Drywall Finishing & Texturing

Finish Levels, Explained in Plain English

Drywall finishing is graded from Level 0 to Level 5, and knowing which one you’re buying is how you avoid a wall that flashes joints under every lamp. Level 3 suits heavy textures. Level 4 — the standard for most homes — is tape plus three coats, sanded smooth, ready for flat or eggshell paint. Level 5 adds a full skim coat over the entire surface and is what we recommend under gloss paint, in rooms with big windows and raking light, and on ceilings with recessed lighting.

Textures We Apply and Match

• Smooth / Level 5 — the modern DMV standard for living spaces
• Orange peel — light spray texture common in 80s–2000s construction
• Knockdown — sprayed then troweled flat for a mottled finish
• Skip trowel — hand-applied, common in higher-end and Mediterranean styles

Matching an existing texture after a repair is a genuine skill — a patch that’s the wrong texture reads as damage forever, even under fresh paint. Our finishers keep sample boards and match the pattern and the thickness before any paint goes on. If you’re removing texture instead, see popcorn ceiling removal.

Finishing is also where water and settling damage gets erased: hairline ceiling cracks, nail pops, and tape seams that have let go. We cut out failures, re-tape, and blend the finish coat past the repair so it disappears. Then either your painter takes over or our painting crew primes the fresh compound the same week — new mud always gets primer, never straight paint.