Randy’s Painting & Drywall

Hellertown, Northampton County

Level 5 drywall finish in Hellertown, PA.

Most of the borough's houses are prewar or postwar, and many of their walls will never need Level 5. The exceptions sit under the roof of a rebuilt Cape and in the taller rooms of the township around it.

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A long empty room with smooth white walls and a pale wood floor, lit by a single window.
Finished walls in window light.

Level 5 drywall finish for Hellertown homes

More than a third of the borough's homes went up between 1940 and 1959, about three in ten are older still, and fewer than one in twenty were built in 2000 or later. The two-story great room, the classic Level 5 wall, belongs to the 1990s and 2000s. In many Hellertown rooms a careful repaint over sound walls is all the surface needs, and it is worth saying so plainly.

The finish earns its place in more particular spots. Upstairs in a one-and-a-half-story house the ceiling follows the roof, and light from a window in the gable end can run along those slopes instead of striking them. When such rooms are rebuilt in new drywall, the slopes are the surfaces to finish to Level 5. The other place is the township around the borough, where about half the homes date from 1980 on.

Hellertown

Durham Terrace slopes and Lower Saucon's taller rooms

Durham Terrace added 154 Cape Cods between 1951 and 1954: one-and-a-half-story houses under gabled roofs, with a central stair rising to a small upper floor of two bedrooms. Mountainview filled in through the 1940s and 1950s. Upstairs in a Cape, the sloped ceiling behaves like a wall: it comes down close to eye level, meets a short knee wall, and takes window light from the side. A taped joint on that slope is seen up close and in exactly the light that shows it.

Lower Saucon Township, which surrounds most of the borough, is a different stock. About half its homes were built in 1980 or later, the newest of them in the great-room years, and that is where Level 5 is most often the right call near Hellertown. Along Main Street, the old King's Highway, the houses run from about 1800 to the early 1900s and the walls are plaster; there the answer is repair and a skim coat.

A staircase with black handrails and newel posts, white balusters and black treads, under a tall gray wall.
A black-and-white staircase under a tall wall.

Worth knowing

  1. Ceilings count too

    The finish levels apply to ceilings as much as to walls, and a sloped ceiling in side light is judged the way a tall wall is.

  2. Plaster or early drywall

    Houses of the 1940s and 1950s may have plaster on rock lath or early drywall. Either way, smoothing what is there is skim coating; Level 5 starts where new board goes up.

  3. Small rooms, deep colors

    A Cape's two upstairs bedrooms are small, and small rooms are where people try a dark color. A deep hue magnifies the surface even in flat paint, so the walls deserve a look first.

The work

How the work goes

The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to level 5 drywall finish.

A tall two-story gray wall rising over an open kitchen, a painter at work at its base.
A two-story wall, finished.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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, Hellertown.

We are rebuilding the upstairs of our Durham Terrace Cape. Should the new drywall be finished to Level 5?

On the slopes, it is worth considering, especially if a gable window lights them from the side or you want any sheen or a deep color. Knee walls and the flat part of the ceiling can often stay at the common standard under flat paint. Each surface is best judged in its own light at the walkthrough.

Is Level 5 worth it in a 1940s house in the borough?

Seldom on every wall. A sound wall under flat paint and ordinary light looks fine at the common standard. It becomes worth it where light skims a surface, where the paint has a sheen, or where the color is dark, and on an existing wall the work is a skim coat rather than Level 5 proper.

Do you finish walls in the newer houses of the township around Hellertown?

Yes. Randy serves the borough and the township that surrounds it, including Seidersville, Wassergass and Leithsville, and the township's newer houses with taller rooms are the likeliest place in the area for a Level 5 wall.

More in Hellertown

Other services here.

  1. Skim coatingRough, patched or uneven walls resurfaced smooth, often after wallpaper comes down.
  2. Plaster repairCracked, loose and failing plaster in older homes, repaired and made sound.
  3. Interior paintingWalls, ceilings, trim, doors and millwork, prepared properly and finished clean.
  4. Exterior paintingSiding, trim, porches, stucco and brick, prepared to stand up to Pennsylvania weather.
  5. Drywall installation & repairNew drywall hung, taped and finished; cracks, holes and water damage repaired invisibly.
  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.