Quakertown, Bucks County
Drywall texture matching & removal in Quakertown, PA.
Quakertown's older houses are masonry outside and plaster inside. When one gets an addition or a rebuilt room, new drywall meets old plaster, and the job is making two eras read as one house.
Drywall texture matching & removal for Quakertown homes
Stone and brick, some of it stuccoed, in big square houses of two and a half stories: so the National Register nomination describes the historic district, which covers most of the town. Their rooms were finished in plaster. When a room in one of them is rebuilt in drywall, or an addition opens onto the original rooms, the new walls have to take on the old surface, smooth or sand-finished, so the house does not change texture at a doorway.
The borough has a large postwar stock as well: about half its homes date from 1940 to 1979, the 1970s alone accounting for about one in five. Texture original to those houses went on before the mid-1980s, early enough that it, and the compound beneath it, may contain asbestos, so it is sampled before it is cut, sanded or skimmed.
Quakertown
Old plaster, a newer addition, one house
Making drywall read like plaster is mostly about plane and surface. The new board is set flush with the old plaster face, and the joint where the two materials meet is taped with care, since that is where cracks start. Then the new surface is skimmed to the same hard, even face, with sand in it if the old finish has sand. A sprayed orange peel or knockdown would announce the addition the moment you walked through.
Sand-finished plaster was popular in the early 1900s, the years of Tohickon Heights, the area's first large subdivision, advertised in 1906 and expanded in 1924, and of the many Foursquares and Craftsman houses in the borough's middle and northeast. Out in Richland Township, where three in ten homes went up in the 2000s, the question flips: the builder's pattern is the original, and matching it, or skimming it away, is the whole job.
Worth knowing
One finish per sight line
When an addition opens onto plaster rooms, the finish is decided for everything visible at once, not room by room. Smooth plaster asks for a smooth addition.
Crisp patterns in Richland
Texture in a 2000s Richland house may carry only a coat or two of paint, so its edges are still sharp, and a match has to be just as crisp.
Plaster on masonry walls
On the inside of a stone or brick wall, plaster can loosen where damp moves through. It is repaired and dried out before any surface, sand or smooth, is matched.
The work
How the work goes
The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to drywall texture matching & removal.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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, Quakertown.
We're adding a room onto our stone house in Quakertown. Should the new walls be textured?
Usually not, if the original rooms are smooth plaster. The new drywall is set to the same plane and skimmed to the same even face so the house reads as one, where a spray texture would mark the addition as new. If the old plaster has a sand finish, the new walls can take a matching sand finish instead.
Can the textured walls in our 1970s Quakertown house be skimmed smooth?
Yes, after a sample has tested clear, since texture and compound from that decade predate the mid-1980s. The pattern is filled in thin coats until the wall is flat, then sanded, primed and painted. Walls finished for texture can hide rougher seams underneath, so the skim is carried until the surface holds up in the room's light.
Is a light texture ever a good choice in a newer Richland house?
Sometimes. On a basement wall or a ceiling where the board is uneven and light rakes across it, a light texture softens the shadows and hides small flaws. It goes over a primed, finished surface, the whole surface at once, and is left to dry fully before paint.
More in Quakertown
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 installation & repairNew drywall hung, taped and finished; cracks, holes and water damage repaired invisibly.
- 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 texture matching & removal 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.