How to smooth before painting scarface/pock marks?
Question:The landing and front room walls have a scarred appearance due to ex wallpapering - In the past I have used a tiling adhesive applicator to smoothed over with thick paint, but not brilliant results. ..and time consuming.
I have bought Polycell for skimming - but it says apply to plaster - do i have to sand back every last bastion of paint ?
Answers:
First of all, do not use Joint Compound, you will never get it smooth. Second go to your local Home Depot, or whatever, and get a " Finish " Drywall mud, not All Purpose. Using a putty knife, or a trowell ( depending on the size of the indentations ) and fill in the gaps. Sand lightly, then recoat making the patch slightly bigger. Let dry, sand again, and repeat, again making the patch slighly bigger. On a wall like you have you can never make it perfect, but by bevelling the patch every time, you can get the illusion of perfect. I know it's a lot of work, but the other option I can give you is start over.
You can use joint compound, I'm not very good at getting it smooth though, so I went for textured walls, just smooth on joint compound and then sponge it with a sea sponge. Another option is using crinkled tissue paper. Just crinkle the paper, straighten it back out some and tear shreds so you have no straight edges. Take your paint and roll an area, stick on your crinkled paper then roll paint again on top of it. Gives an interesting texture. On both of these methods, I just cleaned my walls before beginning. If you are set on smooth, try troweling on the joint compound, letting it almost dry and then rubbing it with a damp sponge to smooth it. This is cleaner than sanding each layer and seems to work better.
Get yourself a bucket of joint compound, thin with just a little bit of water{to make working it easier] and apply to the entire wall. Let it dry, sand out your trowel or knife marks, prime withpva, and apply your color. A ton of work? Maybe, but worth it in the end. Not everything is a simple fix.
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