Painting Walls - Sand between coats?

[david656]

Hi,

I don't do a massive amount of decorating but am now redecorating my room. I plan to either stencil or get space invader decals/stickers for the back wall but the wall is rather bumpy and i suppose years of rollers brush lines and such has made the wall rather bumpy and uneven.

What is the best thing to do? use an electric sander, sanding block, or just sand paper... and what grit intensity.

cheers

[LLUncoolJ]

The walls are intentionally textured for acoustical purposes. Adhesives will stick to the wall, but you need to wipe it down first. Use a damp town to wipe the dust off. If it is in an area where people smoke or near the kitchen, you may want to hit the target area with some grease remover like 409.

One exception: if the wall has the gritty sandy texture mixed with the paint, you may want to give it a light sanding with a hard drywall sponge. Use your jusgement, if the texture kind of hurts when you run your hand across, sand it, if it is smooth (orange peel), you should be fine.

[polaris]

The walls are intentionally textured for acoustical purposes.

i doubt that over here to be honest, its probably just an old house
is it just an old ---fouled up beyond all recognition--- wall dave, in which case live with it or get a plasterer to skim it smooth, trying to smooth it will get you nowhere
take a photo

[david656]

no no ! its about 20 years old now !

there were some nails holding up pictures before so i pollyfilla'd it and sanded before painting but as i plan to either paint or stick on some space invader shapes i want it to look smooth and clean not with great lumps etc.

I'll get some pics up tomorrow :-)

If you were going for a game/arcade themed bedroom what would you have ?

[polaris]

no no ! its about 20 years old now !

there were some nails holding up pictures before so i pollyfilla'd it and sanded before painting but as i plan to either paint or stick on some space invader shapes i want it to look smooth and clean not with great lumps etc.

I'll get some pics up tomorrow :-)

If you were going for a game/arcade themed bedroom what would you have ?

why dont you have a look at the wall deco stuff at think geek.com. level 42's got it on his gameroom, you may like it and its not permanent

if you've done a rubbish job of filling it before i'd say hack it out and try again with more polyfilla, sanding it can be a pain ive found