Walls and Ceilings - Name that Texture!

OK kids, it's time to play "Name That Texture!".

Today's texture comes to you from a house built in 1986, in southern Wisconsin.

All of the walls are finished the same way. Regular drywall, with a 3/32" coating of what appears to be CEMENT, topped with a 1/16" coating of hard-as-a-rock, knuckle-killing, dent-defying sand-embedded texture. Appears to have been applied with a trowel in large sweeping motions. Needless to say, our walls are really hard. Hard to scratch, hard to dent, and especially hard to patch!

Remodeling the kitchen right now. I had to remove two 9-foot cupboard soffits, leaving big holes in the walls and ceiling. Ceiling drywall is 5/8", walls are 1/2". I used 5/8" to patch the ceiling, and 1/2" to patch the walls. Not to mention smaller holes in the walls where outlets were relocated, etc.

The problem is, I'll need a TON of drywall compound to bring the level of the new drywall up to the level of the existing texture. Any tricks to help with the process? I'm really only concerned with where the two materials meet...concealing the difference in height as best I can. I intend to mix large-grain sand into the paint...but no other texture is planned.

Why does this texture have a concrete base? It's making my life miserable! :-)

Any help?

Thanks!

Would this be plaster over blueboard [drywall]?

It's regular sheetrock. And the first coating (on the drywall), is almost certainly some sort of concrete. It's gray, and very hard. The top coat has a lot of large-grain sand in it, and is white...this can be scraped off the cement layer, but it's extremely time-consuming to do so.

I'm pretty sure marksr is correct. If you go to a plaster supplier and ask for some Imperial base coat and mix that it will bring the walls to flush in probabaly one coat. Then just before it sets cut it back the thickness of the finish. Then you can use some aggregated Diamond finish for the finish and probably a sponge float to match the texture. I bet that sand it not nearly as large grain as you are thinking it is. I bet it all will go through a window screen.

When you visit the plaster supplier, if you have a chunk of what you have taken out to take with you they can verify the material. There are other brands than what I named. They might carry those brand instead. They are fine. If you do it this way it will actually be faster and better than the drywall goop. Especially than sand in paint.

Oh, and consider yourself fortunate to have a house with superior walls and ceilings.

Cool! Thanks. It's just when I hear the word "plaster"...I think something much softer than this stuff. And you're right, the sand grain surely will go through a window screen, but it's larger than say, beach sand.

Now I just have to find a plaster supplier. Hmmmm...

Thanks again for the tips!

Oh, and I do appreciate how tough the walls are, for sure. The downsides are skinned knuckles and patching. It's worth it, I guess.

One more question. Which sand do I buy to add to the plaster? And how do I put it on so it gets close to the original finish? It looks like maybe they let the plaster set up most of the way, then took a big brush and made random sweeping motions through it...dragging some of the sand along to make little lines in the walls.

Thanks for the help!

I would buy plaster sand or manson's sand and let it dry and screen it through a window screen.