Owner wants ultra-smooth walls....

[David Meiland]

We're remodeling a 20-year-old house, wall framing on 24" centers with 1/2" board, all ceilings are wood with exposed beams. It was a pretty good job originally, nice smoothwall with very few nail pops, although they must have used nail-on corners because they're cracking. There's typical light texture from the painter's roller. The owner first started talking about skimcoat plaster, but after some questioning what I think he wants is walls with no stipple. I don't have easy access to an ace plasterer, but I do have an ace drywaller, so I've asked him to skim out a sample area (4' high 8' wide centered at eye level) as cleanly as they can, including sanding with a wide head and fine paper. When he'd done that I'll have the painter set up and spray the sample without backrolling it. Anyone out there have experience trying to get a perfectly smooth painted finish on walls? I quite sure it will be laborious and expensive, with me holding the light along the wall and looking for flaws, etc. etc. Not looking forward to it but I need to get the owner something he likes.

[Greg Di]

Aaah...."stupid money"....I love those jobs...

Live with roller stipple like the rest of the world manages to and donate all they were going to pay to have it done smooth to charity. Really...I've actually told clients that some of their outlandish desires were so not worth it that they should really donate the money to charity.

Not that they ever do, it just usually convinces them out of their insanity.

[Joepro0000]

Roll it with a 3/16" nap - Super smooth roller. If you only spray it, make sure with a damp floor mop you wipe off all the dust off the walls or it will show.

[betterdrywall]

David , You maynot have the access to the type of material I do , so I will try to come up with something simular, First off DO NOT have your ace pull a full skim coat with mud. Check and repair any defects first get everything as clean as possible without skim coating . Have your ace get a power sander and run it over all the walls , I think I would then get the builder solution from SW, apply it then when done shoot high build primer This should cover everything and leave the walls really nice. This is only If there is money In the job to do so If not ?????? clean it up spray a high build and walk away.

[Kgphoto]

Replace the corner bead and check the walls for any other problems. Cross light and down light with bright lights and fill any hills and valleys. Clean the walls and room thoroughly and spray a high build primmer and/or one of those level five primer/mud coats. Get a good spray guy as you don't want to touch it after you spray it, so no runs, etc.

I had to make a photo studio wall completely flat and smooth, so it could be used as a background. I hand finished it and sanded it and it took about six tries to clean up the odd gouge from the sander corner and the various seams and nail pops. It was "PERFECT" when it was done.

This was many years ago and it is much easier to do this now.

[calvert]

Dave, just my two cents, I too am turned off by paint that shows a texture so whenever I am doing something for myself or a picky client I have used a high build primer, used a sidelight to check for defects, touch-up, sanded with 220 paper then applied finish paint with a 3/16" roller then finish rolled with a foam roller cover. This has worked very well but of course is time consuming.

[Lavrans]

Oh, just find a good plasterer. Have them train your drywall guy. Then you'll have the job done right with the right material, the client can pay an exorbitant amount to give you and your now-titled "wall specialist" a valuable skill (perhaps he can get an education credit for that?), and will have a bill they can frame and show off to the neighbors.

Or do what the other guys said.

[David Meiland]

Down in CA I had good plasterers. They would come in and do a couple of rooms in a day, walls and ceilings, using Diamond Finish. No sanding, no dust, no tool marks or anything else unless you asked for them. There are rumors of such to be had in these parts, but only by importing from Bellingham or Seattle.

[Joepro0000]

My experience with Diamond plaster is its like durabond, dries really quick. I only applied it with my taping knifes, and couldn't really see a difference.

[DSJOHN NH]

We do tons of diamond finish and unical,it is a perfect finish when applied and finished properly.The job you desribe would ideally finish out with either one of these plasters but you would need a bonder applied to the surface first,these materials will not adhere directly to a painted surface. Sometimes we make a wet mix of duro and roll it on the walls and ceilings giving us something to bond to,have had great results doing this.Applying and finishing plaster is in no way the same as drywall,if no experience dont go it alone. good luck. By the way ,this method would be less costly than others desribed. DSJOHN

[calvert]

Plaster is fine and having done and still doing plaster I certainly vouch for the unique surface you can get with wet troweling. Dave didn't indicate though that the client wants white walls or whatever color you might tint it. If they now or at some point want to change the color you can still suffer from a "textured" paint finish even on perfectly smooth plaster.

By the way I have a job to do with "keenes cement plaster" and had one hell of a time getting this in the eastern US. I actually had to order it from Peoria, IL and pay trucking costs. USG said that basically none was showing up in their customer data base in any New England or Mid-Atlantic states. The guys in Peoria told me they always have it, also in CA too.

[betterdrywall]

I have to agree with greg on this isssue. I dont see any reason why the HO can just go with a toned down stipple finish and make all repairs match. This High End stuff is starting to get outta hand. If someone hires me, I'm there because of the quality of my finish work. not because I come to work everyday dressed up and ready to hit the golf course. I dont feel the need to play kissey poo games with a HO. Get to the point of what they want, charge them fairly and get the job done in a reasonable amount of time and leave all the drama with the builder or GC. They can have all the fame and glory of what I leave behind when I'm done. But they can also keep in mind that never in there life time will they every devlope the skill it takes to do the type of work I do.

[David Meiland]

Feel better now?

[SteveH]

I just did a ceiling that had a tough texture on it, could not even get it off with a scraper..so what I did was apply areal heavy coat of all purpose mud, sanded it down with the dustless sander, touched up the pin holes, etc., applied another coat of joint compound and perfectly smooth.

Why use a plasterer..just keep on skimming it until it's smooth.

[DSJOHN NH]

Steve,we do both drywall and plaster,if you have never done plaster like many drywallers,you are usually full of answers and excuses why drywall is less expensive or faster,but never having done it you really dont know that for a fact. The one skim of plaster over the surface that is prepped and your done,no sanding, skimming again nothing, period!!! I always give my customers the choice with pricing.You can keep skimming over those painted sufaces with mud letting each coat bubble or leave pinholes everywhere, Been there done that. DSJOHN