Randy’s Painting & Drywall

New Hope, Bucks County

Drywall texture matching & removal in New Hope, PA.

Half of New Hope's homes date from the 1970s and 1990s, the drywall decades. Near the river, a texture repair can be part of putting a wall back after high water.

Request a private consultation Call or text (484) 546-3660
A wall opened at its base, showing damaged drywall, studs and wiring above a pulled-back carpet.
Before: the wall opened up. Sharon Marrone’s photograph, from her Google review.

Drywall texture matching & removal for New Hope homes

The borough's National Register nomination describes a town of stone, brick and frame, but the homes counted today are mostly younger: about a third date from the 1970s and nearly a fifth from the 1990s. Those are drywall rooms. Where those walls or ceilings were textured, any repair has to match the pattern, and 1970s texture is old enough to need a test before it is disturbed.

Near the river and along Ingham Creek, repairs can come with a history. The Delaware has topped major flood stage at the river gauge here several times, three of them between 2004 and 2006, and a wall that soaks up water is usually opened above the high-water mark and rebuilt. That leaves a level seam across a textured wall, the hardest kind of repair to hide, because the eye follows a straight line.

New Hope

A level seam above the high-water line

Matching texture along a flood cut is a different job from patching a hole. The seam runs the width of the room at one height, so the new texture is worked up past it along an irregular edge, and the full wall is primed and painted. Nothing goes on until the framing and any masonry behind it have dried and the house can hold a steady temperature, because compound laid over damp material does not last.

A 1970s house adds a step: its original texture and joint compound predate the mid-1980s, so both are tested before a flood cut or any other opening is made, and asbestos, if found, is removed by a certified asbestos abatement contractor. The borough's old stone houses raise a different problem. Their plaster sits on masonry that can take a long time to dry after high water, and repairs there follow the plaster, not a spray pattern.

A ceiling and walls patched in white compound, a work table of tools in the middle of the room.
Ceiling and walls, patched mid-job.

Worth knowing

  1. Away from the water

    The land rises steeply from the Delaware, so high water concerns the houses near the river and the creek, not the whole town. Elsewhere, the decade a house was built sets the texture work.

  2. Sometimes, the whole wall

    When a flood cut crosses a long textured wall, re-texturing everything above it, after a clear test, can read better than blending at one height.

  3. Solebury's later houses

    Texture original to Solebury houses built since 1990 came after the testing cutoff. There, the choice is simply between matching it and going smooth.

The work

How the work goes

The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to drywall texture matching & removal.

Close-up of a wall part-way through a skim coat, the compound’s knife strokes catching the light.
A skim coat, close up.

  1. Read the wall

    The texture is studied in side light: its pattern, its height, how it was applied. Then Randy talks through the choices with you: match it, change it, or take it off. The walkthrough and written estimate are complimentary.

  2. Test older texture first

    Texture or compound from before the mid-1980s should have a sample tested before anyone sands or scrapes it. If it tests positive, removal is work for a certified asbestos abatement contractor.

  3. Repair and prime

    The patch is finished flat and primed before texture goes on, so the new texture absorbs and dries the same over fresh compound as over old paint. Primer also keeps the patch from flashing through the paint later.

  4. Match it, or bury it

    To match, mix and pressure are tried on a scrap until the pattern dries the same, then texture is applied and feathered past the repair. To remove, the wall is skimmed in thin coats until the pattern is gone.

  5. Prime and paint the whole wall

    Primer evens out new and old surfaces. The whole wall is painted, corner to corner, so the sheen reads as one.

Questions

Drywall texture matching & removal, New Hope.

Our walls were opened after the river came up. Can the new board be matched to the textured wall above it?

Yes, once everything behind it is dry. The new board is hung flush, taped and primed, then the texture is matched on a test board and carried above the seam in an irregular line, leaving nothing straight for the eye to follow. In a house from before the mid-1980s, the old texture and compound are tested before the cut is widened or anything more is opened.

A water stain came through our textured ceiling. Does the texture have to come off?

Not necessarily. Once the leak is fixed and the board is firm and dry, the stain is sealed with a stain-blocking primer and the ceiling repainted. Board that has gone soft or sagged is cut out and replaced and the texture matched, after a test if it may date from before the mid-1980s. Taking the texture off is a choice, not a requirement.

Is the plaster in an old New Hope stone house ever textured?

Not in the way drywall is. Plaster of the 1700s and 1800s was finished by hand with a trowel or float, and a sprayed pattern on it was added later, perhaps to hide cracks. Repairs in those houses match the plaster's own surface, once the masonry behind it has dried.

More in New Hope

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 installation & repairNew drywall hung, taped and finished; cracks, holes and water damage repaired invisibly.
  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.