Drywall Installation and Repair in Orem, Utah

Popcorn ceiling removal and texture matching sit alongside the company's other services: drywall installation, taping and finishing, and repair and patching. Call (801) 735-8491 or send the estimate form with a short description of the rooms. The estimate is free and carries no obligation.

When Orem's houses were built, from the Provo Bench to the 1970s

Orem began as the Provo Bench, orchards and farms north of Provo, and incorporated in 1919 so it could build its own water system. It was never laid out in tidy blocks. Early homes sat along the territorial highway, now State Street, close to the fields their owners worked.

Geneva Steel, finished in the mid-1940s, changed the town. The city's General Plan says farms were sold for mostly small homes on small lots for working families, with duplexes and fourplexes mixed in, and that many older homes on the west side were built for workers in nearby industry.

Then came the boom. Orem had 25,729 people in 1970 and 52,399 in 1980. Census Bureau estimates for 2020 to 2024 count about 6,880 homes built in the 1970s, roughly one in five in the city, and about half of all Orem homes date from before 1990.

Later houses, the General Plan says, got larger, on larger lots in larger subdivisions. By 2018 less than 8 percent of Orem's land was still undeveloped, so most drywall work here happens in houses that already stand.

Popcorn ceilings and asbestos tests in older Orem homes

Many homes from the 1970s and early 1980s still have sprayed popcorn ceilings. The EPA lists textured paint and patching compounds used on walls and ceilings among the places asbestos can turn up in a house, and says undamaged material is safest left alone.

Utah's rule follows the age of the house. Under the state's asbestos rule, only homes of up to four units built from January 1, 1992 onward can skip the inspection before renovation. An older house still needs one before a contractor scrapes the ceiling or cuts into texture and joint compound, and that covers about half of Orem.

When the test is clean, removal is dusty but simple. Floors and walls are covered, the texture is misted and scraped, and the drywall underneath is repaired, skim coated where needed and finished smooth or retextured. When a sample finds asbestos, removal becomes regulated work, and the state publishes separate guidance for homeowners on taking down asbestos spray-on ceilings.

Matching old textures and patching older Orem walls

A patch in a wall from the 1970s has to sit flat and then blend into texture that went on decades ago. Hand-applied textures from past decades, such as swirls, stipple and skip trowel, are matched by rebuilding the pattern on scrap board until it looks right, then feathering it onto the wall.

Some older homes have plaster over gypsum lath panels where you would expect drywall. The National Park Service's guide to plaster repair puts the plaster alone at no less than 1/2 inch over that lath, so a drywall patch that replaces both layers is shimmed out until it sits flush.

Older walls also carry many coats of paint. A patch is primed before it is textured, so the repair doesn't show through the new paint.

Opening up or adding walls in an Orem house

A common remodel in an older house is taking out the wall between kitchen and living room, or adding one to make another bedroom. Before a wall comes out, someone has to find out whether it holds up the floor or roof above. A bearing wall needs a beam sized for the load, and that is permit work.

Orem takes building permit applications only online, through its My City Inspector portal, where you set up an account first. Under Utah's residential code, any alteration that needs a permit also brings the home's smoke alarms up to the rules for new houses, so their spots are planned before the ceiling is closed.

Your framer can build new walls in wood or light steel, and the board goes on either. Steel studs stay straight and don't shrink, while wood takes screws for heavy shelves and cabinets more easily.

Finishing an older Orem basement for an apartment

Orem had 752 legal accessory apartments in June 2023. The city's rule is that the property owner lives in the main home or in the apartment inside it, so check that and any other conditions with the city before framing starts.

Older basements bring their own checks. Beams and ducts can hang low, and Utah's residential code allows them no lower than 6 feet 4 inches above the finished floor in a habitable basement, with the ceiling itself at 7 feet. Measuring before framing shows whether a duct soffit will pass or the ducts need to move.

The board goes on last. Under the 2021 International Residential Code that Utah builds to, wiring, plumbing, gas lines and ducts are inspected before anything covers them, so the drywall is booked for after those inspections pass.

What changes the cost of drywall work in an Orem home

Every estimate follows the job in front of it. These are the things that move the price most:

• How much wall and ceiling area needs new board, tape or texture
• Tall ceilings and stairwells, which need scaffolding or taller ladders
• Whether a house built before 1992 needs an asbestos test first
• Hidden damage found once a wall is open, such as old leaks or cut-outs from past wiring
• The finish: a smooth level 5 wall takes a full skim coat, more work than a sprayed texture

Drywall questions from Orem homeowners

Does the popcorn ceiling in my Orem house contain asbestos?

Only a lab test of a sample can tell. If the house was built before 1992, Utah requires an asbestos inspection before a contractor removes or disturbs the texture.

Can old wall texture be matched so a patch doesn't show?

Usually. The pattern is rebuilt on scrap board first, then sprayed or troweled onto the repair and feathered past its edges. Priming before texturing keeps the patch from showing through the paint.

How do I apply for a building permit in Orem?

Online only. Orem takes building permit applications through its My City Inspector portal, where you create an account first, and the city's main line is 801-229-7000.

Can I add a basement apartment to my Orem home?

Orem allows accessory apartments, with 752 legal ones counted in June 2023, as long as the owner lives in the main home or the apartment. Confirm the current requirements with the city before the framing goes up.

How do I get a free drywall estimate in Orem?

Call (801) 735-8491 or use the estimate form, and describe the rooms, the rough size of the walls and ceilings, the texture and when the house was built. The estimate costs nothing, and you are under no obligation.