Macungie, Lehigh County
Skim coating in Macungie, PA.
The 1980s added more homes to Macungie than any other decade, and those walls are now about forty years old. Older plaster near Main Street and the drywall around it come to a skim coat for different reasons.
Skim coating for Macungie homes
A forty-year-old drywall wall rarely looks damaged. It looks worn: a nail pop every few feet, seams that have shadowed through, filled holes from three or four rounds of pictures, perhaps a texture that was in fashion when the house went up. In a one-square-mile borough where the 1980s were the biggest building decade by far, that wall is a common one.
Repainting over it repeats every flaw in a fresh color. Skimming resets the surface: the fasteners are dealt with, cracks are taped, and thin coats go over the whole wall so the next paint lands on something close to new. Older houses get the same treatment over plaster, once that plaster is sound.
Macungie
1980s walls and older plaster near Main Street
About 36 percent of the borough's homes went up in the 1980s, and attached homes, from twins to townhouses, outnumber detached ones. Most drywall is finished with flat paint in mind, and after forty years of settling and redecorating, those walls show it the moment someone chooses satin or a deeper color: the joints read as faint bands and every fastener head as a dimple.
About one home in six predates 1940, among them the older houses along Main Street, whose historic character the borough's zoning names as part of its identity. Those houses are plaster inside. Plaster that has cracked but kept its grip is skimmed once the cracks are taped; sections that have let go of the lath are secured or cut out and refilled first, so the new surface has something solid under it.
Worth knowing
Fasteners before finish
Each popped nail or screw gets a new fastener beside it and is set below the surface before the first coat. Skimmed over as it is, a pop usually finds its way back out.
Texture from the early 1980s
Texture applied before the mid-1980s can contain asbestos. A sample is tested before the texture is sanded or knocked down, and a positive result hands the removal to a certified asbestos abatement contractor.
Sheen follows the surface
A skimmed wall can carry eggshell or satin without showing its joints. On an unskimmed one, flat paint is the kinder choice.
The work
How the work goes
The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to skim coating.
Walkthrough and estimate
Randy walks the rooms with you, looks at how sound the plaster and old paint are, and explains what each wall needs. The walkthrough and written estimate are complimentary.
Repairs first
Loose plaster is reattached, cracks are opened and bridged with mesh tape, and deep holes are filled with setting-type compound, which shrinks less than ordinary joint compound. A skim over an unsound wall only hides the problem for a while.
Clean, dull, seal
Walls are washed and glossy paint is dulled so the compound can grip. Torn paper facing and leftover wallpaper paste are sealed with an oil- or shellac-based primer, because water in the compound would make them bubble.
Thin coats, edge to edge
Compound is spread over the whole wall and wiped back tight, then left to dry hard before the next pass. Thin coats, never one heavy one: thick compound shrinks and cracks as it dries.
Sand, prime, paint
The dry wall is sanded smooth and cleaned of dust. Primer evens out how the surface absorbs, so the paint dries to the same sheen everywhere.
Questions
Skim coating, Macungie.
Our Macungie house went up in the 1980s. Why would its walls need a skim coat now?
Not because they are failing. Drywall of that age has usually been patched, hung with pictures and repainted several times, and many walls were finished for flat paint in the first place. A skim evens all of that out, which matters most when the next color has a sheen or is darker than the last.
Does the borough's ordinance on pre-1940 buildings cover skim coating inside an older house?
Not as written. The ordinance governs whole or partial demolition of buildings from 1940 or earlier where it can be seen from a public street, such as taking off a front porch roof or porch columns. Resurfacing interior walls is not demolition under its definitions, but check with the borough before any structural change.
Do you work in Lower Macungie and Ancient Oaks?
Yes. Ancient Oaks was built in phases from 1961 through 1989, and walls from those years often carry old texture and decades of patches. In Lower Macungie's houses from the 2000s, a skim is usually for a wall that was textured, damaged or stripped later rather than for the original finish.
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.
- 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.