Orange peel will be much easier if a new drywall crew can't handle it.

I was born in orange peel land and have lived in knockdown and level 5 land.

I was going to say light orange peel too. Here in FL, they just don't know how to do a level 5 finish.

I'm meeting with the drywall company owner today. He promises he can fix it, he's even willing to rip all the drywall off and start over. I think we are going to have them start with the worst room in the house. Prime the room, skim coat the whole thing, prime again, and then paint the whole thing to see what it looks like. I'm hoping they can get it. If not we will have to re-evaluate, and do a texture. Just frustrating this is going to put us off schedule at least 6 weeks.

We were supposed to be in by October, then it was December 15, now I'm hoping for February. We knew the October date was unrealistic, and had hoped they would be done by Christmas. Guess we don't have to stress about moving during the holidays.

The average residential builder will not understand what it takes to do a good level 5 finish.

It starts with making sure all the framing is correct -- not structurally, although that's important, but rather making sure ready to accept the drywall. The hangers installing the drywall need to do so with a level 5 finish in mind.

If the groundwork is correct, the finishing steps are easy.

There are products like USG SHEETROCK® BRAND TUFF-HIDE™ PRIMER-SURFACER that may help with the flashing.

Yep. World is ending. CPA and I have agreed twice.

;)

A really LIGHT orange peel is virtually idiot proof because it's a spray-on finish, and it isn't that different from a smooth wall.

You absolutely deserve what you paid for and should try to get that first. But to be 100% honest, after a decade or so of movement, you might prefer a light orange peel. I have never seen an old level 5 wall that didn't have some visible imperfections. Paying to have it re-perfected before painting (or doing it myself--yes, I can do a level 5 finish, but I won't pretend to like it) gets pretty old pretty fast.

Level 5 is a full skim coat by experts on top of specialty drywall. Not a tape and mud the seams job. The extra costs only start with the upcharge for the framing. It is more expensive on every single level, from every trade involved. Double the cost for drywallers. Because you don’t use “Drywallers”. It’s a specialized BIG upcharge skill. The painters just coat what’s underneath. The bones actually have to be built from the beginning to do this.

Yout builder is ignorant of what is involved. And obviously did not charge nearly enough to make it happen correctly. You are going to have to accept s Level 4. It ain’t getting to a Level 5 without a rebuild.

What was his upcharge from 4 to 5? That will tell you everything you need to know.

It's not a super special job in the Midatlantic. I had the whole main room of the basement (~25x25 ft) plastered to a level 5 to cover all the damage from ripping down paneling. That and the painting of the room was $700.

You pay through the NOSE for it in the South and Southwest.

Level 5 in the NE is common and the expected finish. As Milly said, in the South it's almost unheard of.

After meeting with everyone they are going to prime and skim coat all the walls/ceilings in 3 of the worst rooms, then repaint and we will see what it looks like. If we can live with it at that point they will redo the entire house using the same process.

Oh and they charged plenty for the upgrade that's why we are pretty upset. Our contract is a, cost plus % contract. So its whatever the subs charge.

I wouldn't mess with drywall and tape. Fly a plasterer in from New England and have him do blueboard with a plaster skim coat, the normal wall finish around here. You'll get a much better outcome-- dead flat, no seams, and a much harder, more resilient surface than drywall mud. Plus no mess from sanding.

It's no doubt too late for the OP and I don't know what the cost difference is, but I'll second what rwiegand said. All the 1950's cookie cutter tract homes in my subdivision have plaster walls and ceilings (plaster board, not wood lath) and they look light years ahead of the drywall in the homes (some custom) of friends which were built in the 80's up to the 2000's. The standard surface in the Chicago area is a smooth finish without texture although popcorn ceilings were popular for time a few decades back.

A couple of years ago, one bedroom ceiling developed a narrow settling crack about 5' long. I called in a plasterer and nearly had a heart attack when he got to work by undercutting the crack. He explained what he was doing even though it looked way worse. I was skeptical but it turned out great. One coat of primer and then I repainted the entire ceiling, one coat and it's impossible to tell where the crack was or the large groove he initially made into the ceiling. And I don't paint with the 'ceiling white' color that 'hides imperfections'. I use flat super-white-white on all my ceilings.

I forgot the exact numbers he told me, but the plasterer's union in the Chicago area is a tiny fraction of the size it was 40 years ago. He was from a plastering company (not a side job) and their web site shows examples of their beautiful work - all the new stuff being in very high-end homes. In many ways, their repair work is even more amazing - repairing long stretches of ornate plaster cornices without a hint of where original ends and new begins.

I've seen New England blueboard plaster. It is a step above level 5. Beautiful.

I've just never understood this. Isn't there just one smart drywaller that can figure out how to plaster? A "level 10" complete in a single day.

Around here mud is for homeowners and hacks...

No one asks for it. :)