# Is anything wrong with this knockdown job? [pics]



## dmercer (May 20, 2010)

The previous owners of my house smoked heavily upstairs, so we opted to have the acoustic texture scraped from the ceiling primed with kilz, and then have a medium knockdown texture applied followed with a coat of good ceiling paint (he used Sherwin Williams).

When I was walking around this afternoon inspecting the job (they just finished painting yesterday) I noticed that all the heavier parts of the knockdown (where the new mud is) were filled with hundreds of pinholes, and some larger holes that appear to be air bubbles that popped. 

The larger ones I can understand, but my contractor told me all knockdown looks like this, which I don't completely believe. I've seen other ceilings that were knocked down in a similar situation (scraped acoustic texture during a remodel), and while I might not have looked as close, I didn't notice anything of the sort. 

Here's a couple pics:









(larger version)









(larger version) 


I'm going to try to get a second opinion from another local guy that some coworkers recommended, but I'm curious to hear what the experts here have to say.  

The whole ceiling is like this. I just want to make sure it was a proper job before I settle up. 

Thanks!


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## Muddauber (Jan 26, 2008)

That picture IS NOT a knockdown.

It's acoustic that has been scraped or sanded down.:whistling2:


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## dmercer (May 20, 2010)

It's tough to judge from the picture, but the flatter spots are actually the high points where they tossed the new mud. The rougher spots are the low points where the remains of the acoustic texture show through. 

The ceilings were scraped (dry I believe) and not sanded. Outside of the millions of holes, the guys did a great job. I'm just concerned he's being dishonest about why my ceiling is full of pits.


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## eastex1963 (Nov 6, 2008)

Well, first of all, the ceiling should have been scraped all the way down to the rock. Then primed with a good sealer. Skimmed, sanded and then textured.....let dry....then paint with a primer ...... then painted.

Of course, your guy didn't do that. IMO, all the "pits" you see are from the way the ceilings were "repaired". Acoustic ceiling material has Styrofoam. At least that's what I call it. When dry scraped like your guy did, it has a tendency to slice some of those foam balls, which are full of air holes....like insulation has. THEN when you paint it, the pin holes (which are the air holes) either do OR do NOT fill in with paint. Yours didn't.

There are ways to do things right and ways to cut corners. 

I'm with daubber on this one too, that's not a knockdown like I've ever seen. Also, IF it is acoustic that's just been scraped, it wasn't even a good acoustic job from the start. Just sayin'.


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## Mudstar (Feb 15, 2008)

This is a forum is for professional interaction I do believe 
Not to confirm of a jobs quality or its procedure other then with the professionals them self''s


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## eastex1963 (Nov 6, 2008)

Mudstar said:


> This is a forum is for professional interaction I do believe
> Not to confirm of a jobs quality or its procedure other then with the professionals them self''s



yep, I agree Mudstar.....but he took the time to even add pics....lol...that deserves a little feed back....:yes: Don't be such a meany...hehe:thumbsup:


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## Muddauber (Jan 26, 2008)

Well. at least it's more interesting than paper verses mesh!:thumbup:


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## Capt-sheetrock (Dec 11, 2009)

Muddauber said:


> Well. at least it's more interesting than paper verses mesh!:thumbup:


Yes AMEN, your RIGHT !!!!!!!!!

Preach on Bro !!!!!!!!!! :thumbup:


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## alltex (Jan 31, 2009)

Looks good from my house!


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## drywall guy158 (Dec 31, 2009)

alltex said:


> Looks good from my house!


l.o.l. !:icon_lol:


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## tricounty dwall (Apr 29, 2010)

to me me it doesnt look like knockdown. the pics are small and u cant see much. but the pin holes shouldnt be there like that. i know i would never leave a job like that


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## dmercer (May 20, 2010)

Sorry about the small pics. I wanted to make sure the pinholes showed up decent, so they were taken in macro mode. I'll try and get a broader shot tomorrow and post that up if anyone is still curious. Whether it's knockdown or not (consensus is no, maybe us north-central folk are off our rockers :blink, I'm fine with the end result sans the millions of tiny holes, and I can't say I feel I've gotten an honest answer from my contractor yet. 

The official word is that it pinholed everywhere because the surface was already painted underneath the new mud (he also primed with kilz), leaving the moisture from the mud nowhere to escape to but out the surface. I was also told that they would have needed to skim coat the entire surface in order to prevent this (not brought up before yesterday). 

I'll wrap this up by saying that I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone by posting here, but I thought this was my best shot at getting an honest answer at what happened (where better than a group of drywall guys). 

It's tough to go through the getting bids, getting referrals, and still have something turn out this way. So for those of you that shared your opinions, I sincerely thank you. I'm going to seek a second opinion from a bigger drywall contracting firm locally and see if they have anything different to say.


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## Axecutioner-B (May 3, 2010)

That is a very close match to knockdown you might see here in Phoenix. If i took a picture of the knockdown that was done in 1982 here in my house & posted it it would look pretty close to what you have there. I dunno why there are millions of tiny holes in yours tho,, maybe the mud they sprayed on was too wet(mixed with too much water? Maybe something got into the mud which shouldn't have? 

Do the holes disappear if you paint over them ?
________
EASY VAPE PORTABLE REVIEW


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## dmercer (May 20, 2010)

> maybe the mud they sprayed on was too wet(mixed with too much water? Maybe something got into the mud which shouldn't have?


Something like this was my uneducated guess. Either an improper mix, or something to do with how they sprayed it on. But like I said, I'm uneducated.



> Do the holes disappear if you paint over them ?


The smallest ones do. The bigger ones will mostly go away if you really take your time with the roller, or with a brush, and my contractor did offer to help repaint if we paid for the paint (meaning he'd throw in the labor for free).


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## Axecutioner-B (May 3, 2010)

dmercer said:


> Something like this was my uneducated guess. Either an improper mix, or something to do with how they sprayed it on. But like I said, I'm uneducated.
> The smallest ones do. The bigger ones will mostly go away if you really take your time with the roller, or with a brush, and my contractor did offer to help repaint if we paid for the paint (meaning he'd throw in the labor for free).[/quote]
> 
> Sounds like a decent solution, right?
> ...


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## dmercer (May 20, 2010)

> Sounds like a decent solution, right?


Certainly. I think that's the best we can make of the situation.


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## D's (Jan 15, 2009)

Judging by the pics I would say that he only skimmed the ceiling once before re-texturing. In my experience you need to skim at least twice to cover up a scraped popcorn and to take care of the bubbles. He should have lighted it up, sanded, and touched it up too before re-texturing, assuming of course he was being paid to do a top quality job. If you asked him to save you money and do the quick and dirty well then you got what you asked for.

D'S


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## A+ Texture LLC (Jan 10, 2009)

I only prime AFTER the texture. Why do it twice? My popcorn removals never have pinholes. It's hard to tell by those pics but it might be because it was primed before texture. In any case it looks like poop with all the holes. And does any pro here scrape dry popcorn? And were they at least wearing masks????


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## texturemaker (Dec 14, 2009)

Hello dmercer

First of all the old ceiling had smoke stain, over time this would make the ceiling kind of greasy, even though your contractor scraped off there could still be remnants of this grease there which would then affect the sealer he used prior to texturing, secondly, because your ceiling, once scraped, is still 'porous' because it has texture still on it, your contractor, being in the game would have probably sealed the ceiling prior to re-texturing, but one coat of sealer may not have been enough because in areas (bubbling/pinholes) the texture has dried out too rapidly causing the problem.

I have experienced this type of problem before & cured it by making sure the ceiling is well sealed & then dried off, to prevent the new re-texture from drying into the old surface too quickly.

Even though, some texture coatings (here in the UK) are very porous once they are mixed & then dried onto the surface after the texture so to re-texture a surface as such they have to be well sealed properly to take out any porosity before re-texturing.

Hope this helps dmercer but I think it is a nice gesture for your contractor to aid in the painting of your ceiling & that he learns by his mistakes.


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## DSJOHN (Apr 5, 2010)

The picture isnt here anymore,but it clearly looked exactly like an acoustical ceiling tile!!!


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