· by Michael Blair, Nashville's Drywall Repair
Most Nashville walls carry a sprayed texture, and matching it is the step that decides whether a repair disappears. A flawless flat patch on a textured wall reads as a patch.
Identify what you have
Orange peel is a fine stippled spray. Knockdown is a heavier spray flattened with a knife once it has begun to set. Skip trowel and hand textures are applied with a blade.
Look at the wall in raking light before starting, because the pattern is easier to see than to remember.
Matching orange peel
Aerosol texture products work well with practice. Test on card first, adjusting distance and pressure until the droplet size matches, then apply in light passes rather than one heavy one.
Build up gradually — too much is far harder to correct than too little.
- Identify the texture in raking light first
- Always test on card before touching the wall
- Build up in light passes rather than one heavy coat
- Knockdown needs flattening at the right moment
- Prime before painting, always
Matching knockdown
Spray heavier than orange peel, wait for it to lose its wet shine, then flatten with a wide knife using light pressure.
Timing is everything — too early and it smears, too late and it will not flatten. It takes practice on card to learn the window.
Painting after
Prime the textured repair, because new texture and compound absorb differently from the surrounding wall and the patch will flash through the paint otherwise.
On a wall with any sheen, expect to paint corner to corner rather than spot-touching, since the sheen difference shows even when the color matches.