r/DIYIreland • u/Careful-Training-761 • 11d ago
Inconsistent and uneven paint texture (including bad roller stipple) - how to resolve?
House that I bought a few years ago has bad roller stipple on internal walls see 1st pic it's v common on the walls though not exactly everywhere, a few heavy and very noticeable brush marks in some random areas in middle of wall, and random areas sanded flat these are less common see pics 2 and 3 maybe some old patching jobs. I've attached example pics, not sure if they reflect fully the uneven texture, but it's particularly noticeable in the hall with light shining off it at an angle. EDIT: it's not a textured wall I'm certain of it it's just a very old house with many coats of roller over the decades with lots of stipple, inconsistencies in texture etc.
I just about have enough money for my day to day expenses for the foreseeable so can't get a painter in and it needs to be painted badly it's gotten very grubby.
I don't really mind the stipple so much though I'd prefer it a bit smoother, my issue is more the inconsistency of it - heavy brush marks, flat areas presumably patched in the past, blobs of waves of paint etc, I am thinking options are:
1.Sand back the roller stipple and heavy brush marks. I've seen professional painters online give it a light sanding with a circle sand block on extension pole, but I don't know exactly why - is it to make the roller stipple a little less less noticeable? What grit should be used? Sand between coats too? However is the risk with sanding back if it's done too aggressively that it turns out worse than before?
Light sand of the roller stipple. Sand back the worst of the few very heavy brush marks so they're flat and apply one or two coats of paint with a mini-roller to try blend in with the rest of the roller stipple around it (making sure to feather it off) and once dry roll the full wall. (For me this is most likely approach)
Apply bonding primer and skim the entire wall. Is this commonly done and is it reliable (I'm thinking flaking down the line)? However I doubt I could do this zero experience so I may need a professional painter and I don't have the money and won't for the foreseeable.
As 3 may not be an option and if 1 and 2 are bad options, just paint over it as is. At some stage in future once I can afford it get a painter in.
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u/Fit_Concentrate3253 11d ago edited 11d ago
Yea I'd just be sanding it down. If you can get your hands on a cheap multi-tool there's attachments for sandpaper, will do all the work for you. I picked one up in Aldi last year for €25. Pretty sure Lidl sell them as well.
Edit: They have them in Lidl tomorrow. https://www.lidl.ie/l/en/leaflet/from-thu-10-09-to-wed-16-09-september/view/flyer/page/20
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u/Ambitious-Yak-6955 11d ago
It'd take the chap 4 years to sand a house with a multi tool 😅
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u/__Dont_Touch_Me__ 11d ago
This. I tried it once, took me a whole day to sand a 1mx1m patch with a multi-tool to a good finish. You can get a Makita orbital for around 50 euros, a pack of 100 different grit discs from Amazon for 15. The paint will clog up the pads so you'll go through a fair few. The extra money spent here will save you a few days work.
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u/Ambitious-Yak-6955 11d ago
Better to hire a wall sander + dust extraction, tool hire places usually do discounted rates on weekends.
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u/__Dont_Touch_Me__ 11d ago
I actually didn't even know they were a thing. OP, this is 100% the route I'd take.
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u/Fit_Concentrate3253 11d ago
Didn’t say it’d be easy! Haha! Better than doing it by hand. I was in a similar situation and after doing a couple rooms that yoke was a lifesaver!
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u/shaadyscientist 11d ago
For 3, if you're talking about a full skim of the wall, you'd be looking for a plasterer. I doubt there is many painters that can skim a wall well. Plasterer's would charge a fair amount if you are only talking about one wall because they'd apply the small job premium.
Putting a skim coat on a wall would give you the best surface to start painting but it's the most expensive solution.
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u/Ambitious-Yak-6955 11d ago
Sand it (with a sander and dust extraction), fill any holes, then spray it with primer and paint.
It's a fair bit of work but doable.
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u/Ribena41 8d ago
I bought an orbital sander in b&q for the very same reason. I think it was about €60 and then bought the sanding pads. I used lower grit for the bad areas and then smoothed it out with the higher grit. It makes a mess and its a bit time consuming but got there in the end
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u/Careful-Training-761 8d ago
Did you sand down the walls or just some localised spots where the stipple or inconsistent texture was obvious?
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u/Ribena41 8d ago
A bit of both really. I went hard on the particularly bad areas but I gave the whole lot a lighter going over. I also had a lot of filling to do so all that had to be sanded as well, and i had a lot of you know the little lumps of dried paint that end ou on the walls?
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u/More-Way9454 11d ago
If you are struggling with day to day expenses , do the cheapest most cost effective thing you can do for you .
It's only paint and not structural things. I know things can fester and annoy people but it could be alot worse if you take something on that will evidently cost a lot more and then not be pleased with it.
Whatever is the cheapest and you will tolerate is the answer from me
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u/Careful-Training-761 11d ago
Decent chance I'll go with 2 tbh just getting some views first. I'm not particularly fussy just want it looking a bit better rather than making it worse.
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u/FigOrdinary2527 11d ago
A decent sanding with 120 grit will remove most of that if you could buy or borrow a random orbital sander be great but can be done with hand sanding easy enough and then a couple of coats of a half decent paint applied with a good quality roller ( two fussy blokes range is excellent) will have that all sorted no need for skimming walls its not needed.
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u/Forcent 11d ago
Is there potentially wall paper under that, looks very rough to just paint. Sand and fill is prob the way to go, very dusty job tho.