How To: Patch Knockdown Wall Texture

The rustic flattened textures called "Knockdown" are very popular along the west coast and in the Southwest. Riding on the coattails of stuccos and skip trowels, this texture exudes a causal elegance and lends itself to a wide range of furnishings, décor themes and architectures. It’s also commonly used to help hide minor surface imperfections.

If damage appears to these walls, the typical spackle and sand repair approach will leave a "bald spot" or smooth area amid the textured surface. Painting over the area doesn’t conceal the difference in wall surfaces and unless your planning on just hanging a picture over the blemish, you’ll need to get it back to its original state.

Whether you wish to “patch” damage of an existing knockdown texture on a wall surface, or apply this interesting effect to an accent wall or entire room, it’s easy to do with an aerosol texture designed just for this purpose.

Typically Knockdown texture is applied commercially with a hopper gun and compressor. A medium sized splatter texture is applied and then allowed to set up for a short period of time. The edges of the texture splatter startto dry, while the tops stay wet. A wide edge drywall knife is then used to flatten or “knock down” the splatter in all directions, leaving a random knockdown pattern to be painted to your liking.

We recommend using the low odor, easy clean up Water-based Knockdown Wall Texture for this application. Homax also makes a Knockdown Knife specially designed for patching knockdown textures.

1. Read the instructions on the can for application before you begin. If patching an existing knockdown texture you will want to adjust the nozzle to apply the desired pattern size that matches the pattern on the wall. Test on a piece of scrap drywall until you are comfortable with your technique.


2. Apply the texture sparingly in a random pattern. If you wish to achieve a heavy knockdown (2-3" diameter pattern), you can apply several layers of texture, or apply as heavier "bursts" of texture to the surface.


3. Allow texture to set, or partially dry. The set time will depend on how heavy the splatter texture is applied. Watch for the edges to begin to dry before testing knocking down a small area. You can always scrape off an area and re-apply if you choose. It’s important not to apply the texture over 100% of the surface (full coverage). The low spaces inbetween the texture splatters are what creates the dimension when painted over.


4. Paint over as desired to achieve the finished look.