Finish Levels

"Finished" is not one thing. The gypsum industry publishes six levels of drywall finish in GA-214, and the difference between two of them is roughly the price of the drywall again.

The six

Level 0 — board hung, nothing else. Temporary construction.

Level 1 — tape bedded in compound at joints and angles. Above ceilings, in plenums, anywhere out of sight. Tool marks and ridges are acceptable.

Level 2 — one coat over the tape, fasteners spotted once. The substrate for tile, and for garages and warehouses.

Level 3 — two coats, fasteners spotted twice. For heavy texture or heavy wall covering. Not for flat paint.

Level 4 — three coats, fasteners spotted three times, sanded smooth. This is what a house means by "finished." Flat paints, light textures and most wall coverings.

Level 5 — level 4 plus a skim coat of compound over the entire surface. Everything.

What level 5 actually buys

Not smoothness — level 4 is already smooth. It buys uniform porosity.

A level 4 wall is bare paper between joints and dried compound over them. The two absorb paint differently and reflect light differently. Under a flat paint in ordinary light nobody sees it. Under a satin or semi-gloss, or with a window or a wall washer throwing light along the surface, the joints show as faint bands and every spotted screw shows as a dot. This is called joint photographing and no amount of repainting fixes it.

Skimming the whole wall makes it one material, so it takes paint as one material.

When to specify it

• Any wall lit at a raking angle — long hallways, walls beside a window, stairwells with a skylight.
• Any surface finished in gloss above eggshell.
• Ceilings that are painted flat and lit from below by lamps, which is a raking light most people do not think of as one.

Everywhere else, level 4 and a flat paint is the right answer and the money belongs elsewhere.

The cost

A skim coat runs roughly $0.40–$1.00 per square foot on top of the level 4 price, and it adds a day or two for drying and sanding. On 2,000 ft² of wall and ceiling that is $800–2,000.

The cheaper substitute

A high-build primer — sometimes sold as a level 5 primer — sprayed and back-rolled. It costs a fraction of a skim coat, evens out porosity substantially, and does not fully match a true skim under the worst lighting. On most jobs it is the right trade, and it is worth asking for by name because it is rarely offered.