Laquered Walls Preparation.

[dr_dobro]

Any of you guys have an idea on How to prepare allready existing Drywall to a smooth waveless surface for Laquer / French polish look?

I was thinking usind Plastic fillers for auto body and then use an orbital sander to smooth it out, but seems like tons of work.
Reason of the Plastic is that is a harder material than the common Joint Compound, then all can be sanded with water, but I'm wondering if the walls will still be wavy after all .

 

[-Spike-]

The trick to flat walls is a long block. Orbital sanders aren't large enough to bridge the high and low spots. The larger the sanding pad, the flatter the wall will be.

Plastic body filler will take much longer to sand, and if you don't cover the whole wall the existing surface will sand down much faster, giving you an uneven surface.

Personally, sounds like a nightmare in the making.

 

[dr_dobro]

Thanks Spike:
I don't know what else should I do. The common commercial compounds are to soft to sand and will leave creases specially when high gloos finishes are on it. It's good to hear some feedback. I've been doing this for years, but will love to learn other ways.

My other idea is to Skim Coat evenly all surfaces with Joint Compound and at least 4 coats, block sand in between coats. Prime them with Alkyd (2 coats). Then in order to visually see the low and hig spots, will apply 2 coats of finish product. Then Skim them again with sweedish puddy (an oil based puddy ) and wet sand it. Then primed them and the non sense... again.
One of the biggest problems with drywall is that when installed, they move and re takes it shape from the structure behind, specially when done roughly.
I wish I could take the structure down and redo the entire room from scratch

This job is going to be a tough one !

 

[-Spike-]

Using the joint compound to get the wall as flat as possible is the way to go. You will save yourself hours (weeks) of sanding. To see low spots, use a guide coat- lightly spray the wall with a dark spray paint, let it dry, then go over the wall with a sanding block. The low spots will show up easily. When I say 'lightly spray', think 'mist'. If you spend longer than 30 seconds to spray the whole wall, you're putting on too much.

I've never attempted what you're doing, but it seems to me that a setting-type joint compound would work fine, final sanded with 320 grit or finer. Maybe try it on a small sample?

Another thought- plaster. You're reinventing the wheel.

 

[45Kevin]

Assuming you have already put a skim coat on the drywall and sanded it with a proper drywall pole sander, prime it. Now you will have a hard base to work from. With a 500w heating ball (lightbulb) look for the imperfection and mark them with a pencil. Skim again and touch-up as needed. Rinse and repeat. I would use a 150 grit, or higher if you can find it, on the pole sander.

Use as long nd good trowel as you can find to do the skimming. 20in. if you can find one.

You will probably not get the smoothness you need to get a good `french polish` look, but you will be able to confidently appply a high gloss paint.

What do you mean by french polish, faux

 

[45Kevin]

I wrote the above post hours ago, and just posted now. I see some other ideas have come up in the mean time.

If you are up to it, a one coat plaster would probably give the best result...but that takes skilz.

 

[dr_dobro]

Thanks for all the feedback:

I havent started the project yet.
Spike; that is a great idea of spraying a dark color, sort of like the body shops do to eliminate the orange peel on paint jobs.

45Kevin; I wont use a pole sander, they tend to leave many marks, specially on edges.
As for the French Polish is an option I might do instead of lacquer, but the high content of Alcohol and Shellac, makes it impossible to comply with HVOC and the EPA Department.
The beneffit of the French Polish is the eveness on the sheen, against a possible bad spray job with the Water borne Laquer.

I only use Plaster if there's something deep to patch, otherwise I use Durabond 45.

Daniel

 

[-Spike-]

Actually, it's exactly what I used to do as an auto refinish tech, to find the low spots the bodymen left.

Plaster is hard as a rock, and sands smooth. Seems like the perfect substrate for your finish.

 

[dr_dobro]

sweet !

Project will start two weeks from now. Somehow I'll post a pic or two on progress !

 

[45Kevin]

By plaster I mean this, Preparing the Finish Plaster Coat - BobVila.com
And you need skilz, but it will get you the smoothest finish. And you don`t sand plaster, you polish it.

Your problem with the pole sander is that you don`t know how to use it. Always store your paper flat, I used to keep it between two pieces of plywood kept together with elastic bands. Before you put it on the sander, take the piece of sand paper and roll it over the handle to give it a curve in the long dimension. Then enlarge one of the notches (most pre-sized paper is a tad too long and fits loose if you don,t do this) and install it tightly on the sander. When you sand the wall try to keep the sander at a slight angle to the direction it is moving. Don`t sand tight in the angles, finish those with a sanding block.

Keep us posted once you start this.

 

[dr_dobro]

Thanks for the tip !
I'll take a while before I post pics, since some other work has to be done prior the wall prep for this project, but will do so !