Is paint with sand in it (for texture) hard to apply?

Question

I have a room where the walls are pock-marked because of wallpaper removal. I want to texturize the walls, but not a heavy texture. I thought about paint with sand, but I've heard it's tricky to use. Has anyone used it before?

Answer 1

It's a pain in the butt to keep uniform, why don't you just skim coat the wall with joint compound, it's not hard. Get your self a 6" broad knife and lightly skim the wall 3 times lightly sanding in between coats, prime and paint and your gonna love it. Good luck Les the painter

Answer 2

I actually thought about that after seeing the Ralph Lauren textured paint collection. (River Rock) At 30+ dollars a can, I figured I could do it with sand. I only did a small test and I loved it, however I didn't do a whole wall since I moved before it was done. I figure the hardest part would be to keep it all even, unless someone's stirring the paint as you're applyling it (sounds hard, but really isn't), finished product looks really organic and expensive. Just add the sand to your (I imagine) gallon of paint gradually and mix. Apply right after. Let dry and enjoy. It's not tricky, just take your time and I'm sure you'll love it. (I used cheap sand, it was good enough. Use the grain of sand you're most happy with, it all works).

Answer 3

I've painted 2 rooms in my mom's house with the textured paint. I tried the special textured roller, I tried a thick nap roller and a regular roller. All made tiny specks of textured paint fly off and create splatter.

By far the easiest, but most time consuming method was using a paint brush and painting X's all over the walls. Use the paint brush to dab in the corners and a smaller paint brush to day along the ceiling line.

Stir the paint often and wash your brush or roller often. The granite has a tendency to build up in the bristles and the nap.

Answer 4

The thing that is hard to remember is that you need to stir it frequently to keep the sand suspended.

Why not instead either put on those thick undercovering wallpapers that bridge problem areas on walls (and then can be painted over or papered-over) or get spackle and a wide spatula and fill in those wall pocks?

Answer 5

It isn't particularly difficult to put on however it can cause a lot of problems. First of all when you want it to redo the wall, it has to be scraped off which is a terrible job. Second, if you touch it with most hard objects, it will leave noticable surface scratches. Since you wall is in poor shape, consider camouflaging it by doing a ragging or sponge painting, either two different colors or two opposite shades of the same color. It covers a multitude of errors and can be very attractive.

Answer 6

It is difficult to control the sand in standard paint because of its weight it has attendency to want to settle to the bottom. You might want to check with your paint store and see if they have textured finish material. They generally use crushed wallnut shells or perilite for the texture which is much lighter and easier to apply.
If you decide to use sand make sure you use kiln dry sand and go light with it.

Answer 7

No, it is not hard to apply, but it is a pain in the butt to remove. Make sure it is what you want, because to get the original flat surface back, it will take a ton of sanding and scraping.

It is applied with a regular or thicker nap type roller.