Macungie, Lehigh County
Level 5 drywall finish in Macungie, PA.
A great room is built to run into the rooms beside it: kitchen, hall, stair. In a Lower Macungie house that makes the edges of a Level 5 finish a real decision.
Level 5 drywall finish for Macungie homes
In the open plans of Lower Macungie's newer houses, one long wall carries on into the kitchen, another turns up the stair, a third ends at a hall. That is pleasant to live in and awkward to finish, because a Level 5 skim has to stop somewhere, and an edge in the middle of a continuous wall is exactly what raking light finds. The plan has to follow the planes of the house, not the names of its rooms.
Most of the houses that raise this question stand just outside the borough. Lower Macungie Township put up about a third of its homes in the 2000s alone and more than half since 1990. In the borough itself the 1980s were the biggest decade by far, and twins, rows and townhouses are more common than detached houses.
Macungie
Where the skim stops in a Lower Macungie open plan
The clean place to end a skim coat is an inside corner, where one plane meets another and the light changes anyway. An outside corner, a beam or a change in ceiling height can serve as well. Stopping halfway along a wall that continues into the next room is the thing to avoid: the skimmed and unskimmed parts take paint differently, and in side light the boundary can read as a line.
So the plan for a great room is drawn wall by wall. The long wall beside the windows may run on into the kitchen; the stair wall may climb to an upper hall. Often the sensible course is to carry the finish to the nearest corner, which can take in part of the kitchen or hall, and to leave alone the walls that never see side light. In the borough's 1980s houses the same logic applies to any wall being skimmed over old paint.
Worth knowing
Over paint, prepare first
Most great rooms here have been painted for years. Before a skim goes over them, glossy paint is dulled and anything loose comes off, so the compound has something to grip.
The borough's 1980s houses
About a third of the borough's homes date from the 1980s. Their walls have long been painted, so a smoother surface there comes from skim coating, and Level 5 proper only from walls rebuilt in new board.
Older rooms along Main Street
Roughly one borough house in six predates 1940. Those houses are plaster inside, and sound plaster is repaired and skimmed rather than replaced.
The work
How the work goes
The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to level 5 drywall finish.
A walkthrough in the room’s light
Randy walks the rooms with you and says which walls need Level 5 and which don’t. It helps to look at the hour the light is hardest. The walkthrough and written estimate are complimentary.
Joints finished to Level 4
Tape is bedded in compound at every joint; flat joints get two more coats, inside corners one, screw heads three. Each coat dries hard before the next, with the house kept warm and steady.
A skim coat, edge to edge
Compound is spread over the entire surface and wiped back tight with a wide knife or trowel, leaving a thin film over paper and joints alike. Where one pass doesn’t cover, a second follows.
Sanded, then primed
The dry surface is sanded smooth without scuffing the paper beneath. Primer goes on before any color, so the finish coats absorb evenly across the whole wall.
Judged in its own light
Finish coats go on last. The standard’s test is the one that counts: the wall seen from five feet back, under the light the room will actually have.
Questions
Level 5 drywall finish, Macungie.
Our Lower Macungie great room opens straight into the kitchen. Does the kitchen need Level 5 too?
Only as far as the walls run. If the great room's long wall carries on into the kitchen, the finish goes to the next corner so there is no edge mid-wall. Kitchen walls that turn away from the windows and stand on their own can often be left as they are.
Can just the two-story wall be done, and not the rest of the room?
Yes, if it ends at corners. A tall wall bounded by inside corners can be skimmed by itself, and it is often the wall that needs it most. If it runs on into the stair or a hall, the finish follows it to the next break.
Our Ancient Oaks house dates from the 1970s. Would Level 5 apply?
Not as such. Ancient Oaks went up in phases from 1961 through 1989, so its walls have long been painted, and the standard is written for bare board. Skim coating whole walls gives the same smoothness, and it is worth it where you plan a sheen, a deep color or lights aimed at the walls.
More in Macungie
Other services here.
- 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.
Nearby
Level 5 drywall finish nearby.
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.