# shellac finish on drywall?



## SSC (Feb 8, 2011)

Looked at a small project earlier. Really interesting old style finish. White oak #3 flooring, Old distressed 4x8 beams hung from ceiling. Definitely a style we would like to work with more often.
The existing drywall is to be finished with:

1 rough coat of compound. 
2 clear coats of shelac
1 coat of amber shelac


How many sq ft of wall and ceiling should i expect to cover in a certain time period? Application will be with rags adhered to a small broom.

Approx 1000ft of wall and 850 ft of ceiing. Im assuming a half day for a 1 coat of shelac.


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

Broom with rags is going to be a big mess - drips everywhere, unless you don't get much shellac on it, then it'll take a long time. The shellac is going to soak in fast on the first coat. Overall you can expect very uneven coats - I'm assuming this is a desirable effect. If so, it'll go faster if you have one person with a small garden sprayer putting it on the wall, and another with the broom / rags swabbing it around. You have to work very fast. Without knowing what effect you want, I'd put it around 2000sqft / hour with 2 people once you get your technique ironed out.


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## EthanB (Sep 28, 2011)

If it's an established style that they are asking for do you have any pictures of the finish? Is the broom+rags thing specific to the finish? If so, are the rags tied tightly to make an applicator pad or loosely to create a ragging texture?


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## SSC (Feb 8, 2011)

Thats right its supposed to be uneven. Rustic and warm.imperfections are charecrer. The owner has it some in his bar next store. Definitely going to consider spraying. Going to do a few test runs w different styles. 

Which are the quality brands of the shellac?


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## EthanB (Sep 28, 2011)

I usually just use Zinnser shellac but I really don't do it enough that you should count that as a recommendation.

The rags attached to a broom doesn't sound great to me. I have a number of rag applied finishes, including clear coats, and I've found having a thicker applicator rag to get the finish to the wall and cover a lot of area and then using t-shirt material to fine tune the finish. I replace the t-shirt rags as soon as they start getting saturated.

You would probably get more responses in the painting section.


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

Zinnser. Fine wood finishing I'd give you some other suggestion.

If you have to approximate the other finish, there's no telling how quick it is going to go - you'll be locked into a general technique. Get a good look at the existing to see what kind of strokes were used.


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## SSC (Feb 8, 2011)

Honestly it looked like a sponge mop was used in an up and down motion but the owner said they used rags at the other store.

Ill do some test runs tomm and upload the results


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## Metro M & L (Jun 3, 2009)

If the zinser doesnt give you the look you want you can buy shellac flakes in different Grades and colors AT a woodworking Shop the cut IT with denatured alcohol.


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## icerock drywall (Aug 16, 2012)

SSC said:


> Looked at a small project earlier. Really interesting old style finish. White oak #3 flooring, Old distressed 4x8 beams hung from ceiling. Definitely a style we would like to work with more often.
> The existing drywall is to be finished with:
> 
> 1 rough coat of compound.
> ...


would this work


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## SSC (Feb 8, 2011)

No. What is that^^^^^


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## icerock drywall (Aug 16, 2012)

SSC said:


> No. What is that^^^^^


mud


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