Lehigh County seat
Painting & drywall in Allentown.
About four in ten Allentown homes were built before 1940. Walls of that age reward patience: plaster made sound and true before any color goes on.
Allentown and its houses
William Allen laid out the town in 1762, and his grid still shapes the blocks, side streets and alleys of Old Allentown. That neighborhood, the Old Fairgrounds and West Park filled in between the 1850s and 1930, mostly with attached rowhouses and twins. Across the city today, rowhouses and twins outnumber detached houses.
Those three neighborhoods are the city's local historic districts, and exterior changes there that can be seen from the street need a certificate of appropriateness. Paint color is the exception: on a building that is already painted, the city does not review it. Painting brick that has never been painted is another matter, and the city's guidelines advise against it, since coatings can trap moisture in the wall.
Inside, houses of that age were finished in plaster on lath. Plaster cracks where a house has settled or water has found a way in, yet it is seldom as far gone as it looks. The patching has to be done first, and done well, before any finish goes on.
The houses
What Allentown’s houses ask for.
Old Allentown rowhouses
Brick rows built from the 1850s to the 1910s, with bracketed cornices, Eastlake carving and slate mansard fronts. Wood cornices, brackets and window sash need sound paint to last, and the city's guidelines say sandblasting and high-pressure washing should not be used to take paint off.
Twins of the Old Fairgrounds
These blocks went up on the old Lehigh County fairgrounds between 1888 and 1910: rowhouses and twins in Italianate, Queen Anne and Second Empire dress. On a twin, both halves read as one house from the street, so trim and porch colors are best chosen with the other half in view.
West Park and the West End
West Park grew around the city's first public park between 1895 and 1930, with Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Craftsman and Prairie houses behind front porches, some under red terra cotta tile. The West End runs on toward Cedar Crest Boulevard, from brick twins near Center City to large houses. In bigger rooms, low sun across a wall shows every flaw, which is what a Level 5 finish is for.
Postwar streets and the townships
More than four in ten Allentown homes went up between 1940 and 1979, and more than half of neighboring Salisbury Township's date from 1950 to 1979. Ceilings and walls from those decades often carry old texture, settling cracks and years of patches.
Services
In Allentown, specialty first.
Each service, written for Allentown’s houses: what it involves here, what to check, and what people ask.
- 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.
- 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.
From clients and job sites
“These guys are great Randy is amazing ! They made my old uneven walls look so nice I seriously would recommend them to everyone looking for any work done !”
“We recently had Randy paint and wallpaper our bathroom. Extremely reasonable price. We were very pleased and asked him about painting our dining room…”
Questions
Asked in Allentown.
Do I need the city's approval to repaint a house in one of Allentown's historic districts?
Not for the color, if the house is already painted: the city does not review paint color on a painted building. Painting brick or other masonry that has never been painted needs a certificate of appropriateness, and the city's guidelines advise against it. Other exterior changes visible from the street go through the Historic Architectural Review Board, so check with the city before you change more than paint.
Should old paint be stripped off a painted brick rowhouse?
Usually not. Allentown's historic district guidelines recommend maintaining and repairing an existing painted surface rather than removing it, because removal is likely to damage the brick beneath. The same guidelines say sandblasting and high-pressure washing should not be used to take paint off any surface.
Can the cracked plaster in an older Allentown house be saved?
Most of the time. Plaster cracks where a house has settled or where water got in, and it is often in better shape than it looks: loose sections can be fastened back to the lath, cracks taped and filled, and the wall skim coated true. The patching has to be done first, and done well.
Do you work outside the city, in Salisbury and South Whitehall?
Yes. Randy serves all of Allentown, from Center City and the West End to the East and South Sides, and the townships around it, including Salisbury and South Whitehall.
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.