Drywall repair and ceiling work

Most of what people call a painting problem is a drywall problem. A crack that reopens every winter, a ceiling that shows every joint in raking light, a patch that flashes dull against the wall around it: none of those are solved by another coat.

Step one: work out why it moved. A hairline crack running diagonally from the corner of a door frame is ordinary seasonal movement and takes a flexible repair. A crack that runs horizontally along a whole wall, a ceiling that is sagging, or a stair-step pattern in a basement is structural and belongs to a different trade before anybody fills it. A painter who fills the second kind without saying anything is selling you a repeat visit.

Step two: the repair itself. Small holes get a setting compound and a sand. Larger holes get a backing and a patch cut to fit. A cracked joint gets the old tape cut out, new tape bedded in, and then two or three coats of compound each feathered wider than the last, which is why a good patch on a wall is often 400 to 600 millimetres across even when the crack was 200. Nail pops are set below the surface, refastened beside the old fastener, and filled. Water-damaged board that has lost its integrity is cut out rather than filled.

Step three: sanding and priming. Compound is sanded flat with a light held against the wall to catch the ridges. Every repair is then primed, because fresh compound is far more absorbent than the painted surface around it and will show as a dull patch through the finish coat if it is not sealed. This step is the difference between a repair you cannot find and one you see every evening when the lamp is on.

Stippled and textured ceilings. A great deal of Ottawa housing from the 1960s through the 1990s has stipple, sometimes called popcorn. Three options. Paint it, which works and is cheapest but makes any future removal much harder because the texture soaks up the coating. Scrape and skim it flat, which is messy, takes two to four days for an average main floor, and gives the best result. Or board over it with new drywall, which is cleaner, adds about 13 millimetres of height, and costs more. One important caution: textured ceiling compound applied before the early 1980s can contain asbestos, and it should be tested by a laboratory before anybody scrapes it. That is a sampling job, not a judgement call from a ladder.

How long it takes. A handful of nail pops and small holes across a house is half a day plus drying. A properly retaped ceiling crack is usually three visits across two or three days, because each coat of compound has to dry. Skim-coating a stippled main floor flat is two to four days before painting starts.

What it costs in Ottawa in 2026. Indicative. A small patch or a handful of nail pops is often folded into a painting quote at $150 to $400. A properly repaired ceiling or wall crack, retaped rather than filled, is commonly $250 to $600 per crack. Skim-coating a stippled ceiling flat runs roughly $35 to $70 per square metre ($3 to $7 per square foot), so an average 90 square metre main floor lands somewhere between $3,000 and $6,500 including the paint. Asbestos testing of ceiling texture is a separate lab cost, usually $60 to $150 per sample.

What makes an Ottawa house different. The indoor humidity swing is the main driver. A house here can sit near 45 per cent relative humidity in August and drop to 20 per cent or lower in a cold February, and framing lumber moves with it. That annual cycle is why truss uplift, the gap that opens between an interior wall and the ceiling above it each winter and closes each summer, is so common in Ottawa bungalows and two-storeys with trussed roofs. Filling that gap does not work: it opens again. The correct repair is a crown moulding fastened to the wall only, or a floating corner bead, so the joint can move without cracking. A contractor who offers to fill it and paint it has not seen enough Ottawa winters.

Who should do the work. Drywall finishing is not a compulsory trade in Ontario and there is no licence for it, any more than there is for painting (Skilled Trades Ontario, Painter and Decorator (Commercial and Residential), trade code 404C). The real distinction is whether the person is a taper or a painter who tapes, and for a ceiling in raking light that distinction is visible. Where asbestos is suspected, the work moves into regulated territory and belongs to a qualified abatement contractor working under Ontario's designated substance requirements, which is a different company from your painter. Insurance and WSIB coverage still apply to everyone on your site (WSIB, Expanded Compulsory Coverage in Construction).

What to ask before you hire. Is this crack movement or structure. Are you retaping it or filling it. How many coats of compound, and are you priming the repairs. If the ceiling is stippled and the house predates 1985, will you have it tested before scraping. Is the gap at the top of my interior walls truss uplift, and what is your fix for it. How much dust, and are you using a vacuum sander.

A last practical note. Repairs done in February on a house at very low indoor humidity can look perfect and then telegraph slightly in July when the framing takes moisture back up. This is normal, it is small, and a painter who warns you about it in advance is being straight with you.