You dont touch an orange peel texture after you spray it on ... thats what makes it look like an "orange peel"

I personally have the best luck with a high PSI (90 +) when i spray, IMO it most looks like an orange peel after it is "misted" on. The consistency of the mud doesn't have to be perfect when you spray it on with a high PSI. This is just my opinion tho :thumbup:


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## Sir Mixalot

Big Shoe said:


> We don't ''knockdown'' orange peel here in Florida. You spray it and leave it.
> 
> Our finishes go like this.... slick .... smooth ... orange peel ... light,med,heavy splatter.... light,med,heavy knockdown.
> 
> It seems to be a regional thing.


Yep. And our Skip Trowel has sand in it. :thumbsup:


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## Willie T

I've mentioned this before, but it's worth saying again.

I discovered a really sharp modified knockdown by accident.

By mistake, I applied the typical Florida orange peel to a home full of walls (just spray, no wipe down). It was supposed to have been medium knockdown, but there was a communication breakdown. Did a knockdown right over the setup orange peel. It turned out to be the best knockdown we've ever done. And whenever possible, we now do knockdown with a prior coat of 'only sprayed' orange peel.


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