jn3344 - So, I don't need to sand? Even manually with a sponge?

And what about the "damage" I have done to the wall already. WIll paint look differently on this patch of wall verses the rest of the wall and room?

Is the wall just a mess regarding really bad paint jobs that need to be cleaned up. Such as runs, drips, sags, roller marks, brush marks, etc?

Or you want the texture removed.

The sander will take off the high spots first.

If the paint is in decent condition, you can more easily use a pole sander to create a more favorable surface for new paint. Then wash the walls clean of any dirt and dust.

Then use a primer and two coats of paint.

sambah006 - No, the paint job is actually fine. The room just needed a change. What I'm concerned with now, is if i stop sanding, which I am inclined to do, How will that patch of wall that has been sanded look with the new paint when compared to the rest of the wall and room?

Well, you have a texture, and you've tried to get rid of it in spots.

It doesn't look like you took too much off. There's still a lot of blue visible. So it might not be too bad. I would use a flat paint as opposed to a gloss. Or a flat/matte enamel type paint.

You can tryou to recreate the texture if you really have smoothed it out flat. You can buy cans at HD and watch YouTubes for techniques.

Just wash the walls with Dirtex if you are concerned about dirt and then paint it. I would do a coat of paint to see if the sanded areas are going to be noticeable. If you notice them, then you will need to touch up the texture.

My guess is that if you use a flat or low sheen paint, the slight difference in texture will hardly be noticed. You will have to prime it, or use two coats of a "paint and primer" paint.

I covered up a "Dr Seuss" color scheme with two coats of Glidden's high-hide white primer, tinted to match Swiss Coffee (a pale taupe) . And pepto-bismol pink, suicide blue and battleship gray with the same stuff.

When you do the painting, don't try to cover more than about 3 square feet with one rollerload. The main problem DIYers have when painting is spreading it too thin. then they get show-through.

IMPE, you might need 2 coats of primer, depending on the primer, but that would certainly be less labor intensive than sanding - & I'd be concerned sanding might also damage the walls.

Here's what happened to us: hubby went a little crazy w/ a power sander in our bathroom & sanded down to the metal edging over the doors & windows, which rusted through the paint afterwards - a big mess!

HTH

jn3344, paintguy22, David Jensen, lazy_gardens, carolb_w_fl -

Thank you for your recent advice. I am tempted to buy one can of Homax Wall Grade Wall Texture in a can to help with the smooth areas. I am worried that the lack of texture on this part of the wall will make the rest of the paint job look funny.

I started using a sander because after watching of our subcontractors easily take the stain out of wood with his heavy duty machine, I thought I could do the same with the wall. Well, I was very wrong.

So chronological plan is -

Wash walls with TSP, spray with texture, add primer (possibly two coats?), then paint.

I hope this sounds okay. Perhaps I need to wash that particular area of the wall again after adding spray texture and before primer(?) I made things a lot more difficult but chalk it up to a learning experience. If you have any helpful tips, that would be appreciated.