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Mike Merola & Sons Plastering
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Pittsburgh's Hard Coat Plaster Specialists

Hard Coat Plasterin Pittsburgh, PA

Hard coat is an interior plaster system that goes over plaster board. Most people call every wall drywall, so here is what hard coat actually is, where it makes sense, and where it does not.

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✓ 30+ Years of Hands-On Plastering ✓ Fifth Generation Family Business ✓ Serving Pittsburgh Since 1997
Plain English

What Hard Coat Plaster Actually Is

Hard coat is an interior plaster system that goes over plaster board. The board is hung the way drywall is hung, and then instead of taping the joints and sanding the compound, the whole surface is plastered over in coats and troweled out to a hard, continuous face. That is the difference in one sentence: a taped drywall finish is smooth compound at the joints and paper everywhere else, while a hard coat wall is plaster from corner to corner. It is harder, it takes a knock better, and it gives you one unbroken surface with no seams to telegraph through the paint later. Most people call it all drywall half the time, which is fair enough, because from the doorway it is the same flat wall. You feel the difference when you lean on it, hang something off it, or look down a long wall in low light. Since 1997 we have been putting hard coat up in Pittsburgh homes to the standard the owner's father set, which was quality, long lasting work.

Our Process

How It Works

The same four steps on every job, whatever the work turns out to be.

01

Free Consultation & Quote

Give us a call or submit a quote request online. We will discuss your project, arrange a visit to your Pittsburgh-area home, and provide a detailed, no-obligation estimate. No surprises, no pressure.

02

Scheduling & Preparation

Once you approve the quote, we lock in a start date that works for your schedule. We arrive on time, prepared with everything needed to get the job done right, and protect your home before we begin.

03

Expert On-Site Work

With 30+ years of hands-on plastering and five generations of craftsmanship behind us, our team carries out the work with skill and pride. We keep the workspace clean and keep you in the loop throughout.

04

Final Walkthrough & Completion

When the work is done we walk through every detail with you to make sure you are completely satisfied. We clean up thoroughly before we leave. Your home is left better than we found it.

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What We Get Called For

The Hard Coat Plaster Work We Do

Some of it is new work over fresh board, some of it is a room being brought back, and some of it is matching what is already on the walls of an older house. Here is what we are asked for most.

Hard Coat Over Plaster Board in New Build

On a new build or an addition, the plaster board goes up first and the hard coat goes over it. You end up with a solid plastered wall rather than a taped and sanded drywall surface.

  • Board hung, then plastered over
  • Coats built up and troweled out
  • Beads set on every external angle

Whole Room Hard Coat Finishes

Taking a whole room in hard coat keeps the walls and the ceiling in one continuous plaster surface, so the corners, the reveals and the ceiling line all read as a single piece of work.

  • Walls and ceilings in one pass
  • Internal angles cut straight
  • Window and door reveals squared

High Traffic Walls and Hallways

Hallways, stairwells and mudrooms take daily knocks that a standard drywall finish starts to show quickly. Hard coat gives those walls a harder face that stands up to the traffic.

  • Hallways, stairs and landings
  • Corners protected with bead
  • A surface that takes a knock

Hard Coat Repairs and Patching

Where a hard coat wall has been drilled, knocked through or opened up for wiring, we cut back to sound plaster and fill in the same material so the patch does not sit as a soft spot.

  • Cut back to sound plaster first
  • Filled in the same material
  • Blended flat into the wall

Arches, Curves and Shaped Openings

Arched openings, curved walls and shaped reveals are formed and floated by hand. Plaster follows a curve cleanly, where taped board joints tend to flatten the shape and break the line.

  • Arches formed and floated by hand
  • Curved walls kept true
  • Shaped reveals and soffits

Matching Existing Plaster in an Older Home

Older Pittsburgh homes are plastered throughout, so one new wall in taped drywall stands out. We run hard coat to sit flush with what is already there and carry the same finish across.

  • New work brought level with old
  • Finish matched to the room
  • No step at the joint
The Finish We Work To

Hand-Troweled Hard Coat

Hard coat is built in layers over lath and troweled by hand. It is heavier, harder and longer-lived than board, which is why Pittsburgh homes still have it.

Close up of a hand troweled hard coat plaster surface
A troweled hard coat surface. The finish is worked wet, not sanded flat afterwards.
An Honest Comparison

Hard Coat or a Standard Drywall Finish

Both start the same way. Board goes on the studs. After that they part company. A standard drywall finish tapes the joints, coats them, sands them back and leaves the paper face of the board as the surface you paint. A hard coat finish plasters over the whole board instead, so what you paint is plaster. That is why a hard coat wall feels harder to the hand, why there is no seam line to appear in raking light a few years on, and why it takes a knock in a hallway better than a sanded joint does.

A standard drywall finish is the sensible choice plenty of the time, and we do that work too. It is quicker, it costs less, it is easier to open up and close again when someone runs a cable or moves a light, and on a plain ceiling or a closet wall you will never notice the difference. If a room is going to be reworked in a few years, or the budget is better spent elsewhere in the house, taping and finishing the board is the honest recommendation and we will say so.

Hard coat earns its place where the surface has to last, where the room is on show, where the walls take traffic, or where the rest of the house is already plastered and a taped wall would read as the odd one out. If you are not sure which one your room wants, send a photo. We will tell you which way we would go and why, and you can decide from there.

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Where We Work

Hard Coat Plaster Across the Greater Pittsburgh Area

We take hard coat plaster work across Pittsburgh and the surrounding communities, in city homes and out through the North Hills, the South Hills and the eastern suburbs.

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Rooted in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Houses Were Plastered, Not Taped

A lot of the city's housing stock went up before taped drywall was the normal way to finish a room, which is why hard coat still sits so naturally in these homes.

5th
Generation Family Business
30+
Years of Hands-On Plastering
100s
Historic Homes Restored
100%
Pittsburgh-Based & Proud

The Walls You Already Have Are Plaster

In older Pittsburgh homes the walls were plastered as part of the original build, so the surface you are matching is plaster, not paper. Running hard coat on new work keeps a room consistent instead of leaving one wall that feels different to every other wall around it.

Solid Walls Suit Older Rooms

Tall rooms, deep reveals and heavy trim all sit against the wall surface, and a hard plaster face holds those lines without movement at the edges. It also gives you something solid to fix into, which matters in rooms carrying shelving, panelling or a mantel.

Nobody Agrees on the Name

Hard coat, hard plaster, plaster over board, drywall. Homeowners use all of them for the same wall, and half the time it all gets called drywall. If you are not certain what is on your walls now or what you want on them, a photo answers it faster than a description will.

Straight Answers

Pittsburgh Plaster Questions

How do I know if my walls are plaster or drywall?
Press a thumbtack into an out of the way spot. Drywall takes it easily, plaster is hard and will resist or stop it. Knocking helps too, since plaster sounds solid and dense while drywall sounds hollow between the studs. In a house built before the late 1940s, plaster over wood lath is the likely answer.
Why do the cracks keep coming back after they are filled?
Filler treats the surface, not the reason the wall moved. Cracks usually come back because the plaster has come loose from the lath behind it, or because the house is still settling and shifting with the seasons. The fix is to secure the plaster back to the lath first and deal with the movement, then rebuild the surface. Skip that step and you are refilling the same line next year.
Can plaster be repaired, or does it have to be replaced with drywall?
In most cases it can be repaired. Plaster that is sound and simply cracked or loose in places can be reattached and patched in, and the wall keeps the hardness and the depth that made it worth having. Ripping it out for drywall is a bigger, dustier job than most people expect. We will tell you straight when a wall is too far gone to save.
Do you work in older city homes with original lath?
Yes. That is the bulk of what we do. This is a fifth generation family business with more than 30 years of hands-on plastering behind it, serving Pittsburgh since 1997, and wood lath, three coat plaster and old ceilings are ordinary to us. Estimates are free, so if you want a number, send a photo of the area along with the address and we will come back to you within 2 to 3 business days.
How do you match the texture on an old wall?
By reading the existing surface first and then working the new material to suit it, since a smooth wall, a sand float and a hand troweled finish all need a different approach. Feathering the patch out past the repair is what keeps the join from showing under a raking light. The standard we work to is the one Mike's father set: quality, long lasting work.
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Ready to Get Started?

Tell Us About the Room

Send a photo of the walls and tell us what the room is for. We will tell you whether hard coat is worth it or whether a standard drywall finish does the job. Free estimates, no pressure, no surprises.

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5th generation family business · Pittsburgh, PA · Free estimates