Macungie, Lehigh County
Drywall installation & repair in Macungie, PA.
More of Macungie's homes went up in the 1980s than in any other decade, and drywall that age is showing it. Around the borough, Lower Macungie's 2000s houses and the phases of Ancient Oaks bring their own repairs.
Drywall installation & repair for Macungie homes
The 1980s built more than a third of the borough's homes, far more than any other decade. That drywall is now about forty years old, and it shows its age in a few familiar ways: nails backing out of the studs, tape joints that crack or lift, outside corners dented by decades of furniture, and ceilings marked by a slow leak fixed long ago.
Attached homes outnumber detached ones in Macungie, which puts a shared wall beside many of those rooms. The township around the borough adds its own mix: Ancient Oaks, built in phases from 1961 through 1989, and the newer subdivisions that took Lower Macungie from about 19,000 residents in 2000 to more than 30,000 by 2010.
Macungie
Forty-year-old drywall, and Main Street before 1940
Drywall of the 1970s and 1980s was often nailed rather than screwed, and as the framing swells and shrinks with the seasons, the nails creep back out. Tape joints from that era fail in their own way: where the coat under the tape was thin, the tape blisters or lifts, and a bubble of loose tape is cut out and rebedded rather than painted over. Dented outside corners get new bead, since compound piled onto a bent one rarely runs straight.
About one home in six in the borough predates 1940, and the zoning ordinance names the older buildings along Main Street as part of the borough's identity. Inside, those houses are plaster, and new board set into them is brought out to the plaster's face. Outside, the same ordinance treats removing historic features from the street side of a building from 1940 or earlier, a porch roof or porch columns included, as partial demolition.
Worth knowing
Ancient Oaks, phase by phase
The original Ancient Oaks went up from 1961 to 1971 and Ancient Oaks South from 1985 to 1989, so nearby streets can hold walls twenty years apart, with different board, fasteners and joint work behind the paint.
Lower Macungie's 2000s houses
About a third of Lower Macungie's homes date from 2000 to 2009; their framing dried long ago, so a pop there usually means a fastener that missed the stud or was knocked loose.
Upper Milford, the same era
Upper Milford, which touches the borough's southeast corner, built nearly half its homes from 1970 to 1999, so its walls tend to need the same repairs as the borough's own.
The work
How the work goes
The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to drywall installation & repair.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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, Macungie.
Does Macungie's rule on pre-1940 buildings affect drywall work inside an older house?
Not the inside. The ordinance covers demolition of a building's exterior, in whole or in part, where it can be seen from a public street, and interior drywall isn't that. An addition that would remove part of a street-facing side is, so check with the borough before plans are drawn; features visible only from an alley fall outside the rule.
Why do the nail pops in our 1980s house keep coming back after they're filled?
Filling covers the head but leaves the nail loose, so the next swing in humidity pushes it out again. The lasting repair draws the board back with a screw driven into the stud beside it, then sets or pulls the nail before the spot is coated and painted.
We live in an Ancient Oaks West townhome. Can a damaged section of the shared wall be repaired from our side?
Usually, yes. The damage is cut back to sound board and replaced in kind from your side, keeping the same layers the wall was built with, since a wall between attached homes may be built as a fire separation. The patch is then finished and painted to read as part of the wall.
More in Macungie
Other services here.
- 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 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.
Nearby
Drywall installation & repair nearby.
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.