You may also want to cover vents so it doesn’t spread throughout your house. You can tape plastic over them to prevent dust from going through.
If you have an old house, you’ll likely be dealing with lead paint. In that case, you’ll need to take extra precautions, such as removing everything from the room, or covering it up with 2 sheets of plastic, each one 6 millimeters thick. You should also wear clothes you can throw away or disposable coveralls, along with gloves, goggles, a HEPA respirator, and a hair covering. Vacuum any dust off you with a HEPA-filtered vacuum cleaner. [6] X Research source
Touch the wall to see if it’s soaked in enough. It should feel a little soft. If it doesn’t seem soft, try spraying it again. [8] X Research source
If the texture isn’t coming off, you’re not scraping hard enough. However, you don’t want to scrape down into the wallboard underneath.
Be sure to move systematically around the room so you don’t miss any spots. Pick a place to start, and make a plan for how you’re going to cover the whole room, such as going up and down the wall. If it dries out, apply more water as needed.
You can also use a sanding screen. Don’t sand too hard, as you don’t want to sand through the paper on the wallboard or into the wallboard.
Vacuum up the drywall dust so it doesn’t float into the joint compound when you apply it again. You can use a standard vacuum, but make sure it works really well. However, you can also rent a dust drywall vacuum specifically for that purpose. [16] X Research source
It helps to wipe the wall down with a damp sponge again, letting it dry afterwards.
You can use a metal mixing attachment for a standard drill. You may need to mix water in batches, as this type of mixer often isn’t strong enough to mix the whole bucket at once. [21] X Research source
Use a drywall sanding vacuum attachment to cut down on the mess. Try a 60- to 100-grit sandpaper.
Try a sandpaper in the 120- to 220-grit range.
