Walls and Ceilings - Knockdown look by hand?

Hi! Is it possible to achieve a knockdown texture look without using the spray gun? My husband and I built our own home and used the gun on the main levels; last project is the basement ceiling. Walls are already painted, so I would like to avoid using the spray gun if possible, yet still get the knockdown look. Thanks.
p.s. Would have been nice to have access to this website while building. :-)

Welcome to the forums!

It's possible to do small repairs without a hopper gun but spraying gives the best results - basically you use a brush to 'flick' the joint compound on the repair and then knock it down after it starts to set up. Icouldn't imagine doing a whole ceiling in this manner - and it would still get on the walls.

It would be better to take plastic/tape and mask off the walls so you can spray the knock down. 2 other options would be to either slick finish the ceiling or apply a stomp texture.

I was afraid that might be the response.:o (taping off the walls and doing the whole thing by hand). I may look in to the stomp texturing first though. Thanks!!

With the right timing you can knock down a stomp texture. Or once it is set or dry you can shave off the points for a different look.

Thanks for both the ideas. I'm going to have to do a deeper search on stomp texture. The first site that my google took me to was a forum on REMOVING stomp texture:( .

Usually a stomp texture is done by thinning down j/c and rolling it on the ceiling and then taking a round or crowfoot brush and stomping the design into the wet mud. Some opt to apply the j/c with the brush but to me, that's more work :eek:

I've tried knocking down a stomp texture [while still drying] but I wasn't satisfied with the reslts.... but that's not to say it can't be done.