Randy’s Painting & Drywall

Doylestown, Bucks County

Drywall installation & repair in Doylestown, PA.

The borough is fieldstone, brick and Victorian frame, plastered inside; the township around it was built mostly from 1960 to 1999 in drywall. The two need different repairs, and borough additions go to the review board first.

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A wall opened down to its studs, with new drywall already hung on the ceiling above.
A wall opened to the studs; new drywall on the ceiling.

Drywall installation & repair for Doylestown homes

Next door, Doylestown Township has gone from about 1,400 residents in 1930 to nearly 18,000, and four in five of its homes were built between 1960 and 1999, most of all in the 1970s and 1990s. That drywall is roughly 25 to 65 years old, the age for remodels: kitchens and baths redone, walls opened between rooms, basements finished, ceilings repaired after an old leak.

Inside the borough line, the houses are built of heavier stuff. About three in ten of its homes predate 1940, and its historic district mixes frame, brick, stucco and stone. In the stone and brick houses, the plaster on outside walls was often applied straight to the masonry, and that changes how any new drywall goes up.

Doylestown

Board against borough stone, remodels in the township

Drywall can't be screwed to fieldstone or brick. Where an outside wall of a borough house is re-covered, the board goes onto furring strips or a thin frame set off the masonry, which moves the wall's face into the room and changes how far the window and door casings stand from it. That is one reason sound plaster on those walls is usually repaired instead, and why damp masonry is dealt with before any board goes near it.

In the township, the work is what forty and fifty years of living leave behind. Popped nails and cracked corners over doors are the small end of it; the larger end is a remodel that opens a wall, moves a doorway or takes out a soffit, leaving drywall to patch at the ceiling and floor lines. Those patches are carried wide, matched to whatever texture the old walls have, and painted with the whole wall so the remodel doesn't announce itself.

New drywall in a commercial space, its seams taped and screws spotted with compound, a scissor lift beside it.
New drywall, taped and spotted.

Worth knowing

  1. The 1962 median

    Half the borough's homes were built before 1962 and half after, so its streets mix plaster rooms with early drywall ones, and each patch is matched to the wall it sits in.

  2. Kitchen walls behind old cabinets

    Pulling old cabinets often tears the drywall's paper face; torn paper is sealed with an oil- or shellac-based primer before compound goes on, or water in the compound raises it into bubbles.

  3. Plaster where it can stay

    In a borough house, sound plaster is usually worth keeping; drywall goes where a wall has failed, been opened, or never had plaster, as in a later addition.

The work

How the work goes

The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to drywall installation & repair.

Inside a geodesic dome: angled white walls, a black spiral stair and a green door, the floor still bare.
The dome’s spiral stair, walls finished.

  1. Look at the cause

    Randy looks at the damage with you and explains what it will take. Where water is involved, the leak has to be fixed and the framing dry before anything is closed up. The walkthrough and written estimate are complimentary.

  2. Cut back to sound material

    Damaged board is cut out to clean, square edges, often back to the framing, so the new piece has something solid to fasten to. Damaged studs are replaced while the wall is open.

  3. Hang it tight and flush

    New board is cut to fit and screwed to the framing with its edges level with the old, because a high edge leaves no room for tape and compound. Wide gaps are filled with setting-type compound before taping.

  4. Tape and coat

    Joints are taped and built up in thin coats, feathered wide. Torn paper is sealed with an oil- or shellac-based primer first, since water in the compound would raise it into bubbles.

  5. Blend, prime, paint

    Texture is matched where the wall has it. The repair is primed so it won’t show as a dull patch, and the wall is painted corner to corner so the sheen reads evenly.

Questions

Drywall installation & repair, Doylestown.

We're planning a family room addition on our borough house. What does the review board look at?

The outside of it. The borough's Historic Architectural Review Board reviews additions and other exterior changes that can be seen from a public street, and interiors are exempt, so the drywall and finishes inside aren't part of the application. Applications are due at least ten business days before the monthly meeting, normally held on the fourth Thursday.

Our township house is from the 1960s. Is there anything to check before walls are opened?

The joint compound. Compound and patching materials used before the mid-1980s can contain asbestos, and it can't be identified by eye, so a sample should be tested before it is disturbed. If it tests positive, removing it is work for a certified asbestos abatement contractor.

Why does a crack open every winter where our upstairs ceiling meets an inside wall?

In a house with roof trusses, it is often truss uplift: seasonal moisture differences in the attic make the trusses arch slightly and lift the ceiling off the top of interior walls, then settle back in summer. Retaping alone tends to tear again, so the corner is detailed to allow the movement, or trimmed with a molding fastened to one surface only.

More in Doylestown

Other services here.

  1. Level 5 drywall finishA skim coat over the entire surface, for walls that hold up under raking light and dark paint.
  2. Skim coatingRough, patched or uneven walls resurfaced smooth, often after wallpaper comes down.
  3. Plaster repairCracked, loose and failing plaster in older homes, repaired and made sound.
  4. Interior paintingWalls, ceilings, trim, doors and millwork, prepared properly and finished clean.
  5. Exterior paintingSiding, trim, porches, stucco and brick, prepared to stand up to Pennsylvania weather.
  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.