Paint and joint compound for pseudo-plater?

So we'd like to get our walls looking as though they were plastered 120 years ago, with a certain sandy bumpiness thing going on. I'm not skilled enough to use actual plaster, and the local plasters charge an arm and a leg (plus several toes) to re-do a room. We aren't looking for a totally smooth effect, but one with a certain amount of texture and hand-application marks.

Right now the walls are all sheet-rocked (previous owner...don't ask). This stuff ( http://www.unearthedpaints.com/collections/plasters/products/clay-r...) is good, but expensive and you need a lot to really cover a wall completely. The room we're workign on is pretty durn big, so it would be expensive to use the product in question.

I've a vague recollection that I'd read somewhere about the notion of mixing joint compound with a standard latex paint and applying that via roller to create a textured surface on an otherwise flat sheet-rocked wall. Has anyone tried this? How did it work? And what compound did you use? Of the top of my head, I'd think a durabond 90 would be the best bet, but all advice/info is appreciated.

Thanks.

Richard

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Permalink Reply by Bill Hendrickson on January 8, 2013 at 2:27am

Richard, I would think you would have to do something to the bare rough (torn) drywall paper. For sure a good priming would be required, but maybe a thin bit of drywall mud would be better to do first to prevent the ends/edges of the tears from lifting.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Hendrickson on March 8, 2013 at 5:50pm

I would skim coat the torn spots just as you would with any drywall repair. Else, those areas may show up when you do paint/texture over them.

My walls had panel glued to it with liquid nails. What a mess. That stuff was like concrete and was all over the place. In some spots, the drywall paper was torn where it came off with the glue that stayed stuck to the panel. So, I did hit the walls with a sander to knock down the glue that stuck to the drywall, primed the drywall, and textured over it. I skimmed the torn areas.

Now, I knew what to look for and could see where I covered the glue in some spots. However, no one else could pick it out unless I showed them. Also the torn areas were perfectly hidden. So what I am saying is, you can do a nice skim coat, put texture paint over it and not see the repairs.