Seams and screw heads that vanish under paint, on new walls and lower levels alike. Our crew tapes and finishes new drywall in Carol Stream with the floors covered and the dust kept down.
Once the board is hung, the finishing decides how the wall will look every time light hits it. We bed paper tape in the flat seams and inside corners, set bead on every outside corner, and run three coats of compound, each one wider than the last. Every coat is sanded before the next goes on, and we check the wall with a work light held flat to it, which shows ridges a ceiling fixture hides. The board leaves our hands ready for primer, so the paint goes onto a flat surface.
Carol Stream is on our regular route, off North Avenue, Gary Avenue and Army Trail Road. If your Carol Stream basement is getting finished, the taping schedule has to account for the space itself. Below grade the air stays cool and damp, and compound that dries overnight upstairs can take much longer down there. We run a dehumidifier and keep the space warm between coats instead of sanding compound that is still soft in the middle, which is how seams shrink and crack later.
Before any tape goes on, we look for screws driven through the paper, loose board and gaps wide enough to need filling, and we fix them.
Tapered seams get paper tape bedded in compound and pressed flat, so no air stays behind it to blister later.
Inside corners get folded paper tape. Outside corners get bead, set straight and coated so the edge stays crisp.
Bed coat, fill coat and finish coat, each knife wider than the last, so the seam has no hump you can see in raking light.
Each coat is sanded once it is dry all the way through, with vacuum sanding where the room allows it.
In basements we manage heat and humidity so every coat dries properly before the next one goes on.
We walk the space, look at how the board was hung and write an estimate that names the rooms, the finish level and the number of visits. If some board needs to come down and go back up before it can be finished, we price that in writing and wait for your yes. Taping runs across several visits because each coat dries before the next, and we book around the days we said. On the last visit we go over the walls with you and a work light, so you can judge the finish yourself.
Call or text (815) 585-1750 and tell us what is hung and waiting. We will look at it in person and put the scope in writing.
Call or text (815) 585-1750
Email matt@onitcc.com