Features:

--- Elizabeth Thummel's story

--- Mike Collyer's story

--- Skim coat trick

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1. In Elizabeth's own words:

My name is Elizabeth Thummel, and I live in Boise, Idaho. I have a background in art which dates back to childhood (don’t ask how long ago was that), so color and use of art mediums have always been a specialty with me. I have used many different mediums, so tackling wall texturing was was just another “Hey, why not do it” kind of a choice for me.

Simple, right? Well, maybe... Cheap? Yep. But you know, cheapness comes with a price. (I wonder if I made up a new saying.)

When we had our home built in 2004, it was up to me, of course, to choose all interior décor items such as tiles, paint color, etc. I chose the overall paint color of the interior after much deliberation, painting larger samples of each color and holding it up to the light in the still unfinished house, and made a final selection.

After a few months of living with this color, I’ll call it the ubiquitous “Mediterranean Beige,” I realized this beige color seemed to swallow up light and color!

I wanted to warm up the effect, and since I have always loved the also ubiquitous “Tuscan” look, I really wanted to add that “old world” texture look to the walls and then do a faux finish on top of it.

Well, I tackled my wall texturing with joint compound (the cheap aspect of the project) with various put-the-joint-compound-on-the-walls tools. Mind you, with what little info there is available on the topic of using joint-compound for wall-texturing, I studied techniques and read up on stuff in the books about it.

Did lots of searches on the Internet, which is how I came upon Edwin’s website later on. I was a “day late and a dollar short” as they say, as I had already completed most of the texturing by the time I arrived at his site and his great video on wall-texturing which I viewed later on.

With the texturing up, and the sealer-primer coat on and then another coat of the faux finish color with latex paint, my husband eyed it warily, not entirely approving. Actually, I kind of agreed with him.

Make a long story short, to alter the texture to his liking, I had to go and add more joint compound, then another layer of sealer-primer, then another coat of the latex paint. Phew!

The fun part came later, as I was finally able to start faux finishing. It came out so nicely, such that friends of mine have seen it and thought it looked like a professional did it. Should I tell you this?

I started my faux finishing (no texturing in the bedroom) and wall texturing with faux finishing, including repainting ceilings, project around September of 2006.

Our cook-your-eggs-on-the-sidewalk weather had subsided so I could open windows to get ventilation while painting. I actually finished all but one small area, and pulled off all the blue tape mid January, 2007.

So, like the old saying goes, “cheapness comes with a price.” Call it “sweat-equity.” Or, “pay little, work much.” And I wished I had seen Edwin’s video BEFORE I started all that joint compound texturing! Then maybe I could have said “cheapness comes cheap” or “no-sweat equity!”

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2. In Mike's own words:

I wrote to you last month with a bunch of questions about skim coating and plaster repair. I finished my project and wanted to share the results.

First off, I really enjoyed dealing with all of the cracks by using drywall tape. I especially liked how my inside corners turned out. After we spent a great deal of time ripping off wall paper and doing our best to remove the glue, the corners were pretty beat up.

So I filled the holes with patching plaster and then taped and finished them just like drywall. I got nice sharp corners just like with drywall. I probably ended up using over twenty pieces of drywall tape on other cracks throughout the room.

I also told you about the "Magic Trowel," and I used it for skimcoating two of the walls that were pretty bad (and a big area of the ceiling where the previous owner had put in a less-than-elegant patch).

Since this was my first attempt at skimcoating, I don't have anything to compare it to. But I feel like it went really well. I applied the all-purpose joint compound with a 1/2" paint roller, which took a little getting used to (especially in terms of how much to put on the roller and how to spread it on the walls). And then I used the Magic Trowel (really just a big squeegee) and smoothed it out.

I ended up doing two coats along the lines of how you recommended doing skimcoating (one direction for the first coat and perpendicular for the next). I still had some sanding and filling to do afterward, but the trowel left me no real ridges to knock down. It was easier than finishing drywall, I thought.

_____________________________ My comments:

Both Mike and Elizabeth amply illustrate something I have said for a long time. Motivation and persistence go a long way for getting results. And the right information can make it all go a lot easier.

Congratulations to both of you. Great work!

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3. Skim coating trick

Recently, someone who had visited my site emailed me with a problem he was having as he skim coated a wall of ugly texture.

He complained about little "pin pricks" or tiny gaps he kept getting in his material as he skimmed the surface.

This is unfortunately a common problem. But easily solved. As you make a pass over the wall with your mud laden tool, you don't always get a clean fill over the old rough surface. But you can remedy that by simply repeating the stroke you just made, but going back the other way.

Doing this will "backfill" those little gaps and they will disappear.

By the way, I really like getting emails from people who are trying my recommended methods for plaster repair and renovation. Until this becomes overwhelming and too time-consuming, I will continue to respond as quickly as I can to real time solutions.

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Enough for now. Hang in there with those projects of yours and let me know how you are doing! Good luck.