Randy’s Painting & Drywall

Newtown, Bucks County

Drywall texture matching & removal in Newtown, PA.

Newtown Township grew fourfold between 1980 and 2000, and texture in its houses can run up a two-story wall. In the borough, mostly built before 1940, the walls are plaster and the question is a different one.

Request a private consultation Call or text (484) 546-3660
Inside a geodesic dome: smooth white faceted walls and ceiling with hexagonal skylights.
Custom drywall in a geodesic dome.

Drywall texture matching & removal for Newtown homes

The township around the borough grew from about 4,500 residents in 1980 to more than 18,000 in 2000, and about six in ten of its homes date from those two decades. By then drywall had long replaced plaster in new houses. Texture work in these houses is about the builder's original pattern: matching it where a repair or a remodel cuts through, or taking it off for a smooth wall.

Two-story rooms were nearly ubiquitous in suburban houses of the 1990s, and texture on a wall that tall is a job of its own. A patch near the top is seen from the floor, with light from high windows falling across it, so the match is judged from below before the wall is painted. Taking texture off a wall that height means skimming the whole of it, and the result has to stand up to that same light.

Newtown

Tall township walls, and borough plaster on lath

The early-1980s houses sit just inside the period when texture and joint compound could still contain asbestos, so in a house from those years a sample is tested before a patch is cut or a wall is skimmed. A positive result in one of those houses means a certified asbestos abatement contractor removes it. Much of the township's housing came after that, and in those houses the question is simply whether the pattern stays or goes.

The borough reverses all of this. Nearly six in ten of its homes predate 1940, and the frame Queen Anne and Gothic Revival houses east of State Street have plaster on wood lath, finished by hand rather than sprayed. Texture found on those walls was added later, sometimes over cracks that need repair before anything is matched or skimmed, and a repair on untouched plaster is finished to the plaster's own surface.

Close-up of a wall part-way through a skim coat, the compound’s knife strokes catching the light.
A skim coat, close up.

Worth knowing

  1. Ceilings over open stairs

    A ceiling patch above a stair is lit by the windows and seen from below at a steep angle, which exposes any difference in pattern.

  2. Upper Makefield and Wrightstown

    More than half of Upper Makefield's homes date from 1980 on, while villages such as Dolington and Penns Park keep older houses. Which kind of wall you have depends on the house, not the township.

  3. Stone from before 1850

    Along the Sycamore Street edge of the borough, the stone buildings are largely from before 1850. Their plaster lies on masonry and is repaired in kind, with no spray pattern to match.

The work

How the work goes

The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to drywall texture matching & removal.

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

  1. Read the wall

    The texture is studied in side light: its pattern, its height, how it was applied. Then Randy talks through the choices with you: match it, change it, or take it off. The walkthrough and written estimate are complimentary.

  2. Test older texture first

    Texture or compound from before the mid-1980s should have a sample tested before anyone sands or scrapes it. If it tests positive, removal is work for a certified asbestos abatement contractor.

  3. Repair and prime

    The patch is finished flat and primed before texture goes on, so the new texture absorbs and dries the same over fresh compound as over old paint. Primer also keeps the patch from flashing through the paint later.

  4. Match it, or bury it

    To match, mix and pressure are tried on a scrap until the pattern dries the same, then texture is applied and feathered past the repair. To remove, the wall is skimmed in thin coats until the pattern is gone.

  5. Prime and paint the whole wall

    Primer evens out new and old surfaces. The whole wall is painted, corner to corner, so the sheen reads as one.

Questions

Drywall texture matching & removal, Newtown.

A patch high on our two-story foyer wall shows from the stairs. Can it be fixed without redoing the wall?

Usually. The patch is brought flush and primed, and the texture is rematched on a test board until it reads the same from the floor, then carried past the repair and blended. The wall is painted corner to corner so the sheen is even. If the house dates from the early 1980s, the old texture is tested before it is touched.

We're in Newtown Borough's historic district. Is texture or plaster work inside the house reviewed?

No. The borough's Historical Architectural Review Board does not review interior changes, or paint colors for that matter; its reach is exterior work visible from a public street or sidewalk. Inside, plan around the plaster itself: what is loose, what is cracked, and whether any later texture needs a test first.

The ceilings and walls in our township house have different textures. Can both be matched?

Yes. Builders sometimes used one finish overhead and another on the walls, a heavier knockdown on a ceiling, say, and a light orange peel below. Each surface is read and matched on its own, with its own test board, and each is painted whole so the sheen stays even.

More in Newtown

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 installation & repairNew drywall hung, taped and finished; cracks, holes and water damage repaired invisibly.
  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.