Nazareth, Northampton County
Level 5 drywall finish in Nazareth, PA.
Farmland around Nazareth is still being divided into house lots. In a house that is still being built, the moment to choose Level 5 is before the walls are primed, and it is easy to miss.
Level 5 drywall finish for Nazareth homes
Level 5 is a finish for bare drywall. The standard describes a skim over board that has not been painted, and the finishing council's own procedure says the same. A house under construction is the one place where every wall is in that state at once; after the primer and paint go on, the same smoothness is still possible, but as skim coating, a separate piece of work.
Around Nazareth that timing is a live question. The townships that ring the borough are young: about 47 percent of Upper Nazareth's homes date from 2000 or later, and more than half of those in Lower Nazareth and Bushkill townships from 1980 on. New houses in these places often have tall rooms and wide windows, and the walls that will face that light are easiest to settle early.
Nazareth
Upper Nazareth's new houses, before the first coat
Upper Nazareth Township wraps most of the way around the borough, from the Stockertown line west toward Bath, and most of its people live in East Lawn. Its growth has come on former farmland, field by field turned into close-set lots. Rooms that rise two stories, common in houses of the 1990s and 2000s, put a great deal of new board under low side light, and those are the walls to plan for while the house is still at bare drywall.
Two local facts shape the finishing. January here averages about 28°F, and joint compound wants the house held at 50°F or above for two days before finishing and throughout it, so winter work happens in a closed, heated house. And new framing dries and shrinks through its first seasons. A skim gives the wall one even face but cannot stop a fastener popping as the studs move, so a few small repairs after the first winter are normal.
Worth knowing
Read the drywall line
Ask which finish level the drywall contract names. If it says Level 4 or nothing at all, any room you want at Level 5 has to be added in writing, early.
Not every wall
Two-story rooms, stair walls and any wall under strong side light or a sheen are the usual candidates. Closets and bedrooms in flat paint seldom need it.
The borough is plaster
More than half of the borough's homes predate 1940, and their walls are plaster. There the work is repair and a skim coat; Level 5 applies only where new drywall has gone in.
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, Nazareth.
We are building in Upper Nazareth. When should we decide about Level 5?
Before the drywall is primed. Up to that point any wall can be finished to it; afterward, the same smoothness takes a skim coat over paint. A walkthrough while the house is still bare board shows which walls the light will test.
Will a Level 5 finish stop nail pops in a new house?
No. Pops come from framing that shrinks or twists as it dries, and a skim coat changes only the surface. Each pop is reset and refinished when it appears, and on a Level 5 wall the repair is feathered out wide so it stays out of sight.
Our house near Center Square dates from about 1900. Does it need Level 5?
Rarely. Just over half the historic district was standing by 1899, and much of the rest went up for cement plant workers before 1938, in the years when plaster was still the standard wall. On sound plaster the work is repair and then a skim; Level 5 belongs to rooms where drywall has taken the plaster's place, a rebuilt kitchen, say, or a rear addition.
More in Nazareth
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.
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.