Walls and Ceilings - Is there a name for this plaster pattern ?

Here are a couple of photos of some plaster from a 1933 house built in Denver - plaster1 (http://vfwtech.com/plaster.JPG) and plaster2
(http://vfwtech.com/plaster1.jpg).

I want to match it. I am planning on using Sheetrock lightweight Setting Joint Compount - but if there is something better to use I would do use.

And any suggestion on how to accomplish the pattern would be appreciated. I thought I would just use a flat trowel and pull it straight out and then wait a bit and knock it down.

I apprciate any help.

It kind of looks like the texture was originally applied with a roller - possibly with a sponge.

I wouldn't want to use a setting compound for texture. Mud in a ready mix bucket is easier to use. Just thin it down some and then experiment with it until you get it right. You can practice on some cardboard or even the wall itself. If it doesn't look right on the wall - scrape it off while wet or sand it down when dry.

Wow - I've had to match a lot of patterns in my day - but that one is a mess..... Almost looks like they took a heavy paint brush and flung the mud against the wall, barely topping it as it dried. As marksr said - you'll have to experiment with various types of applicators (sponges - the true sea sponge type it looks like - flinging a brushload against the surface from a distance - rags - etc..... experimenting with viscosity of the mud as well) - to try to approximate what you've got. This one won't be easy to match - but not impossible..... have patience and creativity - you'll figure out something!!!

Sorry to say but... why??? Anyway looks to me like it might be a crows foot brush. Thats the one with long bristles mounted on a wood frame.

LOL - good point there!!

I'd be inclined to sand it all down relatively smooth and put a nice knockdown on the whole thing. Then again - I've got a section of hallway with a similar finish - and it's 90 year old plaster - darned near impossible to sand smooth....

Sorry to say but... why??? ... In a few places, the textured finish has seperated from it's underlying base - some of it due to settling of house and some cracks - but I am not quite sure why otherwise - seems a bit strange - probably I have areas of 2' square that need to be redone in several places.

Much too big of an remaining area to even think about sanding down - nor do I want to change the texture - it's almost like a skelton pattern - that's why I thought perhaps it was done with a trowel pulling it out.

I am experimenting - that's why the question as to plaster mix - I thought the lightweight joint compound was very similiar to the pre-mix - at least that's what a dry wall finisher told me at HD.

I was also curious if I should either paint the area where the finish coat of plaster peeled off with a bonding agent - or mix a bonding agent into the new coat of finish, and if so did it matter which kind of bonding agent to use ?

You've got a handful...

Were it me - I would make sure the basic wall was solid - no peeling, etc.... then would work to match the pattern as best I could with joint compound (thinned with water as necessary to get the proper pattern). Then I would concern myself with getting the paint/finish to match.....

Just saw the pics. Hope you are still around.

To me, it looks like a sponge was used to stipple into the fresh mud at various stages of drying .The fresher the mud, the higher the stipple; the dryer the mud and or/regoing over already stippled mud with the sponge creates a lower stipple, and you seem to have a combination of both. The fresh-mud stipple also creates more spacing between each stipple ridge and the stipple-over or more-dry mud, when stippled, will cause the stippling ridges to get closer together. This texture job is very poor, IMO, and not consistant. Then it looks like they lightly sanded off the highest peaks, as the ridges look slightly flattened to me, on pic 1 (pic 2 too blurry - but have seen enough in pic 1 to offer my opinion). To me this does not look like a roller was used with mud, as that comes out more uniform, whether thinned down or if almost straight mud. You will see 9" roller width directional lines also. Not so much that you see an edge, but you see the grain similar to how on tv you see how the grass was mowed on baseball fields.

....Then I would concern myself with getting the paint/finish to match..... sorry - must have given you the wrong impression - not worried about paint/finish (I guess I was referring to the top coat of plaster as "finish" - as in the "final coat" vs "base coat" or drywall. (It's not drywall - it's plaster with a final coat skmmed over the base).

Your suggestion sounds like a great plan to me - but was wondering about bonding agent.

FWIW - It appears that just the finish coat of plaster is what seperated from the base in those 2' square sections - the base is solid. And it's really just in about three or four sections over several fairly large rooms - so overall it is not that much really - it's just I want to match it as best I can as well as make sure it sticks to the exposed based. Why it seperated I really don't know. No water marks. Like I said, there was some settling in this 80 year old house - but small cracks that I have patched 5 years ago have not reopened and I think the settleing is done.

And the main reason the patches will be about 2' square is that I took the small section where the plaster had come loose and kept knocking it off till I got it so all sides were well adherred with no signs of flaking. And I guess that is why I am asking about a bonding agent to be painted or mixed in with the topping mix.

If the surface under the peeled texture is clean you shouldn't need to use a primer. If it is dusty/chalky you should prime it to insure adhesion.

Setting compounds are dry powder that you mix with water. The mud has a limitted "pot" life once mixed. Joint compound comes in buckets [boxes in some locales] and is usually ready to use as is. Mixing and maybe adding a little water will improve workability.

For a bonder use a product called plaster weld. You should be able to get it at a drywall distributer in your area.