# Prepping walls riddled with imperfections..



## Art Vandalay (Feb 10, 2005)

I am not a professional, but I am hoping to seek the advice of people who do this day in and day out. 

I started prepping my walls for painting about a week ago. They are cracking in some spots, wrinkling in others, and some are just plain uneven from multiple layers of paint/patching compound.
Most of the places where the paint is cracking is through all the layers of paint down to the plaster wall. So i've just been scraping those spots down to the plaster, filling with spackle and sanding. I've only come across a few spots where the plaster had gone bad and ended up scraping that down to the lathe and filling with some dry-mix patching compound and then spackling over that. In uneven spots where the paint isn't cracking I have been thinking about trying to sand it down. I have a random orbital sander. I haven't done it yet, will this work? I guess I am just wondering how am I suppose to get my walls to look smooth with all of these problems? My walls are white now and you can only see some of the imperfections when the light hits at a certain angle and others you can see no matter where the light is. I wanted to paint the walls a chocolate/bungundy color but now I am reading that dark colors are not good for walls with imperfections. I didn't anticipate having this many problems when I decided to repaint my apartment and now I am almost ready to just abandon the whole thing. Any help is greatly appreciated.

One last question. What order should I be going in? tsp wash, scrape, fill, sand, tsp wash, prime, sand, paint? 

Should I spot prime all the places where I used spackle even though I am planning on priming the whole wall before I paint anyways?


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

I would knock down texture them if it was me.


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## premierpainting (Nov 2, 2004)

Sherwin-Williams has a great tool. I thought it would not work but I have finished a skim coat in my master bedroom so fast. It is called "Magic Trowel" www.texmaster.com Get a five gallon pail of spackle and stick a rolloer in it. Then roll heavy spackle on the walls. Take the knife and smooth out all lines and what not. You can also do a knock down after rolloing the walls. I thought it was a rookie knife..but it works. I will try anything once


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## George Z (Dec 23, 2004)

premierpainting said:


> Sherwin-Williams has a great tool. I thought it would not work but I have finished a skim coat in my master bedroom so fast. It is called "Magic Trowel" www.texmaster.com Get a five gallon pail of spackle and stick a rolloer in it. Then roll heavy spackle on the walls. Take the knife and smooth out all lines and what not. You can also do a knock down after rolloing the walls. I thought it was a rookie knife..but it works. I will try anything once


Premierpainting, which one of the rollers did you use?
_Did you have to_ smoothen the lines with the knive?
Did that not affect the texture? We may have some
serious use for these tools.
Thanks


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## Art Vandalay (Feb 10, 2005)

Now, Im debating on whether to do a skim coat.
A couple questions..

Right now I have a few tubs of Patch 'n paint lightweight spackling compound and a 4 1/2 lb box of quik fix all purpose dry mix patching compound. Which one is better for the skim coating?

What do I need to do a skim coat and how does this change the order of my prep and paint work.

Should I still scrape out and spackle areas where the paint is cracking?

What is the best way to get corners even? I had to fill an area in my kitchen with some spackle and it was really hard for me to get the part where the two walls connect to have a smooth line.


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## premierpainting (Nov 2, 2004)

George Z said:


> Premierpainting, which one of the rollers did you use?
> _Did you have to_ smoothen the lines with the knive?
> Did that not affect the texture? We may have some
> serious use for these tools.
> Thanks


George, we used a regular rolloer to apply the spackle. Then we just knocked down the texture left by the roller. You can use it for skim coating as well. Another contractor uses it to put spackle on tape joints and then uses it like a 12 inch knife. It is a great tool- Try them George..they are not expensive and seem like they will last


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## Dale (Aug 26, 2004)

A hook roller works great for that finish. You can get a real uniform look if you wait until the mud is drier than normal for a knockdown. I just did a project where the finish came out great, very uniform with almost no flat spots just very even craters. after it was completely dry the next day I scraped all the loose deposits off and the finish really came together for that particular finish.
Some people roll the mud on, but I find it easier to get an even finish when I skim it on and the use the roller for textureing only. Use a mixer on a drill to mix the mud first to make the it easier skim.


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