Anthony wrote:
is there a formula professionals use. I have a 15x20 room that needs a
basic orange peel texture.Can anyone help me with a ballpark figure on how
much this will set me back?

Since no one wants to chime in. I did a 12x24' room last week. It took
about 2/3 - 3/4 of a 48lbs box of "topping joint compound" (I don't know
if that's a brand name or not.) The box cost something like $8.50 to
$9.00 at the local bigbox construction material joint. I rented the
equipment to do the spraying (compressor, hose and hopper) there also
for about $60.00/24hours, and mixed the compound with water until it was
about pancake dough consistency. This was my first attempt at it and it
didn't come out to bad. I'd watched it done twice before in the last 6
months (different rooms) by contractors. I takes about 30 minutes max
to do the spraying and much longer to do the cleanup. The next day I
sprayed a primer coat and followed that, again the next day, with two
coats of paint.