Some home’s surfaces such as walls and ceilings are textured and contain bumps, dips and crevices. While these textured surfaces might improve the outward appearance of a home’s interior they can be tough to paint. The bumps, dips and crevices can react differently to the paint that is used and cause potential problems to arise. The following tips can be used to ensure proper set-up and planning of how you will paint over your home’s textured surface. Proper planning and set-up can help prevent many textured paint problems from arising.
- Determine if your textured surface is water-soluble. A majority of the textured surfaces are water-soluble. Surfaces become water-soluble either because the materials that were used to create the textured appearance were water-soluble or the paint that was first applied to the surface was water-soluble. The problem with water-soluble textured surfaces is if you use a paint that is water-based numerous problems such as dripping paint and softening of the existing surface materials can occur.
- To prevent the problems that can occur when painting over a water-soluble textured surface it is recommended that you apply a primer to the surface. Primer is a coat of paint that is often applied to surfaces to prep them for painting. An alkyd primer can be applied to textured surfaces to form a barrier that prevents the water-soluble materials from absorbing the paint and becoming soft.
- An alkyd primer might not form a barrier on all water-soluble textured materials. If the alkyd primer fails to work the only option for painting the textured surface may be to undergo a complete removal of the existing textured surface and repaint it once the paint has been removed.
- Rollers and paint brushes are recommended for use when applying paint to a textured surface. This is because the rollers and brushes can evenly distribute the paint over the textured material. Evenly distributed paint gives a clean, polished look to the surface.
Some textured surfaces are just too rough or bumpy for rollers or brushes. For surfaces that are too textured paint can be applied by using a spraying device. Spraying devices can get the paint around areas where a paint brush’s bristles may not be able to reach.
Due to the nature of a textured surface it can be tough to paint. Proper planning, obtaining the proper materials and using the right type of paint brush or spray can help you when trying to paint any textured wall or ceiling your home may have.