Skim Coating Walls and Ceilings Across the DMV
Skim coating is what you do to a wall that is structurally fine and cosmetically finished. The plaster is solid but the surface is a map of old repairs. The wallpaper came off and took the paper face with it. Someone textured over everything in 1987 and you would like it flat again.
The wall does not need replacing. It needs a new surface.
What it involves
Thin coats of joint compound go over the entire surface and get worked flat, then sanded. Two coats is typical, three where the starting surface is rough. It is deceptively skilled work. Anyone can put compound on a wall. Getting it flat enough that a low sun does not show every trowel stop is the part that takes time.
Preparation decides the outcome more than the skimming does. Loose paint, flaking paper and anything powdery has to come off first, because compound applied over a failing surface fails with it. Glossy paint needs to be dulled or primed so the skim has something to hold. Wallpaper adhesive has to be washed off properly rather than skimmed over, or it will bubble through months later.
When skim coating is the right answer
- Wallpaper removal has torn the paper face of the drywall in patches.
- Old plaster is sound and attached but the surface is uneven, chalky or covered in decades of patchwork.
- You want to remove a texture. Skimming over it is normally faster and cleaner than scraping it off, as long as the texture is not heavy.
- A wall has been repaired repeatedly and now reads as a collection of patches rather than a wall.
When it is the wrong answer
Skimming does not fix a substrate problem. If plaster has separated from the lath, it will sound hollow when you tap it and it will keep moving. Compound over a moving surface cracks. The same is true of any wall that is still getting wet. Find the water first.
Heavy texture is often better scraped or covered with new board than skimmed, because filling deep texture takes enough coats that replacement becomes competitive on price. We will measure the depth and tell you which way the numbers fall.
Plaster is not drywall
A lot of older housing across DC and inner Maryland is plaster over lath. It takes a skim differently to drywall, it is less forgiving about moisture in the compound, and it hides its problems better. We check for hollow areas before quoting a plaster skim, because a wall that needs re-attaching before it needs skimming is a different job with a different price.
Time and dust
Each coat has to dry before the next one, and sanding a whole room produces a lot of fine dust. We seal openings and use dust control on the sanding rather than sheeting the furniture and hoping. Plan on the room being out of use for several days rather than one. Anyone who quotes you a skimmed room in a single day is quoting the application and ignoring the drying.
After we finish
A skimmed surface is thirsty and needs a proper primer before the finish coat. If you are using your own painter, tell them the wall has been skimmed so they prime for it. Painting a fresh skim with a standard wall paint straight from the tin gives an uneven sheen.
Get a skim coat quote
Photographs help, particularly taken with a light held flat against the wall so we can see how uneven the surface really is. Tell us whether it is plaster or drywall if you know. We are insured and bonded and we work throughout Washington DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia.
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Tell us about the property, damage and timing. We normally respond within one business day.
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