At first I found it to look quite nice, however over time I have come to realise just how many disadvantages of these walls there actually are. Numerous times I have grazed myself bumping into them for example, and even more troublesome is the lack of ability to use Wall Decals from places such as IKEA.
Maybe somebody could explain the locale's rationale with this design standard.
A home should be comfortable and safe.
These walls have caused several injuries and are annoying to clean.
(which keeps employment up)
Should be plenty of well trained in the marketplace.
Kidding aside, we live in a neubau and we have a mix of both finished. The texture is mostly good...but the smooth walls are mostly shite.
The price for smooth plaster can be over 3x more expensive than the finish that you call "textured". It's not only more difficult to apply properly - demanding a higher skill, which is usually translated to more expensive labour - it's actually more fragile and any damage - such as bumps from day to day life and mini fractures caused by expansion and contraction due to temperature differences or street/ earth movement - are much more visible. Visible dents and fractures leads to people complaining about short life span of plaster.
The "texture" has different levels of coarseness, the one used for inside the building being usually much smoother that the one used on outside walls.
Textured walls are also much easier to paint with the proper equipment, meaning a trainee or a DIY newbie can do it with easiness, something which smooth surfaces won't allow. It also allows better looking cumulative paint jobs, which is perfect for apartments to be rented out.
If you are used to smooth walls and/or wall paper, you will make a few scraps, but you will learn rather quickly to unconsciously avoid touching the walls. This will also make the maintenance of the apartment easier in the way that by avoiding the contact with the wall due to the coarseness, the fat contained in human skin will not be absorbed and white walls stay pristine longer.
For info on plaster work, look for the correct SIA Norms . The SIA 242 Verputz und Gipserarbeiten contains all the information.
Also, I think a lot of apartment walls here are covered in textured paper, which makes replacing and repairing any blemishes much easier than having to completely redo the entire drywall.
The walls in our apartment are covered in such textured paper, but the texture is certainly not coarse enough to scratch me if I brush up against it. If it was then, yeah... I'd be a bit peeved, too.
The textured plastering is as others have said, to prevent cracks showing (it`s stronger) with expansion/and .... the opposite... hahah ... I`m slowly losing my English language, can`t think of the word .
It is a bit more easier than smooth plaster.
But. It is possible, except one needs to hire a "specialist" in plastering, which can be VERY expensive, as it`s also more time consuming.
The stuff doesn`t come in the ready-mix bags. One has to buy the very fine sand, and the cement - and know the mixing quantities.
We want smooth plaster in certain rooms, and have booked our local man. (He`s retired but will do odd jobs).
The textured plaster we want on stairwells - to prevent people dragging their hands along the walls (evil grin) because I`ve noticed those walls get partilularly grubby at hand/shoulder height.
An aside here ...... we have two qualified Maurers in family who will happily do our walls - but only with the textured stuff - for free. We prefer to pay to have what we really want.
Another aside ..... Where we have original textured walls, we`ve found that giving them a quick coat of cheap paint every couple of years keeps them looking ok. Smooth walls require good quality paint.
It can also be bought pre-mixed ...... Marmoran.
It is also applied with a plasterers trowel, and not a brush, resulting in a fair amount slopped on the floor - so a clear and covered floor is essential.
Still a time consuming process, but easier and quicker than plastering.