Painting and repairing textured interior walls of 1930 home

Betty Miller
by Betty Miller
Purchased 1930 home, textured walls need to repaint and repair cracks and nail holes. Need advice on fixing cracks and nails holes and retaining texture on walls. Some previous repairs were not done properly. Cracks where dry wall patches not done well.
  5 answers
  • Pam Garrett Pam Garrett on Mar 26, 2015
    Have you considered sanding down the wall? I had horrible walls in my 1910 house..But I sanded them, patched the worst cracks and holes with drywall compound, sanded those down if they were too high, then used Drywall Compound mixed with paint to thin. Put a light coat on the walls, and used a texture comb to create my own pattern. You can still paint over it if you get tired of the color, but the texture is still pretty, and it's all even.
    • D & K D & K on Mar 27, 2015
      @Pam Garrett A serious word of caution...almost every home built prior to 1950 and that used drywall used drywall joint compound that contained asbestos. Since joint compound is used to create many if not most textures it is highly advisable that you do NOT sand the existing texture. Not only would this expose the asbestos the sanding dust created would make the asbestos airborne. If you have the need or want to retexture the walls you should merely skim coat them with joint compound, lightly smooth it with a damp grouting sponge after it's dried, then retexture.
  • Rosemary Kelly Rosemary Kelly on Mar 27, 2015
    We had heavy stucco that looked like meringue. I tried chipping it off. Our home was built in 1966. I troweled over in with joint compound and sanded it lightly where needed. Primed it and then painted it. It's been five years still looks great. Looks like French plaster.
  • Betty Miller Betty Miller on Mar 27, 2015
    Dennis, While pulling nails yesterday found that some of the walls are still plaster. Parts of the house were remodeled about 10 to 12 years ago but not done well, places were patched with dry wall and we are thinking wasn't taped just textured over. Will joint compound adhere to the plaster? Does plaster have asbestos in the mixture? Appreciate your reply.
    • See 1 previous
    • D & K D & K on Mar 28, 2015
      @Betty Miller here's a few pages on asbestos from Stanford University I think that's worth a reading. https://web.stanford.edu/dept/EHS/prod/general/asbestoslead/asbestos_fact_sheet.html
  • Joyce Martin Joyce Martin on Mar 28, 2015
    As a volunteer at a retreat center I was asked to repair some textured walls that were banged up. After studying the texture, I applied drywall compound and gave it a little time to set, Do not allow it to dry too much. Then I used damp crumpled rags and damp sponges to texture the compound. After I was satisfied that the new texture blended in well with the original texture I lightly sanded the area to blend more. Painted the entire wall. It worked out well Good Luck!
  • Marion Nesbitt Marion Nesbitt on Mar 29, 2015
    Friend had a textured plaster ceiling with probs. I painted on a bonding substance (like white glue) and let it dry well. Then used a plaster-like mix with some more of the bonding stuff in it. Just put it on with a blade, then went back and placed the blade flat on it and then pulled it away to match the pattern. Then painted. Still holding up well after several years and you can't tell it was repaired.