Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Roll on, Roll off.

While I'm not a student of Mr. Miyagi's, and there may not be a karate lesson to be learned from using a paint roller, it doesn't stop me from making 80's movie references. Recently we posted on mudding and taping, now we will finish the ceiling by texturing and and painting. Here's a picture after the mudding is complete.
Some may wonder about why it's good to texture ceilings and walls. The main reasons are to cut down on glare and to hide any imperfections. Smooth surfaces reflect light a lot easier than rough surfaces and I personally like the look of a lightly textured ceiling over a smooth one.

Texturing is not as difficult as it may seem. Here's a list of what you'll need: a roller handle with a course roller on it, a bucket of mud, a roller grate for a bucket and some water. Here's a picture of the bucket and grate so you can see what I'm talking about.
 When you water down the mud you want the consistency about half way between mud and paint. A little runny but still clinging to the roller pretty well. After that you just paint it on.
The secret is imperfection. Make sure you get the roller lines out, but other than that you aren't going for perfectly spaced lumps or a pattern. Just let the texture do it's thing and when it's dry it will look great.
Though you can't see it very well in this picture, the shading of where the tape is still show through a little bit. So you still need to throw a coat or two of ceiling paint up. Then you have a complete ceiling.

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