Covering up wall texture in a rental?

Submitted by CrucioCup t3_116c64w in DIY

EDIT: The idea has been rejected. Thank you for taking the time to comment, everyone.

I would like to have smooth, flat walls. However every single apartment I have visited, including brand new ones, has very dramatic ugly wall texture. It’s in style here, apparently, and as it’s a rental, I can’t get rid of it.

My current plan is to use a lot of heavy-duty double-sided tape to put up thin plywood (5mm), back the seams between the plywood pieces with thin plastic, fill said seams with wood-fill or plaster or something, sand them down, & paint them with normal interior paint. Then just pry them off at the end of my stay, and goo-gone the walls if necessary. I would probably measure out where the outlets are, and use a hand-saw to cut them out before taping the boards up.

Another option is to get a roll of bamboo slats, back the whole thing with plastic, and put that up. I think the rolls of bamboo would be lighter and easier for me to manoeuvre, but they’d require a lot more plaster & sanding to get them flat.

As far as the double-sided tape, I could use nails or screws but it’s $5 for every hole I put in the wall so I’d like to avoid it if possible. I might just put one screw in the top of each plywood board if necessary, so there’s no chance it falls.

My question is, would it work? What issues am I overlooking? I’m specifically looking at paintable plywood, so hopefully that would prevent warping. I can’t find an answer as to how heavy it is, but the double-sided tape I’m looking at is rated for 2lbs per 3” of tape, so presumably I could always just use more tape? And I’m not sure how well the tape would stick to a textured wall, but the fact that it’s textured is the whole reason I’m doing this.

If the plywood is too heavy I could technically use polywall, but I’d prefer to avoid it because I don’t like the texture & not thrilled about being surrounded by that much plastic.

I’ve seen people cut the plywood into strips and put it it up that way. They wanted the shiplap look, but for me that would be a lot more cutting, a lot more plaster or wood-fill, a lot more sanding to get it to look like a normal plain wall. It would be lighter & easier to handle though. Would it be worth it? Is there another solution I’m overlooking?

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Tristan155 t1_j95yipi wrote

That seems like a lot of cost and effort for something of no real benifit.

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TonyWhoop t1_j96fpmg wrote

I know one of these people. I’m a tradesman and I was the first person she asked about it. My reaction was ‘but for why?’.

I think it’s indicative of something wrong with the person but that’s just me. Like you would rather put in what probably amounted to a couple weeks straight of work, hard work, than tolerate some minutiae.

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CrucioCup OP t1_j9607dc wrote

Isn’t that true of all aesthetics?

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Talusen t1_j960yiv wrote

Perhaps hang fabric over the walls?

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PrincessJennifer t1_j99aht3 wrote

No because spending time and money on a rental vesus owned property gets you an increase in value, whereas doing something to a rental just costs you money.

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redcore4 t1_j95yqtv wrote

If you can even get it to stick in the first place anything you put on a textured wall and then pry off is likely to take the texture off with it. You will also probably have problems if your landlord inspects the property during your tenancy and you have made such a dramatic change without prior permission.

A better plan is to talk to each prospective landlord and ask whether they mind you redecorating by filling in the texture - they may be absolutely fine with you plastering over it if you get a professional paint job done, as it’s essentially you paying for free maintenance and upkeep of their investment property, and it shows you’re committed to being a stable long term tenant. They may be willing to allow it even if they’re not happy with it for the price of a clause in the contract promising you’ll put the texture back in when you leave or an extra security deposit to cover the cost of remediation afterwards.

Either way it’s a lot of money to put into someone else’s property so the better solution might just be to hang fancy bedspreads over the walls and take them with you when you go, or keep looking until you find a place that’s more to your taste.

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CrucioCup OP t1_j9604b8 wrote

I’ve visited over a dozen places ranging from built in the 80s to just finished construction a couple months ago. They all have the same problem; I thought we left popcorn ceilings behind in the last millenium but now there are popcorn walls, too.

I will try asking the landlords.

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CharlesDickens17 t1_j9832yf wrote

Are you in FL? Orange peel texture on the walls is very popular with apartment complexes, but private residences (single family homes) are often flat walls with no texture.

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BetweenOceans t1_j99hko6 wrote

I actually clicked because I completely feel you. It's not nothing. You're spending how much time in there and textured walls and ceilings and weird light fixtures really do have a bizarre energy I don't like either. "Funky fabric," isn't going to do it, that's a totally different vibe. I like where your head's at. It's actually pretty labor intensive to sand down walls/ceiling, but def worth checking into and seeing if the owner would be down. What is even the point of popcorn ceilings? Just laziness? Textured walls? Because painting a board flat is hard? I don't understand. I do think maybe stretch like raw hide and wooden boards with maybe barn door slats on them could cover them up? Hmmmmmmm....

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wolpertingersunite t1_j9a5k5v wrote

They have three practical benefits. 1, sound reduction. 2, easier/cheaper initial drywalling to a lower standard of flatness. 3, easier repairs of damage. Perfectly flat walls ala hgtv is really expensive to achieve.

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msdlp t1_j9glmbc wrote

I am not sure if you realize it but the texture on apartments is used to hide a fast and reckless drywall job on a business property. Someone in this thread noted that private homes tend to have flat walls. The private home buyer expects a high quality drywall job without texture. The business owner buying/building an apartment complex doesn't give a fuck if the wall is textured as long as it looks ok. You will have a hard time finding an apartment without texture for this reason. I bought a home in Colorado and the ceilings were popcorn texture. I took a putty knife and scraped it all off, only to notice that all the irregularities not stood out where they were not visible under the popcorn texture. I would highly recommend that you just let it go until you buy your own home which will probably have flat walls anyway. Do what you feel. Make yourself happy if you can.

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eulynn34 t1_j983s08 wrote

The wall texture is to hide the shitty drywall seams and likely unevenness of the wall.

Smooth walls take craftsmanship— and shake and bake flip jobs that get rented out don’t have that.

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HootblackDesiato t1_j9643cy wrote

My inclination would be to find some cool / funky lightweight cloth to hang. Much easier to put up and take down, and would look worlds better than the overlay options you're considering.

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sameteam t1_j9620cm wrote

I’m with you. I hate shitty contractor special wall texture. The first thing I did in my new house was the long slow process of Venetian plastering the walls to a smooth matte finish. I would never put the effort into a rental. I think hanging fabric or peal and stick panels would be the move

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wolpertingersunite t1_j9a5oso wrote

Can you share how you did the plastering? What product? Thx

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sameteam t1_j9amiv3 wrote

I used a us based company called Vasari plaster. marmorino is the fine grade which I like the best and I used mainly plastic trowels to produce a flat matte look. For heavily textured walls I did a coat of the mediaum grade and followed up with the fine.

It takes a long time but I dig the look so much that I don’t care. I will eventually have most of my house plastered.

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CrucioCup OP t1_j966fgo wrote

Congrats on your new house!! 😊 that makes sense & seems to be the consensus

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l397flake t1_j988023 wrote

You will soon find out why they are textured.

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lilleblake t1_j978y15 wrote

I think you should care about moisture behind the plywood. I wouldnt recommend such a solution in the first place because of the cost and how difficult it is. You could call the local painter and ask him for a solution? Good luck

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mahreyahm t1_j96291v wrote

Ask the landlord if you can paint the wall “smooth” at your own expense. He’ll likely not object.

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Opasero t1_j99m7t7 wrote

It sounds like the tape may be too weak. I don't know if you have access to 3M Command strips. There are several kinds but I am thinking of the ones used to hang pictures. Thelr large picture hanging strips hold up to 16 pounds and will come off the wall and your panels without any damage or residue.

You could also potentially use like an industrial strength Velcro.

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AnnieB512 t1_j98h5in wrote

I remember reading about how college students use starch and fabric to cover up ugly walls. I don't know the exact process but I'm sure there's plenty of YouTube videos. Basically you pick out a pretty fabric, soak it in starch and press it out on the wall like wallpaper. It covers the texture and you can use whatever color or design you'd like.

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ErnestBatchelder t1_j96mbdm wrote

If it is a rental the walls are likely eggshell meaning there is a sight sheen

Your best bet is to see if you are allowed to paint the walls, then paint them in the flattest flat paint you can so they dissappear.

Otherwise, once the place is filled with paintings and rugs, you really don't notice it.

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HardskiBopavous t1_j9eyeiq wrote

Now that you can’t go through with this idea, save the money you would have spent on it for a down payment on your own home 😉

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CrucioCup OP t1_j9f2esg wrote

Thanks, I will definitely do that! There’s no need to sound so happy about my disappointment though 😳😅

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Everythingcontrived t1_j96j4v7 wrote

Buy 4’ rolls of mesh and skim coat with mud. I’ve found this to be the most inexpensive. You may find it tedious but once you get the system down and can mud efficiently it is easy peasy. Thorough sanding is the key to having a perfect finish

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BetweenOceans t1_j99hqfm wrote

Cool, are there Youtube videos of this? What would I put in?

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Ambitious_Ad_9637 t1_j965w78 wrote

The reason walls are textured is to cut down on the echoes in small rooms. That said if you must have flat walls and they are temporary then Masonite or panel boards will be far far easier than plywood and way cheaper. You can paint it whatever color you want and hang it on double stick tape just fine.

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HootblackDesiato t1_j96g7m3 wrote

Actually, the reason they're textured at all is to hide flaws in taping and bedding the sheetrock. A perfectly smooth sheetrock finish requires more work and more skill and is costly. A heavy texture hides imperfections.

If you've ever recorded music, you'll know that heavy texture does little to reduce echoes. Yes, there's a little diffraction but it's not significant.

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