Pittsburgh's Go-To Plaster Patching Crew

Plaster Patching & Hole Repairin Pittsburgh, PA

Have a hole in the wall and want it gone. Mike Merola & Sons fills, textures and blends patches in Pittsburgh homes, so the spot disappears into the wall around it.

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

The Discrete Fix

Plaster Patching in Pittsburgh, PA

Patching is its own skill. Filling a hole is easy, making the fill disappear into the wall around it is not, and that difference is the whole job. We build the patch up in coats, match the texture already on your wall by hand, and carry the blend well past the edge of the repair. The standard, in the owner's father's words, is quality, long lasting work.

Our Process

How It Works

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

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.

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.

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.

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 Patch

The Patch Jobs We Get Called For

No patch is too small and none of them are all the same. Here are the openings Pittsburgh homeowners call us about most.

Door Knob and Impact Holes

A door swings back into the wall, a chair leg goes through, something heavy gets dropped. One bounded hole, filled, textured and blended so the wall reads as a single surface again.

Door knob punch-throughs
Furniture and moving damage
Texture matched by hand

Electrical and Plumbing Access Cuts

Your electrician or plumber opened the wall to reach a run and left the hole behind. We close it back up, including the long narrow chases that are awkward to keep flat.

Wiring and pipe chases
Ceiling and wall access openings
We work around the trades

Holes From Removed Fixtures

An old vent, a radiator, a wall cabinet, a TV mount. Take the fixture off and you are left with an outline plus the fixing holes. We fill all of it and lose the outline.

Old vents and disused pipe runs
Radiator, cabinet and mount fixings
No ghost outline left behind

Renovation Cut-Outs and Larger Sections

A doorway closed off, a partition removed, a section opened up during a remodel. Bigger than a hole but still bounded, so it gets patched and matched rather than reskimmed.

Closed doorways and openings
Partition and stud wall cut-outs
Blended into the surrounding finish

Ceiling Holes and Openings

Ceiling patches fight gravity, so they are built up in thinner coats and given time to grip. Light rakes across a ceiling too, which shows up any patch sitting proud.

Light fitting and fan openings
Backed and built in thin coats
Checked in raking light

Patches That Were Done Badly

A patch you can still find in certain light was flattened but never textured, or feathered far too tight. We cut it back, rebuild it in layers and carry the blend out wider.

Flat, untextured filler patches
Hard edges and visible outlines
Rebuilt and blended out wider

Our Own Work

A Ceiling Patched Back

Photographed on one of our own jobs. The opening is boarded and base coated, ready for the finish that makes the patch disappear.

Ceiling repair with new board fitted and base coat applied over the patched area — New board fitted into the opening and base coated, with the old surface still visible around it.

Sizing The Job

Patching the Damage vs Replacing the Whole Surface

A stain, a crack, or a hole raises the same question every time. Fix the spot, or take the wall back to bare and start again.

Patch the Damage

Repair the failed area and blend it in.

Only the damaged area is opened, so the rest of the wall stays untouched.
Far less dust, less mess, and the room goes back into use sooner.
Works well when the surrounding surface is still sound and firmly keyed.
A patch can read slightly proud or flat if the blend is rushed.

Replace the Surface

Take it back and rebuild the whole wall or ceiling.

Gives one continuous flat plane with no blend lines to chase later.
The right call when damage keeps returning in new spots on the same wall.
Lets you see and correct what is behind the surface while it is open.
More material, more labor, and the room is out of use for longer.

How to tell which one you have

Press your palm across the wall around the damage and listen. If the surrounding area feels solid and quiet, the problem is local and a patch is the sensible fix. If it flexes, crunches, or sounds hollow well beyond the visible damage, the bond has failed across a wider area and patching it will just move the problem a foot to the left. A useful rule of thumb: damage in one clear spot means patch, damage that keeps reappearing across the same wall means the surface itself is done.

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Local Service Area

Plaster Patching Across the Greater Pittsburgh Area

Every area we cover has its own page, because the housing stock is not the same from one to the next. Find yours below.

Shadyside

Shadyside rentals and pre-war apartments turn over often, and the holes left behind get patched before the next tenant moves in.

Squirrel Hill

Squirrel Hill's large older houses hold plenty of plaster, so an access cut or an impact hole needs a patch that disappears.

Sewickley

Century-old walls in Sewickley need a patch keyed into the original plaster, not a quick fill that shrinks and cracks.

Fox Chapel

Estate homes in Fox Chapel hide nothing, so a patched hole has to vanish completely into the wall around it.

Edgeworth

Heritage houses in Edgeworth often need small access cuts closed after wiring or plumbing work, matched to the original surface.

Franklin Park

Franklin Park mixes newer builds with established streets, and both get holes from mounted televisions, shelving, and fixtures that come down.

Bell Acres

Custom finishes in Bell Acres make a patch easy to spot, so the texture has to be matched exactly.

Bradford Woods

Homeowners in Bradford Woods want a hole gone rather than roughly blended, so every patch is sanded flat and feathered out.

Gibsonia

Gibsonia ranges from newer suburban builds to older character homes, and each takes a different patch to close a hole invisibly.

Upper St. Clair

Well-kept South Hills houses in Upper St. Clair show every flaw, so a patch after a renovation cut must sit perfectly flat.

Allison Park

Family homes in Allison Park collect door knob dents and impact holes, all of which can be patched and finished smooth.

Wexford

Fast-growing Wexford sees plenty of additions and remodels, each leaving cut-outs that need closing once the trades are finished.

Mt. Lebanon

Tudor and Colonial walls in Mt. Lebanon are plaster-heavy, so a hole gets filled with matching texture rather than tape and mud.

Peters Township

Peters Township owners expect a repaired hole to be undetectable, which means feathering the patch well beyond the opening itself.

Canonsburg

Older borough homes and newer suburbs in Canonsburg both need holes closed after cabinets, vents, or radiators come out.

Mars

In Mars, growing Butler County households mount televisions and shelving, leaving anchor holes that can be filled and smoothed away.

Seven Fields

Newer planned homes in Seven Fields still get access cuts from electricians and plumbers that need a clean, flush patch.

Pine Township

Large Pine Township houses have big rooms and long walls, where a single unpatched hole draws the eye from across the room.

Richland Township

Small patch repairs are routine across Richland Township, whether the hole came from a doorknob, a vent, or a removed wall fixture.

Murrysville

Murrysville families in Westmoreland County often call about one hole in one room, and one hole is a job worth doing properly.

View All Service Areas

Rooted in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Walls Are Plaster, So Patches Have to Be Plaster

Pittsburgh's older homes were not built with drywall. They were built with plaster, and a hole in one of those walls wants a plaster patch rather than a lump of filler. The Merola family has been patching them here since 1997.

5th

Generation Family Business

30+

Years of Hands-On Plastering

100s

Historic Homes Restored

100%

Pittsburgh-Based & Proud

Plaster and Lath, Not Drywall

In homes built between 1880 and 1940 the wall behind the paint is three-coat plaster over wood lath. An opening in one of those exposes the lath, and the patch has to key into it and finish at the same depth as the plaster around it, or the repair will always read as a repair.

Every Neighborhood Has Its Own Texture

The brick rowhouses, Craftsman bungalows and Tudor revivals across Pittsburgh were finished by different hands in different decades. Sand float, skip trowel, a fine smooth polish. Matching that texture by hand is what makes a patch disappear rather than merely fill.

Converted Lofts and Masonry Walls

Strip District and South Side conversions often carry original plaster applied straight onto brick or block. There is no lath behind the hole to key into, so a patch in one of those walls is backed and built differently to one in a stud partition.

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.

(412) 583-7294 Get a Free Quote

Ready to Get Started?

Get That Hole Patched

Send a photo of the hole or just call and describe it. We will tell you what the patch involves and give you a free estimate. No pressure, no surprises.

(412) 583-7294 Request a Quote

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