Randy’s Painting & Drywall

Hellertown, Northampton County

Drywall installation & repair in Hellertown, PA.

More of Hellertown's homes date from the 1940s and 1950s than from any other span, built while plaster was giving way to drywall. That timing shapes every repair, from a Cape's upstairs ceilings to its stair corners.

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A two-story stairwell wall patched and primed in white over a wood banister, a chandelier hanging below.
A stairwell wall, patched and primed.

Drywall installation & repair for Hellertown homes

The 1940s and 1950s are the borough's biggest building years, about 37 percent of its homes, from the Mountainview section begun in 1940 to the 154 Cape Cods of Durham Terrace, finished in 1954. Gypsum-lath plaster and early drywall were both in use in those decades, so a postwar wall can be either, and the repair starts by finding out which.

The difference decides the patch. Plaster over gypsum lath is harder and thicker than a sheet of drywall, so a piece of board set into it has to be brought out to the plaster's face, while a drywall wall takes a patch of the same board. Get the thickness wrong by a fraction of an inch and the repair shows as a ridge or a dip the first time low sun crosses the room.

Hellertown

Upstairs in a Durham Terrace Cape

Durham Terrace's Capes are a story and a half under gabled roofs, with a central stair rising to a small upper floor of two bedrooms. Those rooms sit right under the roof, so a failed flashing or an ice dam shows first as a stain on a sloped ceiling. The roof is fixed before the ceiling is touched; then firm, dry board is sealed and painted, and soft or sagging sections are cut out between the rafters and replaced.

About one home in five in the borough dates from the 1960s and 1970s, and the township around it is younger still, with roughly half its homes built since 1980. Those walls are drywall throughout, and their repairs are the familiar ones: fasteners worked loose, cracks running from door corners, a basement finished years after the house, a kitchen wall opened and closed during a remodel.

New drywall in a commercial space, its seams taped and screws spotted with compound, a scissor lift beside it.
New drywall, taped and spotted.

Worth knowing

  1. Corner bead along the stair

    Every bed and dresser for the upstairs travels a Cape's central stair; dented metal corner bead there is cut out and replaced, since filler over a bent edge rarely holds a straight line.

  2. Main Street plaster runs thicker

    In the oldest houses on Main Street, from about 1800 to the early 1900s, plaster on wood lath is thicker again, and a drywall patch is packed out to the old face before any tape goes on.

  3. Postwar compound gets tested

    Joint compound from before the mid-1980s can contain asbestos, so a sample should be tested before it is disturbed by cutting or sanding; if it tests positive, that work belongs to a certified asbestos abatement contractor.

The work

How the work goes

The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to drywall installation & repair.

Inside a geodesic dome: angled white walls, a black spiral stair and a green door, the floor still bare.
The dome’s spiral stair, walls finished.

  1. Look at the cause

    Randy looks at the damage with you and explains what it will take. Where water is involved, the leak has to be fixed and the framing dry before anything is closed up. The walkthrough and written estimate are complimentary.

  2. Cut back to sound material

    Damaged board is cut out to clean, square edges, often back to the framing, so the new piece has something solid to fasten to. Damaged studs are replaced while the wall is open.

  3. Hang it tight and flush

    New board is cut to fit and screwed to the framing with its edges level with the old, because a high edge leaves no room for tape and compound. Wide gaps are filled with setting-type compound before taping.

  4. Tape and coat

    Joints are taped and built up in thin coats, feathered wide. Torn paper is sealed with an oil- or shellac-based primer first, since water in the compound would raise it into bubbles.

  5. Blend, prime, paint

    Texture is matched where the wall has it. The repair is primed so it won’t show as a dull patch, and the wall is painted corner to corner so the sheen reads evenly.

Questions

Drywall installation & repair, Hellertown.

Is the upstairs of a Durham Terrace Cape plaster or drywall?

It could be either. The houses went up between 1951 and 1954, when plaster over gypsum lath and early drywall were both in use, and some rooms may have been redone since. Taking off a switch plate shows the wall's edge: a single sheet with paper on both faces is drywall, while a harder, thicker, layered edge is plaster.

Our 1950s house has cracked joints across the ceiling. Does the whole ceiling need replacing?

Rarely. Cracked or ridged joints are cut open, retaped in setting-type compound and refinished, and the ceiling is replaced only where the board sags away from the joists or has been soaked. In a house this age, the original compound is tested before any of it is sanded.

Our Mountainview house from the 1940s has cracks over every door. Is it still settling?

Some movement over eighty years is normal, and the corners of doorways are where a wall shows it first. Hairline cracks that open and close with the seasons are cosmetic and can be bridged and refinished. Cracks that keep widening, or doors that begin to bind, should be seen by a structural engineer before they are patched.

More in Hellertown

Other services here.

  1. Level 5 drywall finishA skim coat over the entire surface, for walls that hold up under raking light and dark paint.
  2. Skim coatingRough, patched or uneven walls resurfaced smooth, often after wallpaper comes down.
  3. Plaster repairCracked, loose and failing plaster in older homes, repaired and made sound.
  4. Interior paintingWalls, ceilings, trim, doors and millwork, prepared properly and finished clean.
  5. Exterior paintingSiding, trim, porches, stucco and brick, prepared to stand up to Pennsylvania weather.
  6. Drywall texture matching & removalTexture matched so repairs disappear, applied where you want it, or taken off for a smooth wall.
  7. Popcorn ceiling removalOld acoustic texture taken down and the ceiling finished smooth.
  8. Wallpaper removalOld wallpaper and wall linings stripped without tearing up the wall beneath.
  9. Wood stainingDecks, porch floors, doors and trim, inside and out, stained by hand.

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.

Randy’sPainting & DrywallReply card
The project
Preferred contact

Walkthrough & written estimate, complimentary.