How to Finish Drywall Painting
Many wall surfaces in homes and offices are made out of drywall. Since drywall is a highly porous material, if you would like to paint these walls, you must properly prepare the drywall surface prior to painting. If you would like to create a distinctive look to painted drywall, you can also finish drywall painting in a couple of different ways. A well-finished paint job should hold up for years without needing to repaint. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Drywall primer
- Paintbrushes
- Paint
- Medium-grit sandpaper
- Spackling compound
- Bucket
- Stirring stick
- Putty knife
- Texture gun
- Air compressor
Instructions
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Apply one to two layers of primer to a drywall surface before attempting any paint job. If you have already painted the drywall and skipped the primer, it is worth painting the drywall again with a primer base underneath. Let each coat of primer dry fully before applying the next layer, sanding between each coat. According to "PaintPro" magazine, painting without priming creates a less attractive paint job that won't hold up as long.
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Use an appropriate paint for the location. If you are painting bathroom drywall, for instance, use a moisture-resistant paint to prevent water from seeping beneath the surface of the paint, which can lead to peeling.
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3
Use at least two coats of paint on a drywall surface for complete coverage. Sand the drywall surface with medium-grit sandpaper between coats to roughen the surface.
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4
Mix up spackling compound with enough water to make a paste if you would like to add texture to the wall surface. Add paint to the compound until the compound reaches the color that you want for the texture, which may be the same color as the rest of the wall.
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Apply the colored spackling compound to the wall using a putty knife if you want a random texture in the paint job. Smear the compound over the wall's surface, leaving the compound sitting unevenly on the wall all across the wall's surface to create a random decorative effect.
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Add enough water to the spackling compound to create a thinner, more paint-like consistency to the compound if you would like to create a more uniform texture on the wall. Put the colored spackling compound into a texture gun and connect the gun to an air compressor.
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Put the air compressor on 25 psi and spray along the surface of the wall, keeping the trigger on the texture gun depressed and moving the gun uniformly over the wall's surface. Begin at the top of the wall and work downward.
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Tips & Warnings
Though you do not need to seal tinted, textured drywall, unsealed drywall will break down over time. You can prevent the breakdown of tinted, textured drywall by applying two to three coats of primer, and two to three coats of water-resistant paint to the textured drywall instead of adding the paint directly to the drywall mixture.
