How to Spray Knockdown
Knockdown is a drywall texture that you apply to otherwise smooth walls. This texture will help deaden sound, cover up imperfections in the drywall, and give the room a slightly different appearance. The knockdown application process involves covering a wall or ceiling with globs of a runny, joint compound, and then using a knife or trowel to knock down the tops of the globs, hence the name "knockdown." Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Tape
- Plastic
- Drop cloth
- Air compressor with sprayer and hopper
- Joint compound
- Water
- Bucket
- Mixer
- Plywood
- 18-inch drywall trowel
Instructions
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1
Remove all furniture from the room. Place plastic over anything you cannot relocate, and tape it in place. Place tape over anything too small to be covered in plastic. Put a drop cloth on the floor of the room.
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2
Pour four or five pints of water into a bucket. Add joint compound to the bucket, in a quantity determined by the directions on the bucket of compound.
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3
Mix the solution with your mixer for about ten minutes. If you don't have a mixer, any long, thin piece of wood will do. Let the mixture sit for five minutes before continuing.
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4
Pour a few cups of the mixture into your hopper. Set your air compressor at 50 psi, and set the nozzle opening at 3/8-inch, or medium if your nozzle does not have measured openings.
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5
Place your plywood against a wall in a room that is prepared for the application of knockdown.
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Turn your air compressor on, hold the hopper and air gun about 2 feet away from the plywood, and press the trigger. Adjust the psi on the compressor and the aperture on the air gun, until the compound is being applied to the plywood in a consistency that you desire. You can bring the air pressure down to as low as 15 psi, and set any sprayer opening that is available. Remove the plywood from the room when you are done.
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Hold the gun about 2 feet away from the walls and depress the trigger to apply the knockdown. Move your gun in sweeping strokes, aiming first at the area near the top of the wall, and working your way down. Apply the knockdown to one wall at a time. Wait about 15 minutes after you applied the knockdown, until the blobs on the wall are not dry, but not runny when you touch them.
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8
Hold your trowel at a very flat angle against the wall, near the bottom. Bring the trowel up, applying just enough pressure to knock down the tops of the splatters of compound. Use long, smooth motions and be sure you don't dig into the wall or scrape off all the knockdown.
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Tips & Warnings
Knockdown applicators are available for rent at most hardware stores.
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
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Comments
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This is the most absurd Do It Yourself explanation I have ever seen, reminds me of the Monty Python expisode about how to play the flute. You blow in one end and move your fingers up and down the outside! If you want a fair knockdown wall finish hire a contractor, if you want a first class knockdown wall finish find a contractor and go look at his last two jobs. If you want to do it yourself, start in the chicken coop and see how badly you can screw it up.
