Can I smooth a knockdown-textured ceiling with spackle?

Question

I recently had new drywall put up in the top floor of my house to cover a cracked plaster ceiling with popcorn texturing. I used a contractor, and when asked about a texture for the drywall my preferred option (smooth ceilings) was very expensive while a knockdown texture was not. I ultimately opted for the knockdown texture due to the cost difference.

I've been looking into doing something on my own to smooth out the drywall (while hanging it myself would probably not have been a good idea due to my skill level, I can do some other tasks adequately). Most options seem pretty involved, but I think that I could handle a skim coat if it's necessary.

But the skim coat process seems very similar to using spackle for small repairs in walls, which led me to wonder: would using spackle for smoothing a ceiling that has knockdown texturing work? There must be some drawbacks, or reasons it won't work at all, or else I would expect to see spackle as an option when googling ways to smooth the texture.

So I guess the best formulation of my question is: can I use spackle and a putty knife to smooth out my ceiling at all? And if it's possible, what are the drawbacks that make it such a (seemingly) unpopular option?

Answer 1

Spackle might work, however it is specially designed for repairing holes and cracks and is more expensive than the product that is normally used for doing a skim coat: regular joint compound or topping compound.

You should do a bit of research and plan to practice with wide trowels/mud knives if you intend to do this yourself. Hanging the drywall is not the skill-heavy part of the job; mudding and sanding IS. Professional plasterers spend years/decades acquiring the skills to skim coat, it is probably the most experience/skill dependent craft in the trade...

Answer 2

I just completed a similar project. I skim coated my bathroom walls with joint compound to cover up a paint job from a previous tenant that had resulted in crackling and flaking over the entire surface of the drywall.

You can read a bit about the difference between drywall joint compound (mud) and spackle here, but there a few chief differences in application:

1. Drywall mud sands very easily and very smoothly. You can slather it on over a wide area and then fairly quickly take out all the lumps and bumps. This is especially important if you are a DIYer, because there will be a lot of lumps and bumps. In general, it's a forgiving medium. You can always put on another coat and do some more sanding if you're unhappy with the results.

2. Drywall mud is easier to apply to large areas. In fact, you can thin it down with water and roll it on if you're doing a really large area. For a smaller job, this may not be worth the effort.

A few tips from someone who has been there: the downside of the ease of sanding is that this stuff is incredibly dusty. Make sure you have a proper respirator and consider starting with a fairly thin layer and building up if needed. Also, you might reach a point where the surface is flat but you have some pitting. At this point, consider throwing on a layer of primer and then filling in the problem spots with a final touch up. That way, when you sand down the touch-ups, the primer will protect the rest of the new surface from the sandpaper.

Answer 3

Using spackle to smooth the texture will be more expensive than using joint compound. Both will set hard and have about the same working and setting time.

The problem with trying to smooth an already textured ceiling will take a lot of work and depends on the how course or textured it is now.

It can be accomplished by a diligent DIY-er and the correct tools. You will want a 12 inch dry wall knife, a mud pan, a sanding pole with sander, and 4-5 gallons of joint compound (depending on the square feet of the ceiling and the texture to be covered.

Answer 4

No. My tub of DAP DryDex spackling, the most popular around here for DIY, says explicitly, in all caps and bold, "DO NOT USE AS SKIM COAT." They don't explain further, but I'm guessing it's because people keep calling them complaining about the final product. I'm guessing other "spackle" products say something similar.

Just try it out on a test section, and I think you'll see the problem: it's just way too dry and powdery. Full disclosure, I've never personally done a proper skim coat, just patching. But there's no way this stuff is going to work.

If you really want to do this, you need to use one of the "mud" products.

I also need to lay down some "real talk" that your contractor didn't mention to you. The entire reason to do knockdown is that it hides crappy work. The contractor can do an absolutely lousy job, using his "B team" full of new guys and people he wouldn't allow anywhere near a high quality job, and they can work very fast. They just do that nice thick knockdown over the whole thing, and it will cover up how messed up it is.

If he knows you want a smooth finish, the job needs to be approached much more carefully. You need to understand that this is the real reason that the knockdown quote was so much cheaper. Most likely, you can't just take the walls you have now, and put a thin coat over, and have smooth: all that would do is bring back up all of the imperfections that the knockdown is covering up: it will look really bad. The only way to salvage the work is a whole bunch of seriously thick coats, which is probably days of work. That will also cause complications for any trim and fixtures.

Another commenter got downvoted, but he's right: a pro would tear out this crappy work and redo it. One thing people sometimes do is avoid "demo" costs by putting new wallboard over what you've got. But that might not save much effort in the long run.

Answer 5

I don't know about spackle being more expensive. I am going to disagree with most on here on that point (and I am right).

Notes:

• there are more variations of spackle than joint compound (drywall mud)
• spackle is much much harder to smooth in bigger areas
• spackle is much much harder to sand
• no matter what you do, you have to get rid of most of the knockdown texture first
• one of the biggest hindrances is that you live there and this is one of the messiest repairs you can do - you have to basically firmly cover or remove everything from that floor and tape off that floor

So all of that being said is I have a crew that does "spackle" (modified spackle that is hard as a rock on dry). There are two guys that I know that can do this. Well anyone can just like I can hit a baseball 350 feet... give me 50-100 swings and it will get done.

They can buy the spackle at maybe 1.5-2 joint compound cost. That's all they need and it is one coat. No sanding, no dust, no 2nd and 3rd coat... Done.

It is an artist working though. These dudes are good good. If I had just a normal "mud" guy do this it would be a mess, cost a fortune to sand it right and maybe never look smooth. That is your issue. You are not an artist with a rigid material.

So to do it yourself you are looking at joint compound plus 3-4 coats (being realistic for a newbie). Your materials will cost more and be messier.

Spackle can be a one step process but requires way way more skill.

Answer 6

A tradesman would remove the old ceiling and replace it with a new sheet of gyprock. An easy job if you have the equiptment, like a lifter to get the sheet in place.