Texture powder (used for coating your walls & ceilings) can be purchased in many formats, usually in powder form, or even ready mixed in tubs & containers.
I find that the best value for money is to purchase texture in powdered form & mix it to the required consistency yourself, besides being better value, you can also mix it to your specific requirements depending on your specific consistency for that particular job in hand.
Sometimes, ready mixed texture coating requires watering down' before use, obviously, this depends on the type of pattern or design your trying to achieve onto your ceilings & walls, but usually, you may find that if you just whisk the texture powder briskly in the container (without adding water first) you may end up with the consistency required.
Whereas mixing powdered texture is concerned, use a clean bucket: Almost half fill (not quite, but nearly) the bucket with clean cold water (unless stated on the package to use hot or warm water instead) then, add your texture powder into the bucket so that it completely covers the water depth; now, using your texture mixing tool (sometimes called a bumper' which is a plastic round & flat sphere that you attach to a wooden handle to squash the powder against the floor/bottom of the bucket, thus mixing the texture & water together) continue to beat the mixture against the bottom of the bucket, then if the consistency is still thin, add more powder (small amounts at a time) & continue mixing this the same way.
The general idea is to mix the texture to a thick consistency, and continue mixing to get the lumps of unmixed texture dispersed, but, it is almost impossible to mix out the lumps if the consistency is too thin whilst your mixing.
Once the mixture is thick, & you feel that you have dispersed most of the lumps, leave it for quite a few minutes to rest, then when you come back later to continue mixing out the lumps you may be more successful:
You can also use your drill with an appropriate attachment for mixing these types of materials:
Once you have completed your mixed bucket of texture, the consistency should resemble that of thick' filler (whereas, if you scoop some up with your trowel or scraper, it doesn't fall off, but, in the same instance, you must not add so much powder whilst your mixing so that it prevents you from being able to mix the texture properly.)
Now, you can use this thick' mixture for filling & caulking out any discrepancies on your ceilings & walls prior to thinning the rest down for texturing your desired pattern or design onto your ceiling & walls:
To thin down, just add small amounts of cold water at a time, & continue mixing with your tool until satisfied:
Please remember, most coatings that you mix with water tends to dry back slightly (shrinkage) as it dries out; & also, you may find that the bucket is moving all over the place whist your trying to mix the texture, just place your feet each side of the bucket, on the floor, to prevent this.
For even more ideas, plus your full guide to texturing for the home DIY' fanatic, check out Texture Revival' which downloads straight onto your computer.
I hope that this guide has helped you in your quest for mixing texture powder, thanks for reading.
http://www.lookreadlearn.com Dale Ovenstone 2008.
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