How to Remove Texture from Walls in Your Home

You’ve moved into your dream home, but you’re not ecstatic about the faux stucco paint that adorns the walls or popcorn ceilings. Let’s be honest, there are many types of wall textures—and you either love it or hate it. Luckily, you can achieve a smooth, modern surface if you’re not down with texture. This guide will show you how to remove texture from walls, whether it’s painted-on or combed right into the drywall compound. 

Why Should I Smooth My Textured Walls?

Textured walls are a great way to hide imperfections left over by drywall installation, but many homeowners feel like it’s an outdated look. And while the textured walls of 2022 are a far cry from the popcorn ceilings and faux-stucco of our grandmother’s homes, if you want a more modern look or you want to install wallpaper, it’s time to smooth out your walls.

Cost to Remove Texture from Walls

The typical homeowner spends $1.10 to $1.30 per square foot on the cost of skim-coating drywall. This process is used to smooth textured walls. The cost of removing a popcorn ceiling is about the same at $1 to $2 per square foot, as long as there isn’t asbestos. If you’re going the DIY route, you can smooth textured walls for the cost of materials. 

How to Prep for Wall Texture Removal

Before you start this project, you need to do some careful planning. There are two main ways to smooth out the look of your textured walls. You can either scrape off the texture (if your walls aren’t painted) or cover it up (if your walls are painted). These processes are slightly different, so you’ll need to make sure you have the right materials. Here’s how to prep for wall texture removal.

1. Watch Out for Asbestos and Lead Paint

If your home was built before the 1980s, the textured paint on your walls could contain asbestos or lead. Asbestos was particularly common in old popcorn ceilings. Both spray-on asbestos and lead-based paint were banned in 1978. If you’re not entirely sure what kind of paint you’re dealing with, it’s best to hire an asbestos testing company near you and/or have lead clearance testing. 

2. Protect the Area (Including Your Furniture)

This project makes a mess, no matter the method. You’re either looking at drips of joint compound or a lot of drywall and paint dust. To protect your room:

• Put canvas drop cloths on the floor

• Remove baseboards (if using joint compound)

• Apply painter’s tape around windows and trim

• Cover furniture with tarps or move it out of the room entirely

• Tape plastic over vents to prevent dust from moving through your house

3. Put On Safety Gear

Essential safety gear includes goggles, a dust mask, and gloves—emphasis on the dust mask because this project creates a lot of dust. If you’re dealing with lead paint, you should hire a local lead paint removal expert for safety reasons. But if you insist on doing the job yourself, you still need to take extra precautions. At the bare minimum, wear a HEPA respirator, a hair covering, and disposable coveralls.

How to Remove Texture From Walls

The process of wall texture removal depends on your specific wall. If it’s not painted, you can scrape off the texture by softening it with water. Unfortunately, this won’t work well on painted walls because paint acts as a sealant. The water can’t effectively penetrate. In this case, you can cover up the texture using a layer of joint compound known as a skim coat. Here’s what you need to do.

Method 1: Scrape the Texture Off Your Walls

You can try to sand off paint and saturate your wall with water, but the soak-and-scrape method is most effective when used on walls that have never been painted. Follow these steps to scrape the texture right off your walls.

1. Gather Your Tools and Supplies

For this project, you’ll need a:

• Pump sprayer or spray bottle

• Hand sander

• Sanding screen

• 8-inch or 10-inch drywall taping knife

2. Saturate Your Walls With Water

Use a pump sprayer or spray bottle filled with water to evenly saturate the drywall. You may have to spray the wall a couple of times and wait a few minutes for it to soak in. Test the softness with your finger. If the texture feels pliable, move to the next step.

3. Scrape With a Drywall Taping Knife

Once water saturates each section of wall, begin scraping away the textured paint with your drywall taping knife. Make sure you hold the end of the knife at a 30-degree angle against the wall to avoid damaging the underlying drywall. Start with smaller sections of two to four square feet. As you move along, you’ll be able to work faster and with larger sections of wall.

4. Repeat the Process as Needed

If the knife meets resistance, stop; spray that area again and wait until the texture softens sufficiently. Continue soaking and scraping until the texture is removed. If there’s a tiny bit of texture left, don’t fret. You can remove it with sanding. 

5. Once Dry, Sand the Wall

Allow the wall to dry, then gently sand the area to ensure your wall is completely smooth. This should get rid of any texture that you might have missed.

Method 2: Apply a Skim Coat on Textured Walls

If your textured wall is painted, the best course of action is to smooth it out by covering the texture in joint compound. This is known as a skim coat. Follow these steps to skim coat textured walls. 

1. Gather Tools and Supplies

For this method, you’ll need:

• Joint compound (also known as drywall compound)

• A drill with paddle bit

• Cleaning cloths or paper towels

• A thick nap paint roller and pan

• A 10-inch drywall taping knife

• A drywall mud tray

• A hand sander

2. Lightly Sand Glossy Paint

Joint compound won’t adhere as well to high gloss paint. If your wall is glossy, lightly sand the paint to create some texture for adequate grip. After sanding, clean the wall with some damp rags or paper towels.

3. Mix the Joint Compound

In order for this method to work, your joint compound needs to be the consistency of pancake batter. Mix the joint compound using a drill with a paddle bit until you achieve the desired texture.

4. Roll the Joint Compound on the Wall

Pour the joint compound into a paint pan, then roll it on the wall using your thick-nap roller. The thicker the nap, the better to cover deep textures. Be forewarned: you will make a mess, but that’s what the dropcloth is for.

5. Skim the Compound

Take your drywall taping knife and lightly skim the wall to remove the excess compound. The idea is to create a smooth surface over the texture. For less mess, scrape the compound into a drywall mud pan.

6. Keep Things Wet

It’s difficult to smooth out joint compound once dry and wet parts start mixing together. Make sure you don’t skim wet compound over dried areas or it will set prematurely. Do small sections (about two feet) at a time.

7. Dry and Repeat (Optional)

If your wall has a really deep texture, you might need to add a second skim coat. Let your joint compound completely dry, which takes 24 to 48 hours, before applying the second coat of joint compound.

8. Sand Textured Walls

Use a hand sander to lightly sand the joint compound and smooth out any remaining texture on the surface of the wall.

Tips to Removing Texture From Your Walls

Want this DIY to go smoothly—literally? It takes some trial and error, but these tips will help.

Photo: Piotr / Adobe Stock

Skip Chemical Paint Removers

It might seem like the best option to use a chemical paint remover, but these products may be worse for your walls than resurfacing them. Chemical paint removers can be health hazards if you don’t use them properly. Coming into contact with or inhaling paint strippers can cause headaches, dizziness, and nausea. Serious health risks include cancer, organ damage, and even death.

Catch Imperfections With a Bright Light

You may think your walls are smooth, only to find imperfections in different lighting. Shining a light on the walls at different angles will help create shadows on any bumps that you may have missed. Once the walls look good under a harsh, bright light, they’ll look even better in natural or dim lighting.

Use the Right Sandpaper

The trick to removing textured paint on walls is to use the proper grit of sandpaper. Too fine of grit, and you’ll have little luck sanding away the textured coat. Too rough of sandpaper, and you could damage the wall and leave uneven spots.

• For drywall, use 120- to 150-grit sandpaper.

• For rough textures, like stucco or Venetian plaster, use 60- to 80-grit sandpaper.

• Even for rough textures, start with the 60- to 80-grit sandpaper, but finish the job with a finer sandpaper to avoid damage.

• Use 120- to 150-grit sandpaper if you’ve first sprayed and scraped away the wall. The sandpaper will help smooth out the surface before you add a new coat of paint.

DIY vs Hiring a Pro to Smooth Your Walls

Wall texture removal is a messy job and skim coating takes a certain amount of trial and error, but handy homeowners can roll up their sleeves and do this project DIY as long as they have the patience. You’ll save significantly by eliminating labor costs, but there are still some cases where you might want to hire a local drywall contractor.

If you have an older home that’s potentially contaminated with asbestos or lead paint, you should hire someone to remove popcorn ceilings and textured walls. This project creates a lot of dust, and there’s a lot of potential for inhalation if you’re not properly protected. Asbestos exposure is linked to serious health complications like lung cancer and mesothelioma, while lead paint can cause kidney and brain damage if inhaled. It’s best to play it safe when it comes to your health.