How to Do Hand Troweled Drywall Texture

Preparation

• 1

  Remove all of the furniture from the room, if possible. Anything that must stay should be covered with a heavy plastic drop cloth. Put plastic drop cloths on the floor, as well.

• 2

  Put on a painter's disposable coverall unless you do not mind ruining some old clothes. You'll also want to wear goggles, a shower cap or bandana over your hair, and old sneakers.

• 3

  Finish taping and finishing the joints of the drywall if this is a new ceiling. Allow the final coat of joint compound to dry at least 48 hours. Sand with 200 grit sandpaper and remove the dust with a large, damp sponge. One advantage of this technique is that if the taping of the drywall did not turn out as well as you would wish, you'll never know after the texture is applied.

Applying the Texture

• 4

  Thin the joint compound with water so that it is easy to apply with a trowel but still holds its shape and stays on the ceiling, dripping off only slowly. Put the thinned joint compound in a shallow container that can accommodate the 10 inch smooth trowel.

• 5

  Starting in one corner of the room, position your ladder, secure the joint compound tray and dip the trowel into the joint compound. Using the trowel, apply the joint compound to the ceiling about 1/8-inch thick. Push the joint compound onto the ceiling; do not pull it. This is the key to this kind of texturing. As you push the joint compound onto the ceiling, gaps or skips in the surface will appear. Trowel the joint compound onto the ceiling from different angles and directions. Overlap your strokes as you apply the joint compound in order to create a cohesive, unbroken pattern.

• 6

  Allow a 4-foot-by-4-foot section of the ceiling to set for about 15 minutes while you move the ladder over and begin the next section of ceiling.

• 7

  Move your ladder back to the first section of ceiling after about 15 minutes. The joint compound will have begun dripping to form little stalactites, such as you would see hanging from the ceiling of a cave.

• 8

  Run the edge of the trowel across the ceiling to remove the bottoms of stalactites and push the material that formed them onto the ceiling. You must do this very gently, or you will end up with a ceiling with no texture.