Tape and Texture

[Landi]

I purchased an existing manufactured home about a year ago and I love it, all except the untaped and textured walls. I was wondering how you can get anything to stick to those panels when they come pre textured with some kind of cheap wall paper stuff. I would really like to make my walls look nicer and put in rounded corners as well. Anyone had any luck?

[MECasey]

Hi-
We had the same issues about a year ago when we bought our mobile home in MA. Happy to say that our walls now look like walls you'd find in any stickbuilt home. We removed all of the strips between the wall panels, which are wallboard with that cheap pretextured stuff made to imitate wallpaper that you mentioned. Then we used joint tape and compound where the strips were. Be sure to put the joint compound on in thin layers and sand well between coats. Obviously, you need to let it dry for a good while between coats. Thin coats eliminate cracking. You can achieve the corners you want with either the joint tape or the corner pieces available where you buy the joint compound. Once you have the walls taped, compounded, and sanded, apply a primer to the entire wall. BIN or Bullseye 1-2-3 are both very good, but the BIN is tough to work with because it's a shellac base (runny and dries VERY fast). To come out with a really good finish, apply two coats but be sure to let it dry/cure for 24 hours between coats. Once you're satisfied with the primer, apply a good quality flat, eggshell, or satin finish latex paint. We used Muralo and California. Both are very good. Sanding lightly between coats of paint helps with adhesion and eliminayes bubbling. Be sure to give the paint plenty of time to dry between coats. Oh, one other thing. If you have moulding where the walls meet the ceiling, caulk along the moulding or you'll end up with spaces that will look awful. Be sure to get a caulk that is flexible and paintable.

Hope this helps and good luck!