NYC Skim Coating Contractor 

West Village is dubbed one of New York City’s most beloved neighborhoods for a modern melding of its rich history in architecture and cobblestone streets with contemporary vibes in boutiques, music, restaurants and nightlife. It’s the kind of place you want to step out in style and step back in to a graceful, residential interior. These homeowners were exceptionally clever in changing out the flooring, adding new baseboards and wanting the walls to appear perfectly smooth and painted like new.

Well, that’s one place we shine with our skim coating experts who work with the finest tools available. Skim coating is a precision method of smoothing walls of all imperfections by applying multiple light coats of joint compound or comparable plaster product. Level 5 skimming blades are the best in the business with high precision 0.3mm or other small blade inserts. The proprietary blade edge and unique shape – in the hands of an experienced skim coat tradesman – offer consistent, high quality results.

When the skim coat process is complete, the top coats of paint produce museum quality walls or ones which look like they were put up yesterday. In fact, many of the historical homes in Manhattan are more than 100 years old. This living room space exhibits a sleek, flawless, fresh appearance with the superior wall finish, updated flooring and new baseboards. It is indeed a graceful, residential interior to step into.

skimming in process

heavy mismatched textures on walls

Professional skim coater plying his craft

Skim coating ceiling in process

Left - room ceiling complete. Right - closet ceiling patiently waiting for its skim coats.

Downtown Manhattan Skim Coating Contractors

Popcorn is one of six types of maize or corn and the only one of these whole grains which pops. Popcorn sales top $1 billion per year and more than 17 billion quarts are consumed. Its popularity is undisputed, but the appeal of popcorn ceilings waned a couple decades ago. Their attraction in the late 1970s was in hiding imperfections and absorbing sound, thereby reducing noise. But now, customers are requesting skim coatings that offer a smooth appearance. We do this, often. Multiple coats – applying, drying, sanding, applying again and so on.

 For this downtown Manhattan job, the ceiling tested positive for asbestos. Bet you didn’t know we even do that! Thus, we had to prime the ceiling first to eliminate releasing any dust into the room. Then we skim coated some 4 coats before it could all be smoothed like the client wanted. We delivered a beautifully crafted new ceiling, and skim coating is definitely both an art and a craft, finely tuned only by professional experience. Take a break and watch this video below of the process, and you’ll know just want to expect from our expert skim coaters and painters.

NYC Skim Coating and Baseboard Installation

Before - Crumbling walls

Skim coating - After 3 coats of compound plaster

The finished living room! Complete with smooth walls and new baseboards!

When this couple called us they were about to purchase their dream home and were about 2 months away from having their first baby. This residence was in dire need of some serious wall fixing from floor to ceiling. The walls were splotchy with paint and damaged wallboard, and plaster was loose, chipped and falling out at the floor. The home was showing major wear and tear and needed a seriously make over. It was the kind of mess we at Paintworks & Decorating are trained and experienced to remedy. 

We started by scraping all failing paint and plaster. Then we removed the old ragged baseboards. Once everything was fully scraped we applied bonding primer and began skim coating. After 3 coats of compound plaster we carefully sanded to make sure all walls and ceilings had a smooth even texture. We installed new baseboards and then painted everything with Benjamin Moore. This Manhattan historic apartment renovation was quite the challenge but looking at the home with furniture made it all worth it. The client is happy and we are grateful they trusted us to complete this project.

After - Skim Coating to near perfect smoothness

Skim Coating Co-op Lobbies In Queens NY

The popcorn ceiling has gone the way of dot matrix printers, landlines and fax machines for no longer being needed or especially appealing. The bright white attraction can easily be satiated with today's wonderfully-formulated ceiling paints, and the sleek look of a smooth surface over your head modernizes the proverbial loft, condo, house, lobby, work place and office space throughout all the boroughs of New York City. Popcorn ceilings are a little infamous for covering poor workmanship or sloppy installation, akin to heavy Hollandaise sauce on eggs Benedict when the yolks have already begun to drool. Additionally, they were touted for acoustical properties, but we can raise the bar on that by completely sealing your popcorn nuggets in plaster and then smoothing everything with a skim coat to a contemporary, lustrous finish.

The job we recently completed in a co-op condo building lobby and hallways involved adding skim coat plastering over the popcorn component. Sometimes when a popcorn ceiling has been painted over many times it is more cost effective and dust/mess reducing to skim coat over the popcorn ceiling. With a steady hand and smooth-sided trowel, the Paintworks & Decorating experts crafted a beautiful, unwrinkled ceiling surface. Not only does this smooth ceiling contribute to property value and interior aesthetics, but also it will be super easy to repair. One major drawback of the ol' popcorn ceiling is that it can never be repaired to look the same as the original. A patch job will always be evident, and water leaks from above as well as unintentional ceiling damage are all possible, even for ceilings on a top floor.  We enjoyed renovating and transforming the ceiling, and the residents now enter and move through a much more contemporary environment.  

Before - Mid Skim coating