Lehigh County · Millerstown, 1776
Painting & drywall in Macungie.
A one-square-mile borough that began as log houses along Main Street, inside a township that grew by more than half in the 2000s. Between them, the walls run from old plaster to two-story great rooms.
Macungie and its houses
Peter Miller founded the village in 1776 as Millerstown, a cluster of log houses along a muddy Main Street. It became a borough in 1857 and took the name Macungie in 1875, to avoid confusion with another Millerstown in Perry County. Across the area, log and frame buildings gave way over time to brick and stone.
The borough is small, about one square mile, almost entirely surrounded by Lower Macungie Township, with Swabia Creek running through it and South Mountain just to the south. Its housing is layered: about one home in six predates 1940, the 1980s added more than any other decade, and attached homes outnumber detached houses.
Around it, Lower Macungie grew from about 19,000 people in 2000 to more than 30,000 in 2010, the fastest growth of any municipality in southwestern Lehigh County. Ancient Oaks, Wescosville and the village of East Texas all lie within the township.
The houses
What Macungie’s houses ask for.
Main Street's older houses
The borough's zoning names the historic character of Main Street as part of its identity and asks owners of buildings from 1940 or earlier to keep roofs, cornices, columns and posts in repair. Inside, houses of that age were plastered, and old plaster usually rewards repair over replacement.
Houses of the 1980s
More than a third of Macungie's homes date from the 1980s. Forty years on, drywall from that era tends to show its age in seam cracks, nail pops and old ceiling texture.
Lower Macungie's newer houses
About a third of Lower Macungie's homes were built between 2000 and 2009. Great rooms two stories tall were nearly standard in houses of that era, and under big windows an ordinary drywall finish shows every seam. That is the wall a Level 5 finish is made for.
Ancient Oaks and the older subdivisions
Ancient Oaks, about two miles northwest along Route 100, was built in phases from 1961 through 1989, single-family houses and townhomes among them. Houses from those decades are where ceiling texture, worn trim and patched walls tend to collect.
Services
In Macungie, specialty first.
Each service, written for Macungie’s houses: what it involves here, what to check, and what people ask.
- Level 5 drywall finishA skim coat over the entire surface, for walls that hold up under raking light and dark paint.
- Skim coatingRough, patched or uneven walls resurfaced smooth, often after wallpaper comes down.
- Plaster repairCracked, loose and failing plaster in older homes, repaired and made sound.
- Interior paintingWalls, ceilings, trim, doors and millwork, prepared properly and finished clean.
- Exterior paintingSiding, trim, porches, stucco and brick, prepared to stand up to Pennsylvania weather.
- Drywall installation & repairNew drywall hung, taped and finished; cracks, holes and water damage repaired invisibly.
- Drywall texture matching & removalTexture matched so repairs disappear, applied where you want it, or taken off for a smooth wall.
- Popcorn ceiling removalOld acoustic texture taken down and the ceiling finished smooth.
- Wallpaper removalOld wallpaper and wall linings stripped without tearing up the wall beneath.
- Wood stainingDecks, porch floors, doors and trim, inside and out, stained by hand.
From clients and job sites
“Randy and his team laid new drywall on my ceiling and level 5 on my walls. My older house was pretty rough and I hated looking at the uneven surfaces. Now, happy to say it looks great. Randy was very responsive, checked in and followed up…”
“Thank you, Randy’s Painting! You did a phenomenal job while working with a compressed schedule due to our move-in commitment. You made it all happen, and the outcome is beautiful!”
Questions
Asked in Macungie.
Does Macungie regulate changes to older houses?
For demolition, yes. Under the borough's zoning ordinance, removing all or part of a building from 1940 or earlier where it can be seen from the street, including a front porch roof or porch columns, needs approval from the Zoning Hearing Board. Painting is not demolition under that ordinance, but check with the borough before changing anything structural on an older house.
Why do the seams show on the two-story walls of our Lower Macungie house?
Tall walls under big windows catch light at a low angle, and that raking light picks out every taped seam and fastener in a standard finish. A Level 5 finish puts a thin skim coat over the entire surface, so the wall reads as one plane under paint. It is the finish meant for exactly that kind of light.
Can the textured ceilings in a 1980s Macungie house be made smooth?
Usually, yes. Popcorn texture applied before the mid-1980s can contain asbestos, so a sample should be tested before it is disturbed; if it tests positive, removal is work for a certified asbestos abatement contractor. When the test comes back clear, we take the texture down and skim the ceiling flat.
Do you work in Lower Macungie and Alburtis too?
Yes. Randy serves the borough and the places around it, including Lower Macungie Township, Ancient Oaks, Wescosville, Alburtis and Upper Milford.
Nearby
Neighboring towns.
Consultation
Request a private consultation.
Private walkthrough & written estimate, complimentary. Tell us a little about the house and the rooms, and Randy will be in touch to arrange a time.
- Hours
- Monday – Friday8:30 AM – 5:30 PMSaturday10 AM – 3 PMSundayClosed
- Service area
- Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown and the greater Lehigh Valley; Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Fully insured — proof on request. Residential and commercial.