Textured finishes can be applied to bare or painted surfaces but the surface must be sound and, in some cases, treated. You should not, for example, think of textured finishes as a means of covering up walls which really need replastering or a ceiling which should be replaced.

All porous surfaces should first be treated with a stabilizing primer recommended by the manufacturer of the finish so that the setting of the texture material is not spoilt by suction. Surfaces requiring such treatment include brick, render, concrete, plaster and some types of wallboards.

Preparing The Surface For Textured Finishes

Texture finishes can be used to hide very fine hairline cracks and are usually marketed for their flexible ability to cope with normal movement so cracks don’t reopen. However, none of them can cover cracks or joints of more than 1.5mm (1Mrn) with any guarantee that these will remain covered up.

You will have the caulk the cracks or joints with texture compound (perhaps thickened with a little ordinary filler). Ideally, joints between boards of any kind should also have a layer of jointing tape over them between layers of whatever types of filler you are using. Make sure you feather the edges of the filling material so there is no noticeable ridge when the texture covers it.

Painted surfaces should be clean, sound and sanded lightly to provide a key for the finish. Distemper and low-quality emulsion paint may not hold the texture, test by pressing adhesive tape on a small area first and remove any painted surface that has a tendency to delaminate when the tape is peeled off It the surface has been painted in a dark color it’s best to paint over it in a light color first before you apply the texture.

You will have to remove wallpaper or light tiles such as polystyrene tiles. You can, however, safely apply a textured finish over ceramic tiles provided they are clean, the gaps are filled and they are primed with a coat of PVA adhesive, diluted according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Do check that lath-and-plaster ceilings are strong enough to support the extra weight of the textured coating. If they are showing any signs of sagging, lift a floorboard in the room or loft above and check that the laths are still nailed firmly to the joists and the plaster is well keyed to the laths.

Where there are fixing nails or screws which w1 be embedded in the texture material, you should paint them over with gloss paint to prevent them from rusting.

You will have to prime wood-faced wall- boards if they are absorbent and it’s best to treat wood-effect plastic boards with PVA adhesive in the same way as ceramic tiles. In the case of thin wallboards there is a risk that movement will cause the texture material to crack, so test them for flexibility and remove them if necessary.