Coopersburg, Lehigh County
Level 5 drywall finish in Coopersburg, PA.
Close to half the homes in Upper Saucon Township were built in 1990 or later, the years of the two-story great room. Light falls unevenly in those rooms, and so does the need for Level 5.
Level 5 drywall finish for Coopersburg homes
Upper Saucon Township, which wraps around the borough, grew by about 42 percent between 2000 and 2020, and about one in five of its homes went up in the 2000s alone. Houses of those years made the great room, typically two stories high, nearly standard, and those tall walls are where an ordinary drywall finish runs out of road.
A great room seldom needs every wall finished the same way. The wall holding the windows is seen against their glare. The wall across from them takes the light more squarely, which flattens small ridges. The two walls that run away from the glass catch it at a glancing angle, and that is where taped seams and screw heads show first.
Coopersburg
Center Valley and Upper Saucon: tall rooms, read wall by wall
Close to half of Upper Saucon's homes were built in 1990 or later, and Center Valley, a mile north of the borough where Routes 309 and 378 meet, is part of the township. These houses were drywall from the start. Most have been painted at least once by now, so for walls already finished the smooth result comes from a skim coat over the paint; for an addition or a rebuilt room, it is Level 5 on new board.
Within the borough line the houses are older. About three in ten predate 1940 and half were built from 1950 to 1979, before the great room arrived. Their walls are plaster or early drywall, and a sound wall under flat paint in ordinary light needs nothing beyond careful preparation. A deep color in an older parlor along Main Street is skim coat work over repaired plaster.
Worth knowing
Skylights and high windows
Light from a skylight or a row of high windows falls down a wall at a steep angle and rakes it from above. Tall walls under them belong on the list too.
Fixtures on the wall count too
Sconces or a picture light mounted on a tall wall throw light up and down its face. A wall the windows spare can still need the finish because of its own fixtures.
Judge the top from the floor
The upper half of a two-story wall is seen from far below, and the standard's test is the wall from a normal viewing position. Look at it from the floor, not from a ladder.
The work
How the work goes
The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to level 5 drywall finish.
A walkthrough in the room’s light
Randy walks the rooms with you and says which walls need Level 5 and which don’t. It helps to look at the hour the light is hardest. The walkthrough and written estimate are complimentary.
Joints finished to Level 4
Tape is bedded in compound at every joint; flat joints get two more coats, inside corners one, screw heads three. Each coat dries hard before the next, with the house kept warm and steady.
A skim coat, edge to edge
Compound is spread over the entire surface and wiped back tight with a wide knife or trowel, leaving a thin film over paper and joints alike. Where one pass doesn’t cover, a second follows.
Sanded, then primed
The dry surface is sanded smooth without scuffing the paper beneath. Primer goes on before any color, so the finish coats absorb evenly across the whole wall.
Judged in its own light
Finish coats go on last. The standard’s test is the one that counts: the wall seen from five feet back, under the light the room will actually have.
Questions
Level 5 drywall finish, Coopersburg.
Our Center Valley great room has windows on one wall only. Do all four walls need the finish?
Not necessarily, and the light will tell you which. Look at the room when the sun is lowest: the walls that show bands along their joints then are the ones to skim, usually the two that run away from the windows. A wall that only ever takes light head-on can often stay as it is.
How can we tell whether our walls were finished to Level 5?
The paperwork rarely says, but the wall usually does. In low side light a Level 4 wall tends to show faint bands along the taped joints and dull spots over the screws, where compound and paper take paint differently. A Level 5 wall reads as one even surface.
Is Level 5 used in the older houses in the borough?
Seldom. Their walls are plaster or early drywall, and the smooth answer for a sound existing wall is a skim coat. Level 5 enters a borough house only where new drywall goes up, in an addition or a room taken back to the studs.
More in Coopersburg
Other services here.
- 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.
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.