Drywall Taping and Texture: Knockdown and Orange Peel, New or Existing Walls

Taping, finishing and texture on new drywall

Once the board is hung, we tape the joints, run the finish coats and sand them flat, then texture over the top, so one set of hands carries the walls from bare board to the finish. If your own taper has already finished, we start at texture after walking the taping: a joint that isn't flat gets pointed out in writing before we spray, either for your taper to fix or as its own line in our scope. Texture is the step the finished room gets judged by, because it's what everyone sees once the paint goes on. We spray knockdown or orange peel to the finish called out in your plans, or match a room or sample board you point to, so new space reads the same as the rest of the building. Before setting up, we check that the walls are ready for it: taping done, joints dry, dust and debris cleaned off.

The work fits between the hangers and the painter on your schedule. Tell us when the board will be up and when paint is due, and we'll say whether we can make that window before anything is booked. General contractors can see how that works on their jobs on taping and texture for general contractors. It covers a single addition or tenant space as readily as a whole floor of new units, a hotel renovation or the office and showroom walls of a warehouse. We hang the board as well in unincorporated Douglas County, for any kind of building (see drywall in unincorporated Douglas County), and on new homes in unincorporated Jefferson County communities such as Genesee, Ken Caryl and Dakota Ridge.

A new texture over the old one

The other half of the work is existing walls and ceilings whose texture is dated, damaged or just not what the owner wants anymore. A heavy texture gets scraped or skimmed down to a flat surface first, then primed so the new texture bonds evenly, and the new knockdown or orange peel is sprayed over it. A hotel replacing its room texture during a renovation, a medical or office suite updated for a new tenant, or a home that never suited its previous owner's texture all go this way.

Retexturing walks through the whole change room by room, and texture removal covers taking a texture off when smooth is the goal instead.

Knockdown, orange peel and the choices in between

Orange peel is a fine spatter sprayed thin, with a slightly bumpy surface like the skin of an orange. It's easy to wipe down and easy to touch up later, which is a big part of why it's on so many walls in newer homes and apartments. Knockdown starts as a heavier spatter that gets flattened with a wide knife a few minutes after it goes on, leaving flat-topped islands with smooth valleys between them. It hides more of the surface underneath and reads as more textured, on walls and ceilings alike.

Both come in degrees: a fine or coarse spatter, a light or heavy knockdown, more or less coverage. A sample board or a test section settles those choices before the room follows it. For a look applied by hand, like skip trowel or Santa Fe, see hand-trowel texture; for walls with no texture at all, see Level 5 smooth finish.

Hotels, apartments, offices and warehouses

Occupied buildings get phased: by floor, by wing or by a block of rooms taken out of service together, with after-hours work where the building needs it. Floors, fixtures and furniture are covered before spraying starts, and each phase is cleaned up before the next one opens. In warehouses and industrial buildings, the texture goes where people work and visit: offices, showrooms, break rooms and partition walls.

Whether an asbestos inspection is needed before old texture is scraped or sanded in a commercial building comes down to the building and the amount of material involved, and we settle that question before the job goes on the calendar. Buildings raised before 1980 are outside what we take on.

Who calls us for texture, and how to get a price

Homeowners, builders and general contractors, property and apartment maintenance managers, hotel maintenance teams and real estate agents all call us for taping, for texture on its own, or for a Level 5 finish. Primer and paint are yours to add when you want the space finished in one go, and yours to leave off when your own painter is lined up.

Text us some photos or plans and the year the building was built; builders, add when the board goes up. Homeowners can use the quote page; businesses and builders can send plans through the business quote form. Larger jobs get a walkthrough, and a written scope with the price comes back before anything is scheduled.