Wall help

[pistolshrimp]

I'm painting a room in my apartment and am having a terrible time with the walls. They are in rough shape (nicked up REALLY bad) I filled in the worst spots, but they still look pretty terrible. I've done an initial coat of gray, but there are still a ton of white spots where the paint isn't getting into the nicks. Am I making any sense? In some areas I went back with a small brush and filled in, but it would be an impossible task to do this for the whole room. It looks horrible! I guess my question is, is there any kind of roller that may work better for damaged walls? Or any other tips or tricks to cover this mess? I reallly need to get a second coat of paint on, but not sure the best way to do it. TIA!

[tarheels]

Go to the store and get a roller for masonry. It should be really fluffy. It'll get into the crevices better.

[simpsongal]

They make rollers with a larger nap for painting rough surfaces like stucco or concrete. You're going to be slatherhing a lot of paint on an interior wall though, so don't expect a smooth finish.

Can you PIP? Are you a renter? Why are the walls in such bad shape?

The key to a good paint job is the prep work. If you have knicks, you need to sand them down, spackle, sand, spackle again, prime, and then start painting.

Good luck

[pistolshrimp]

Yeah I'm renting. The walls were going to be painted before I moved in, but they were only going to do them in an off-white. I asked if I did the work myself, could I do any color I wanted and they gave me permission to. The rest of the place looks great, I just didn't realize that this one room was in such bad shape. It's a really old home. Just a lot of tiny nicks and crevices. It doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be better than what it is. LOL. The whole room needs to be re-drywalled. I was able to spackle and sand the really bad areas, but it honestly would be impossible to do the whole room. Like thousands of really tiny nicks that aren't noticeable until you get really close (or paint a darker color.) Also, I guess I'm being kind of cheap I don't want to pour a lot of money into a place I'm renting especially knowing that as soon as I move out they will just repaint the place again.

ETA: I'll look into the thicker rollers, thanks!

[Ramz-ee]

I know it's a main living area, but I would recommend using a matte or flat paint. It will tone down some of those uneven spots.

[Deleted]

Get a 3/4" nap roller and don't go above an eggshell/satin finish as it will accentuate any imperfections.

[sierramist03]

Also beside the roller the sheen of your paint can really make a difference. If the walls are in really bad shape you will want a flat sheen so it doesn't draw attention to each crack and grove.

[pistolshrimp]

Thanks for all of the ideas. The sheen is flat so I will try a different roller and see if that makes any difference.