Interior painting and plaster repair in Silver Spring, MD 20901

Wall and ceiling trouble in Silver Spring homes

Older houses near downtown and along Colesville Road share a few repeat problems.

• Cracked plaster at door frames

  Settlement and door slams crack plaster at the corners of openings. Our plaster repair work cuts out the loose material, fills it in layers and feathers it smooth before paint.

• Sagging ceilings

  Plaster ceilings separate from lath and start to sag. We re-anchor them with plaster washers and skim over the top instead of tearing them down.

• Water stains from radiators and roofs

  Old radiator leaks and roof drips leave brown rings that bleed through latex. A stain-blocking primer goes on before any finish coat.

• Patchy past repairs

  Older homes often have drywall patches set into plaster walls. They show as flat spots or ridges, so we skim them in to match the wall.

• Bubbling paint in bathrooms

  Small bathrooms without fans peel at the ceiling. We scrape, prime and use a moisture-resistant finish, and suggest running a fan.

Pre-war Colonials, Cape Cods and downtown towers

Silver Spring is unincorporated, but it is one of the largest communities in Maryland by population. Its older neighborhoods grew from the 1920s through the 1950s: Woodside Park, Indian Spring, Woodmoor, Rosemary Hills, East Silver Spring and the streets around Sligo Creek Park are full of brick and frame Colonials, Cape Cods and Tudor-style homes. Most still have plaster walls, wood floors and painted trim in at least some rooms.

Downtown Silver Spring, rebuilt over the past few decades around Ellsworth Drive and the Metro and Purple Line corridor, has many condo and apartment towers. Painting there is about building rules and floor protection. Farther north, Four Corners, White Oak and Colesville have more post-war ramblers and split-levels with drywall interiors.

So a job on a Woodside Park side street and a unit in a downtown tower can look completely different on the estimate, even though they share a ZIP code.

What a plaster repair and repaint looks like here

Most Silver Spring interior jobs combine plaster work with painting, and they run in a set order.

1. Coat 01

   Map the cracks

   At the walkthrough we tap walls and ceilings to find loose plaster and mark cracks. Plaster patches typically run $185 to $640 per area, and skim coating a room $1,150 to $2,800.

2. Coat 02

   Protect and contain

   Floors and furniture are covered, and dust containment goes up. In pre-1978 homes we follow EPA RRP lead-safe work practices when disturbing old paint.

3. Coat 03

   Re-anchor loose plaster

   Plaster washers and adhesive secure loose areas to the lath. Cracks are opened slightly and taped with mesh so they don't reappear.

4. Coat 04

   Fill and skim

   We fill in layers with setting compound, then skim to bring the repair flush with the surrounding wall. Each layer sets before the next.

5. Coat 05

   Prime and paint

   A primer seals the repairs so they don't flash through the finish. Two coats of wall paint follow, with trim and doors done last.

Parking, condos and historic review in Silver Spring

A few local details make a Silver Spring job go smoother.

• Downtown condo buildings generally ask for a certificate of insurance, elevator reservations and set work hours; check with your management office early.
• Some streets near the Metro station have residential permit parking, so we plan van placement ahead of time.
• A few Silver Spring properties and areas are covered by the Montgomery County historic preservation program, which generally reviews exterior changes; check with the county if you plan exterior work.
• Interior painting is not reviewed by historic preservation programs.
• We answer calls 24/7 to schedule walkthroughs, and the painting itself happens during normal weekday hours.

Neighboring areas we serve

Silver Spring borders Takoma Park to the southeast and DC's Shepherd Park to the south, with Bethesda a short drive west. If your home is near one of those lines, the same walkthrough process applies. For condo units downtown, see our condo painting page for more detail on building rules.

Most requested here

• Interior House Painting

  Walls, ceilings and trim in occupied homes, with furniture moved, floors covered and rooms back in use each night.

• Plaster Repair

  Cracked and sagging plaster re-anchored and skim coated so pre-war walls stay plaster, not drywall.

• Ceiling Painting

  Flat ceiling finishes rolled lap-free, stain-blocked first where old leaks or smoke left marks.

• Condo & Apartment Painting

  Unit painting scheduled around building rules, elevator bookings and quiet hours.

• Trim & Baseboard Painting

  Crown, casings, chair rail and baseboards caulked and brushed out in semi-gloss without a ragged wall line.

• Drywall Repair

  Holes, cracks, nail pops and water-stained sections patched, textured to match and made paint ready.

• Lead-Safe Painting

  Containment, wet scraping and HEPA cleanup when older paint is disturbed in homes built before 1978.

Close by

ZIP codes we cover here: 20910, 20901, 20902. We also paint in these neighboring areas.

• Takoma Park, MD
• Bethesda, MD
• Montgomery County, MD
• Shepherd Park, Washington, DC

Questions from Silver Spring homeowners