Texturing Ceiling (little OT, little long!)

[Kevin Gerstenecker]

I am nearing the start of a Family Room Remodel, and I need some advice on the Ceiling Finish. I want to texture the ceiling, but not with Acoustical Spray. My Folks have a great finish on their ceiling, done by the Drywall Contractor about 15 years ago. If memory serves me, they used drywall compound thinned with a combination of Paint & Water, then applied with a heavy nap roller, and then "Stamped" with some sort of brush that made what they called a "Crows Foot" finish. The border appears to have had about a 3" brush ran around it to provide an even border. Am I way off base here, or does this sound like a technique I could use to accomplish this finish? I have seen Stippling Brushes in the Drywall area of the Box Stores, but that appears to be too stiff to accomplish the finish I want, but maybe that is the ticket. In talking with my Dad, he seems to think they just slopped the mud/paint mixture on the ceiling with a thick nap roller, and use what appeared to be a cut off cotton mop to make the Crows Feet Finish. I have a Hopper Spray Gun that I have never used, (Just to good a deal to pass up a few years ago!) and maybe I could spray a thick mixture of Mud/Paint thru it and stamp the finish in as well. Any help from the Decorater/Drywall Finisher/Painter crowd would be very much appreciated. (I really don't want a big mess on my hands, and would like to get it corrrect the first time!) :D

[Jason Roehl]

Kevin,

It's really pretty simple. I've done a few that look as good as the pros, and even did them about as quickly as they can.

Get yourself some "All-Purpose Joint Compound" and you thin it WAY down--around 40% water, if I remember correctly (you'll need some empty buckets to do this). Put a tarp/plastic over EVERYTHING you care about in the room, there's no getting around the mess. Get a 1"-1¼" nap for a 9" (or 18") roller. You'll want to roll it on fairly consistently without working it too much, it helps to have someone else doing this part while you stomp. If you're by yourself, you don't want to roll on more than about a 5'x5' section at a time. Then you'll need an oval stomp brush, already flattened (they usually come from the store flattened, otherwise, put it in a bucket of water overnight with a couple bricks on it). You can even get a dual-brush setup with two oval brushes hooked together. The key to stomping a "Crow's Foot" pattern is to start in a corner with a stomp that is about 60° to the wall, then just slightly overlap it with the next stomp, but with the brush turned so that it's 60° to the wall in the other direction. Work your way along the wall, then start back from the other side, only reverse the pattern, slightly overlapping the first row:

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/....
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\...., and so on, only with the two rows overlapping by ~1/2"

A note on thickness. Mud that is too thick looks bad and leaves sharp stalactites (yes, I had to look up which was which). You want texture that is roughly 1/8" thick, with rounded stalactites. If that's not what you're getting, stop and thin the mud some more. Too thin looks much better than too thick, in my not-so-humble-opinion.

Hope this helps.

[Dave Avery]

StalacTite....... an easy way to remember is the 'T' in stalactite is for 'top'.

[Jason Roehl]

"T" for top and "G" for ground in stalagmite--seems like a good way to remember. Of course, in the painting biz, we coined a new term--the dread of all painters--stawallmite.