Skip Troweling Method for Textured Ceilings

There are several ceiling texture choices to choose from when finishing a room. You can simply apply a flat paint to the ceiling, or spray or roll on a popcorn textured ceiling. However both these choices seem to be waning in popularity to the Skip Troweled look. The Skip Troweled look provides a compromise between the flat painted ceiling and the popcorn ceiling. It provides texture but to a lesser extent than a traditional popcorn ceiling.

Skip Troweling is relatively simple to do and can be performed by a homeowner who is doing a home addition project.

Skip Troweling should be performed after the sheetrock, mudding and taping are complete. Skip Troweling simply involves applying water downed Joint Compound onto the ceiling and running a trowel over it once.

To Skip Trowel a ceiling, simply water down a batch of Joint Compound to a soupy consistency. Then using a trowel (the pros use a sprayer for large areas) simply spread the material onto the ceiling.

Note that this is a very messy job as there will be significant spillage and dripping. Consequently protect yourself and your floors with eye-protection and plastic on the floors.

If the Joint Compound is of the right consistency the material applied onto the ceiling will begin to form stalactites that dangle from the ceiling. Not too worry as this is what you want to occur.

After the joint compound has begun to dry somewhat, use your trowel to knock off the high points (the stalactites). To do this, simply run your trowel over the now partially stiff joint compound area. The completed surface will have a mottled look.

Let the Joint Compound completely dry then paint the ceiling using a roller.

When employing the Skip Trowel method you can get creative by adding fine sand to the Joint Compound mixture before applying to the ceilings, or by moving the Trowel in a swirling pattern when applying the compound. In addition, some of the pros actually mix paint with the soupy Joint Compound mixture to eliminate the need for applying paint after the material has dried.