Google+

Our Approach To Skim Coating

WE WILL DO WONDERS FOR THE LOOK OF YOUR EXTERIOR.
Here at Madani Group, we want your walls looking perfect, and that’s why we do skim coating. Skim coating is a pretty complex process, and you need to understand a little about drywall in order to grasp its importance in making your home look flawless.


​Drywall is made primarily out of gypsum and heavy paper; the paper portion of the drywall is the exposed surface. Drywall is installed in sheets on the structure that supports the wall; as a result, there are a number of joints between each sheet of drywall. Those joints are then sealed with joint compound that’s about the consistency of cake frosting; it’s often simply called “mud”. 
​
​Exposed drywall isn’t the most chic look, so you’ll want to paint over it. The problem is that the mud used for sealing the joints and the drywall paper have different properties, most notably different rates of absorption. That means that if you paint over the drywall, your paint will come out looking different colours where the mud is and where the paper is. When drywalling and painting are hastily done, the joints where the sheets of drywall meet become obvious, as do the spots where screws were used to affix the drywall to the wall structure. The Gypsum Association, a not-for-profit trade association that promotes drywall and other gypsum products, ranks drywall from a 0 to 5, where 0 is totally unfinished and 5 is pristine.

With all of that information, you can understand skim coating. It’s a process in which we apply joint compound to the wall, then quickly skim off most of the compound we applied. We do this over and over again until the wall is perfectly smooth. As anyone who has worked with mud can attest to, this isn’t the easiest process on the planet; it takes a lot of patience and a lot of practice to skim carefully enough that the final product is smooth, but quickly enough that the process is cost-efficient. Some particularly rough surfaces will require multiple skim coats before they’re smooth enough to be painted over. When skim coating is done properly, you end up with a Level 5 finish; after the drywall has been painted, an inspector won’t be able to find the joints or screw holes, even under close scrutiny and bright lights.



​Not every wall needs to be Level 5. When you’re trying to achieve a rough texture anyway, the ultra-smooth look achieved by skim coating becomes unnecessary. Additionally, in dimly lit areas or zones where you don’t expect a lot of traffic, a Level 4 finish might be sufficient. That said, if you want a smooth paint job in, say, your living room, you’ll want to have a skim coat professionally done in order to get the look you’re going for.



​At Madani Group, we’re dedicated to making sure your house painting goes perfectly; we want it done right the first time. That’s why we’ve perfected our skim coating technique. We do it precisely and quickly, so that your wall is ready to be painted in no time flat. We can even use a primer over the skim coat to make sure the paint is absorbed as evenly as possible. When we’re done, the most scrupulous investigator won’t be able to find the joints! Choose Madani Group.