How to remove the gotelé and leave the wall smooth

The walls of a house are not something minor. Color marks the atmosphere of the home, but also the texture has a lot to say. The famous gotelé It transports us to another era and there are those who want to turn the page. smooth the walls yourself is laborious, but possible. Arm yourself with patience to remove the gotelé and you will have it done.

Before removing it, you may be interested in knowing the origin of gotelé, name that comes from the French word goutte or gouttettle, which means drop. This painting technique consisting of spreading painting (usually tempera paint) thicker than usualso that drops or lumps of material come out that produce a surface with the characteristic crumbly finish.

The gotelé began to be used in Spain in the 1960s during a construction boom. At first, the gotelé was made with a brush or manual machine that was shaped like a drum. Shortly after, compressor guns appeared with which it was finally possible to give uniformity to the walls. You could also choose the size of the drop of the gotelé depending on the power of the compressor, the higher the power, the smaller the drop.

This technique was perfect for hiding imperfections and also seemed decorative. In fact, it was until around the year 2000 when she began to see herself as something that he was out of date. However, today there are those who put it back as a tribute to those times.

How to remove the gotelé

To eliminate the gotelé from the walls, the first thing is know what kind of paint is. Most are usually tempera, but can also be acrylic. To find out what kind of gotelé the wall has scrape a piece and put it in a glass with water. If it begins to dissolve, it is tempera paint. Otherwise, if it falls to the bottom, it will be acrylic or plastic paint.

Before starting work you must prepare the area thoroughly because smoothing the walls makes a lot of mess and you will generate a huge amount of powder. Remove or cover well all furniture and objects, advantages, plugs… everything. Also prepare the material to have it on hand and protect yourself. At a minimum you will need a mask, goggles and gloves.

Smooth a wall or remove gotelé in tempera

This type of gotelé, which is also called normal stucco, is the easiest to remove. It is the typical one that is easily damaged and when you run your hand over the wall it leaves a little paint.

1. Moisten the wall with water. It doesn’t need to drip, but it does need to change color a bit, which indicates that it’s already wet. We recommend that you use a sprayer and gradually cover an area of ​​one square meter.

2. Scrape with the spatula from bottom to top. You can use a spatula that is between 5 and 6 centimeters wide. Go wetting and removing all the gotelé being careful not to leave marks on the wall with the spatula.

Smooth wall with plastic gotelé

1. To remove the acrylic or plastic gotelé you can use a stripping product for reliefs that soften the paint and thus to be able to scratch it with a spatula. Once removed, you have to sand any damage that may have remained and put putty where it is necessary to smooth the wall.

2. To cover the acrylic gotelé There are some specific products on the market called gotelé cover paste, which are useful, but only in the event that the lumps are very large and, despite everything, the wall must be lightly sanded before applying the product. The paste should be applied with the roller vertically, horizontally and diagonally. Use a trowel to clean up the edges before it dries, and once the paste has dried, sand to smooth. If necessary you can put a second layer to make the wall smoother.

Congratulations on what you have achieved! Remember that if you want to paint the wall, you will first have to seal it. To do this, you can paint it white with very diluted paint or with a primer.