Drywall repair

What we repair

• Holes from doorknobs, furniture, wall anchors and old fixtures
• Access holes left by plumbers and electricians
• Cracks at seams, corners and above doors and windows
• Nail pops and dents
• Water-damaged walls and ceilings, once the leak is fixed
• Sagging or stained ceilings
• Texture matching: smooth, orange peel and knockdown
• Plaster repairs in older homes
• Priming and repainting the wall corner to corner

What drywall repair costs

Most of the cost of a small repair is the return visits while each coat dries, which is why several repairs in one job cost far less each than one at a time. The full breakdown is in our drywall repair cost guide.

How it works

1. Send photos. One straight on with something for scale, and one along the wall at a shallow angle so we can read the texture. For ceilings, tell us whether the leak has been fixed.
2. Get a fixed written price the same business day. The scope is written out and the licensed, insured local company doing the work is named on the quote.
3. Pick an appointment window. The crew photographs the work before and after.
4. Approve the finished job, then pay the balance. If something unexpected turns up mid-job, work stops and you get the change in writing first.

What makes a repair disappear

A patch that shows through paint is nearly always a finishing problem. We cut back to sound board, add backing where it is needed, and finish in three thin coats of compound with drying time between them, feathered wide. Then the texture is matched, the patch is primed, and the wall is painted from corner to corner, because fresh paint rarely matches a wall that has aged. If you would rather do a small one yourself, see how to fix a hole in drywall.

What we do not do

We repair the wall, not the cause. A roof or plumbing leak needs a roofer or a certified plumber first, and we will say so rather than patch over a live leak. In a strata, a leak from another unit or from the building itself should be reported to your strata manager before any repair. We do not do mould remediation or asbestos removal; in homes built before 1990, materials that may contain asbestos are tested before anyone cuts or sands them. Cracks that keep growing, or that come with sticking doors and sloping floors, need a structural assessment before a cosmetic repair.

Where we work

We take jobs across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley: Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, New Westminster, Surrey, Delta and White Rock; North Vancouver and West Vancouver; Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody; and Langley, Maple Ridge, Abbotsford and Chilliwack. Each page covers the local housing and which business licence a contractor needs there. Not sure you are covered? Check your postal code.