Nazareth, Northampton County
Skim coating in Nazareth, PA.
More than half of Nazareth's homes predate 1940, many of them built for cement-plant families between 1900 and 1938. Their plaster has had a century to crack, settle and be patched.
Skim coating for Nazareth homes
The borough built its houses in two waves. Just over half of the historic district's buildings were standing by 1899, and another third went up between 1900 and 1938, many for families who worked at the cement plants that opened around town. Census estimates put about 54 percent of the borough's homes before 1940, an age when walls were plastered.
Plaster that old is usually sound in its body and tired on its face: fine crazing, filled cracks running from the corners of doors and windows, patches where wiring and pipes went through. Skim coating answers the face without disturbing the body, so the walls keep their weight and the trim stays fitted to them.
Nazareth
Brick, frame and two-unit walls near Center Square
Around Center and Main streets, the district's 503 contributing buildings are mostly two and a half stories of brick or frame, and most of its remaining stone buildings date from before 1858. Plaster on wood lath in a frame house and plaster laid on stone or brick fail in different ways, so the repairs under a skim coat differ too: refastening and taping on lath, cutting back and rebuilding on masonry wherever damp has loosened it.
About one home in five in the borough sits in a two-unit building, so a good many walls are shared with the house next door. A skim coat stays on your side of that wall: it resurfaces the face of the plaster without opening anything up. A crack that keeps returning along it is taped with mesh first, since it usually means some movement in the wall.
Worth knowing
Damp stone comes first
Where plaster on stone or brick bubbles or powders, the source of the moisture is found before compound goes near it. A skim over a wet base will not last.
A sand finish is a choice
Some early-1900s plaster was finished with fine sand on purpose. Skimming it smooth suits a room headed for satin or a deep color, but it is decided room by room, not by default.
Diagonal cracks at openings
Cracks that run up from door and window corners are opened and bridged with mesh tape in setting compound before the skim, so they do not reappear in the same place.
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, Nazareth.
The walls in our cement-era Nazareth house have a slightly gritty surface. Is that damage?
Probably not. Plaster of the early 1900s was sometimes finished with fine sand in the final coat, which leaves an even, slightly rough grain. It paints well as it is, and a skim coat will make it smooth if the room calls for a satin finish or a darker color.
Can a skim coat go over the many layers of old paint on our walls near Center Square?
Yes, as long as those layers are holding on. Each wall is checked for paint that lifts or flakes, and those areas are scraped back; glossy coats are dulled and chalky ones primed, so the compound has something sound to grip. Over paint that is letting go, any skim would let go with it.
Do newer houses in Upper Nazareth need skim coating?
Less often than the borough's older ones. Nearly half of Upper Nazareth's homes were built in 2000 or later, and a wall that young rarely needs resurfacing. A skim earns its place there when a wall has been scarred by a stripped border, pocked with anchors or left patchy by a remodel.
More in Nazareth
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.