Drywall Installation and Repair in Herriman, Utah

To ask for an estimate, call (801) 735-8491 or send a note through the estimate form covering the rooms, how big the damage or the space to finish is, and whether the house is a detached home or a townhome.

When Herriman's homes went up, from Butterfield to today

Herriman began in 1849 as a small settlement called Butterfield. The city's parks plan says it stayed small until growth in the 1980s and 1990s led to incorporation in 1999. The Census counted 1,523 residents in 2000 and 21,785 in 2010, and the city now says it has grown from about 20,000 to 64,000 residents over the past decade and a half.

The houses tell the same story. Of about 17,965 homes in Herriman, 9,278 were built between 2010 and 2019 and another 2,031 since 2020, and the median home was built in 2013. Herriman's 2022 housing plan also describes a young city, with 3.91 people per household and 64.2 percent of households with children at home.

Newer houses with large families bring a familiar list of drywall jobs: doorknob holes, dented outside corners, patches after a TV or shelf comes down, and basements finished to add bedrooms.

Nail pops and seam cracks in a new Herriman house

New framing lumber goes on losing moisture for months after the walls are closed, most of all once the furnace runs through the first winters. As the wood shrinks it can leave a nail or screw head standing proud of the board, which shows as a small round bump or crack in the paint. USG's handbook puts pops that show up once the heat has been on for a month or more down to wood shrinkage, wholly or in part, and says to hold off on repairs until the heating season is nearly over.

The repair is to drive a new screw just beside the pop while pressing the board tight to the framing, set the old fastener below the surface, then recoat and paint. Cracks along the line where walls meet the ceiling usually come from framing members moving separately, and are fixed by retaping that corner with the nearby fasteners taken out.

Herriman soils and settling cracks

Herriman lies at the base of the foothills in the southwest corner of Salt Lake County, crossed by drainages that run east from the Oquirrh Mountains: Rose Creek, Butterfield Creek, Copper Creek and Midas Creek. The ground varies enough that a city notice requires a geotechnical engineer's soils report for every footing excavation from October 1, 2006, citing the building code's rule for expansive, compressible or shifting soils.

The Utah Geological Survey has mapped collapsible soils in the Copperton quadrangle, which takes in part of Herriman. They are mostly young debris-flow sediments on alluvial fans: dry, loose soils that can settle up to 10 percent of their thickness when they get wet for the first time. UGS notes that the wetting is often set off by people, through irrigation or wastewater.

Inside a house, settling shows up as cracks running at an angle off door and window openings, doors that drift out of square, and cracks that reopen after patching. Keep sprinkler water and downspouts aimed away from the foundation, and have an engineer look at any crack that keeps growing. Once the movement has stopped, the drywall can be retaped, textured and painted to match.

Finishing a basement in Herriman: permit, plans and inspections

Herriman requires a building permit and inspections to remodel or finish all or part of a basement. The plans show the whole basement with each room labeled and unfinished areas marked, every outlet, switch and smoke or carbon monoxide detector, the size of each window and room, and the window wells for bedrooms, which have to meet egress rules.

The city puts plan review at about 7 to 10 working days and bases fees on the square footage being finished. It says basement finishes typically need three inspections, sometimes more, and the work must pass a final inspection when it is complete. Drywall goes up only after the inspections that need open walls have passed, so build those into the schedule.

If the basement will have any kind of kitchen, kitchenette or wet bar, Herriman points out that an internal accessory dwelling unit, a basement apartment, is allowed only in certain zones, and it asks for a signed Certificate of Notice with the basement finish application.

Townhomes and shared walls in Herriman

Herriman says 41 percent of its homes are townhomes or apartments, and that more than 6,000 multi-family homes have been added since 2014. In a townhome, the wall shared with the neighbor is a fire-resistance-rated assembly under the residential code, tested to standards such as ASTM E119.

That changes how a hole in it gets fixed. The patch has to rebuild the same type and number of layers of board the wall was built with, with every joint taped, and USG's handbook says the shortcut known as a California or butterfly patch shouldn't be used on fire-rated walls. Don't cut new openings for outlets or speakers into a shared wall without checking what its rated design allows, and check your HOA's rules as well.

Garage walls and ceilings under bonus rooms

Where a Herriman home has a bonus room or bedroom over the garage, Utah's 2021 residential code calls for at least 5/8-inch Type X gypsum board on the garage ceiling below it. The walls the garage shares with the house take at least 1/2-inch gypsum board, applied to the garage side.

Garage drywall takes a beating from car doors, bikes and storage hooks. When it is patched or replaced, the new board should match what the code calls for in that spot, with the joints taped, so the separation between the garage and the house still does its job.

Drywall questions from Herriman homeowners

When should nail pops in a new Herriman home be fixed?

Near the end of the heating season, once the framing has had a winter to dry. Pops that appear once the heat has run for a month or more are mostly from lumber shrinking, so a late-spring repair means fewer come back. Fixing them sooner works too, but more may appear as the wood keeps drying.

Does a wet bar in a Herriman basement need extra approval?

It can. Herriman allows a basement apartment only in certain zones, and any kitchen, kitchenette or wet bar in a basement finish comes with a Certificate of Notice to sign and submit with the permit application. Ask the city's planning staff before the plumbing is roughed in.

Do Herriman homes need an asbestos test before popcorn ceiling removal?

Most don't. Utah's rules exempt homes in buildings of four or fewer units, if built in 1992 or later, from the pre-renovation asbestos inspection, and about 9 in 10 Herriman homes went up in 2000 or later. Older homes still need one when a contractor does the work, and so do buildings with five or more units.

Can a hole in a townhome's shared wall be patched?

Yes, as long as the repair rebuilds the wall's fire-rated layers. The same type and thickness of gypsum board goes back in, every joint is taped and finished, and no new openings are cut without checking the wall's rated design.

How do I get a free drywall estimate in Herriman?

Dial (801) 735-8491, or put your contact details, the service and a description of the job into the estimate form, for example the size of the basement or where the cracks are. The estimate costs nothing and carries no obligation.