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Mike Merola & Sons Plastering
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Pittsburgh's Skim Coating Specialists

Skim Coatingin Pittsburgh, PA

If your walls are rough, patchy, textured or covered in years of old repairs, skim coating is the fix. Mike Merola & Sons skims Pittsburgh walls and ceilings flat in plaster and leaves them ready for paint.

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

Skim Coating Plaster Walls in Pittsburgh, PA

A skim coat is a thin layer of plaster taken over the whole wall so the surface reads as one flat plane instead of a map of patches, texture and old repairs. It is the answer when the wall is sound but tired, and when filling one more hole is only going to add another shadow to the ones already there. We skim by hand, we work to the light in the room rather than to the wall on its own, and the standard is the one the owner's father set. 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 Skim

The Skim Coating Work We Get Called For

Most of it starts the same way. Somebody looks at a wall in side light and realizes paint alone is not going to save it. Here is what we are asked for most.

Walls Covered in Old Patches and Repairs

Years of filler around sockets, shelves and picture hooks leave a wall that looks fine head on and terrible in side light. A skim takes all of it back to one surface.

  • Old filler and patches levelled out
  • Loose material cut back first
  • One flat plane across the whole wall

Textured and Stippled Walls Flattened

Stipple, swirl and knockdown texture date a room faster than any paint color. We knock the high points off and skim over the top so the wall comes back flat and quiet.

  • Stipple and swirl texture taken out
  • High points cut down before skimming
  • Built up where the hollows are deep

Skimming Over Sound Plaster

Older Pittsburgh plaster is often solid behind a rough face. Where the wall is still keyed to the lath and holding firm, a skim is the honest fix instead of tearing it out.

  • Wall sounded before we start
  • Hollow areas dealt with, not skimmed over
  • Original plaster kept where it is sound

Skimming Over Drywall and Board

New board taped and finished to a standard level still shows joints and screw lines under a wash of light. A full skim takes the whole sheet to one continuous surface.

  • Joints and screw heads buried
  • New board and old wall brought level
  • Corners and beads run straight

Ceilings Skimmed Flat

A ceiling shows every ripple because the light crosses it all day. Skimming a ceiling is slower and harder work than a wall, and it is where the difference shows most.

  • Old texture and artex faces skimmed
  • Worked to the light from the windows
  • Room covered and protected first

Preparing a Wall for Paint or Wallpaper

Paint follows the surface underneath it, and paper telegraphs whatever it is hung on. A skim gives the decorator a flat, sound wall so the finish is the only thing you see.

  • Left flat and ready for the decorator
  • Even suction across the surface
  • Edges cut in clean at trim and ceiling
The Finish We Work To

A Wall Taken Back to Flat

Skim coating is a thin plaster layer over what is already there. It is the fix for tired texture and patch-scarred walls that do not need rebuilding.

Person smoothing a wall surface during skim coat plastering work
A skim coat worked flat across an existing wall, taking out texture and old patch edges.
Is It Worth Skimming

When a Tired Wall Needs a Skim Rather Than Another Patch

The usual test is side light. Stand at one end of the wall, look along it towards a window or a lamp, and see how many shadows appear that you never notice standing square on. Every one of those is a patch, a ridge or a hollow, and paint will not remove a single one of them. Once there are enough of them, filling the next one is the wrong move, because the wall needs to be brought to one plane rather than repaired one spot at a time.

Skimming is also the right call when the wall carries a texture you have stopped liking, when old wallpaper has come off and taken the face of the plaster with it, or when new board meets old plaster and the two will never sit level on their own. What it is not is a way to hide a wall that has come away from the lath. If the plaster sounds hollow when we tap it, we will tell you that before we quote and deal with the loose section first, because a skim over failing plaster fails with it.

We will look at the wall, tell you plainly whether a skim is the fix or whether the honest answer is a repair, and give you a free estimate either way. It is a family business and the person who quotes the work is the person on site doing it.

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Where We Work

Skim Coating Across the Greater Pittsburgh Area

We skim walls and ceilings 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 Walls Have Had a Long Time to Get Rough

A lot of the city's housing stock has been decorated, repaired and re-textured by many different hands over many decades. That history is exactly what a skim coat puts back into one clean surface.

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

Layers of Owners, Layers of Repairs

An older Pittsburgh home has usually passed through several owners, and each one patched the wall their own way with whatever was to hand. The result is a surface built out of mismatched repairs, and skimming is what turns that back into a single wall again.

Texture Came and Went in Waves

Stippled and swirled finishes were fashionable here for long stretches, then fell out of favor. Plenty of rooms are still wearing a texture chosen decades ago, and taking it back to flat is one of the most common reasons we are called out.

Old Plaster Is Worth Keeping

Where the original plaster is still keyed and holding, skimming keeps the solid wall and the plaster reveals at the windows rather than replacing them with board. That is a better wall than a new one, and it keeps the room feeling like the house it belongs to.

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?

Give the Wall One Flat Surface

Send a photo of the wall, ideally taken along it in side light, and we will tell you whether it needs a skim or a repair. Free estimates, no pressure, no surprises.

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