Patching and Plastering - Patching cracks on "knock down" textured walls.

My 1970 mobile home walls are paneling that have been textured over with j/c and painted. The j/c is pulling way from the panelling creating cracks in some parts of every wall in every room. When I bought the home nine years ago, I only noticed a few cracks. It appears to be getting worse. I would like to remove the j/c from the bad areas and retexture with matching "knock down". What steps should I take to make sure the repairs are permanent and match the surrounding wall area?

I don't know that you can have a permament drywall repair on paneling. IMO it is never a good idea to texture paneling. Ideally you would either remove all the texture and paint the paneling or replace/laminate the walls with drywall.

Knockdown texture is one of the harder textures to match a repair. Small areas might be ok by either dabbing or flicking thinned down joint compound on the repair and then knocking it down as it starts to set up. Larger repairs need to be sprayed on and then knocked down.

Do not know how this would work over paneling but there are aresol cans out there that you can spray on the area, wait a few minutes, and then lightly trowel the area down. If it is a larger repair or you have several repairs there is a hand held pump type sprayer that has an adjustable nozel that works well and gives you a nice workout at the same time. I believe it is made by a company call homax. I generally thin joint compound down with water to a creamy consistancy and try it out on a piece of scrap dywall to get the desired look of the knockdown. I prefer the pump style to the cans for repairs.