How to remove texture on interior walls

Put warm water into a spray bottle. Spray texture, will have to experiment with how much water your spray on each area, let it soak for a few minutes. Then scrape with a drywall knife (6") not a putty knife. Should remove texture if it is Joint Compound. Try go get away with using as little water as possible to avoid soaking drywall paper.

I have this same problem! My walls I believe are painted, but could it be the actual drywall? (I don't know much about this stuff) The whole house has it, even the ceilings, (white) and it looks like it was kind of sponged on (swirls and bumps). I really want to get rid of it in a couple rooms. Someone told me I'd have to sand it all down. Is there an easier way? Thanks!

PattyB's suggestion will not work if it's plaster and not joint compound as she said. I have heard from several people who had varying degrees of success with this method. If it doesn't work for you, you will either have to sand the walls down or have a skim layer of drywall/joint compound put over top. Even if the removal method works for you you will likely need to sand.

I purchased a sanding attachment for my shop-vac that has a hose, two different size connectors, a sanding pad with holes for airflow and 1 piece of sanding screen. I used it to sand patching and paint build-up this past weekend and I found it worked quite well. I had very little clean up and found the suction was adequate after I had put in two new filters (the one around the blower is the most important). One thing I did find, though, is that you would likely need medium and a fine screen to get a good finish suitable for painting.

When all is said and done, though, it might be a lot quicker and easier to get a drywaller or plasterer in to put a skim coat on to flaten the walls. That's probably your best bet for a good finish.

Good luck

can i just put up 1/4" drywall over the existing drywall, screw it on, mud it up and repaint?

Why go to all that work and cost when you could just skim the walls and be done. Plus what about your woodwork when you put up the new drywall.

is there a way to skim the walls myself and not screw it all up. i mean is there a way to get great results with out hireing someone

If you are very handy yes, but there is an art to doing this well.

what is skimming?

It is putting a thin coat of drywall mud over the surface of the wall with a wide broadknife.

i am going to fill in holes and prime. should i apply a thin mixture of compound using a 1/2" nap roller and then paint over that or use one of the texture mix with the paint instead?

Yes you can apply drywall mud with a roller. You can thin it with water or even mix flat latex paint into it. I would experiment on some scrap wallboard to make sure it looks like you want it to. Once you have textured the wall you can then paint it with two coats of flat wallpaint.

I have textured walls as well, and I hate them! If we do skimming, is it likely that the thin coat of dry wall will crack? It seems it would take a great amount to cover the texture. I don't know why anyone ever did this to these walls. Also, sometimes when I touch the wall, it shocks me-Is that indicative of lead paint? Thank you!

Yea my walls are textured but covered with a layer of paint/gloss i dont think i can even scrap it off because i cant get any leverage/grip on the texture.....is the idea of breaking the walls fown and putting up new sheetrock a bad/expensive idea?????????

Recently, I allowed friends to help me texture my walls. I had spent hours and days smoothing and sanding, but they were going to need light texture. I finally had it primed and ready to texture and when I came back to see what they had done they had textured it so haphazardly and extremely thick. Some parts were even an inch and a half thick. They then decided to paint of the dry wall texture mud, making the sanding process all the more difficult if I wanted to smooth it out again. I'm lost. I know that it will take me hours of more sanding and grueling labor, but I guess I was hoping if anybody knew any tricks to make it easier. I'd be grateful for any suggestions

Hang the person who textured your walls!!

I have no response except "I'm so sorry". I have the same problem (texture was already there when we moved in). It's also 1 to 1 1/2 inches in areas & I have no clue how to remove it. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

my walls are textured and have been for 30 years so there is alot of paint over the texture. How do I remove this?

I just finished removing texture from walls and ceilings in a 1950's house. It is doable but not fun. I tried several things and the best solution for me was a 3 inch glass and tile scraper with replacement blades. The scraper was $10 at my Ace Hardware and a pack of 5 blades was $4. Heavier texture seemed to scrape off easier. Hold the scraper at a nearly flat angle to avoid nicking the drywall. If it is extremely hard to scrape, you can put warm water in a sprayer bottle and wet the surface. Allow time for the water to be absorbed. Be prepared from much dust and debris. Wear a mask and eye protection. Good luck.

My home was built in 1950 and has textured walls. I would like to remove it but I'm concerned about asbestos. Should I just put drywall over the texture wall?

Came home one weekend and found my daughter put fake "bricks" up on her wall using joint compound. A year later, she's gone and I want them gone. I tried various mixtures (vinegar, water, Kaboom cleaner, Awesome cleaner). The Kaboom worked great as did the Awesome. The "bricks" were painted, so I scored the paint, then sprayed it. Let it sit for a few minutes and it just came off. For thicker bricks, took a few squirts.

I have a very heavy texture in my bathroom. Torn with building it up more vs trying to scrape it away. Any suggestions or words of wisdom?

First find the person that textured your walls and beat them. I'm dealing with textured walls and ceilings myself right now. Thank goodness my ex husband is the best drywall finisher I've ever seen and is repairing my walls but before he is able to do his part of the job I've had to use a palm sander and sand down all the walls and ceilings to get the excess texture off of it. He said the texture was to thick to be able to just skim over it with mud. The sanding is messy and very very dusty. I know when all is said and done it'll be worth it but right now I'm ready to scream. People please stay away from texture and wall paper!!!

Guys I HATE textured walls too! I'm in the same aggravating boat as you guys are, except I am a RENTER and there is no way I can sand this crap down without loosing my lease and/or security deposit. And you know what REALLY sucks about this? I can't even apply wallpaper to stop looking at it because its bumpy. Oh, and by the way, the ONLY place in the house this bumpy issue seems to reside is in MY BEDROOM. Shoot me. SMDH. It literally keeps me up at night. I think my only hope is to put up a mass amount of paintings, mirrors, etc (i.e. think English/French 17th Century homes) in order to stop thinking about it and be able to sleep at night. Ugh. Curses to the LOSER who thought of textured walls in the 50's was cool.

Okay, I will admit it. I painted my living room walls with textured paint...I don't know what I was thinking. I hate them...It was a new paint at lowes and seemed so cool when I was 20. Now 15 years later I can't clean the dang things, repair or get close to them without them scratching the fool out of me. It has cracked in areas (1930's house that settles daily)too. So yall are saying I am going to have to "paint" my textured walls with watered down joint compound, sand the entire things and re paint? What about the areas that are cracking now??

I hate the orange peel on the drywall. I want it alllll off. I thought if I started this room by room, it wouldn't be so bad. Now tell me how to do it the easiest cheapest way. Spray water and scrape off with drywall tool or rip it all down and buy new drywall

I would just go over the entire textured surface that you want to repaint with a skim coat of drywall mud. First lightly sand entire area. Nothing extreme, you're not trying to remove the texture at this point. Rather, you're just trying prepare the surface for mud and maybe even out some of the more extreme areas. Seriously, be thorough, but don't put a ton of effort into every square inch. If there are any cracks in your walls this would be the time to open them slightly and clean out just enough to receive the new mud. Once everything is sanded wash it all down with clean warm water. We're not soaking, we're just cleaning off the loose paticles with a damp rag. These two steps will help the the old paint surface bloom and more readily receive the new mud and subsequent paint. If the previous later receives the incoming layers, it will bond rather than being a separate layed on top (which is more susceptible to chipping/ pealing). Once that's dry you can put on your skim coat. It takes a little time to get the hang of, but in no time you'll be doing large swaths with a light coat that is filling the areas between those tiny bumps of texture. When that's done top to bottom, let it dry. Cracks and fills may take longer. Here's where it gets dusty. Really dusty! Cover everything or remove, cordon area off and wear a mask. Lightly sand with one of those sponge sanding pads (not wet), lite grit will do. Vacuum and repeat as many times as your texture requires. When you're done... paint your room. Note, this is not for lead based paint! Though, it's unlikely you have lead based paint in this circumstance. Good luck.