Diagonal cracks on the hillside lots, the ceiling under a roof the oaks never let dry, plaster in the older houses and the smooth walls of the remodels, patched and matched from Walnut Creek. Priced on the call.
BBBAccredited BusinessKaminskiy Care and Repair repairs drywall and plaster in Lafayette homes from its Walnut Creek office ten minutes down Highway 24: the diagonal crack from a window corner in an Upper Happy Valley house settling toward the downhill side, the ceiling stain under a Burton Valley roof that sat wet under the oaks all January, the plaster gone hollow in a 1940s house near the Reservoir, the smooth wall in a remodeled Reliez Valley kitchen where any patch shows at four in the afternoon, the knob hole in a Springhill hallway, the anchor holes after a lease. New board or new plaster where the old is broken, seams taped, three coats, the finish matched on a test board, primer. The roof is fixed and the board is dry before anything goes in. The price is in writing before anyone drives up the hill. Since 2023 our technicians have completed 166 repair visits on 72 Lafayette homes.
Eight repairs, one crew, priced in writing before we start.
Lafayette's walls answer to three things: hillside lots cut into the ridges, where the house settles a little toward the fill side and the crack runs diagonally from the window corner; clay in the valley floors that swells in winter and shrinks by September; and oaks that keep a roof and a north wall wet for months, so the ceiling stain in a wet winter is the most common call we get here. Older houses add plaster, remodels add smooth walls that forgive nothing, and our technicians finish both to the standard a Lafayette house sets.
AFTERBEFORE
Hole & Crack Repair
Water Damage Repair
Ceiling Repair
Texture Matching
Big Patches & Full Sheets
Nail & Anchor Holes
Corner Bead & Cracks
Primed & Ready for PaintValley floor or ridge, plaster or smooth, each of these is routine for our technicians, and the office is ten minutes away down Highway 24. Say the size against your hand, the year the house was built if you know it, and the price is in writing before we come.
Priced and on the calendar during the first call.
A written quote you approve before anyone drives out.
One crew, truck stocked, warranty in writing.
A one-year workmanship warranty, in writing, on every Lafayette drywall repair.
Happy Valley, Upper Happy Valley, Reliez Valley and Acalanes Ridge are built on graded lots, cut on the uphill side and filled on the downhill side, and a house settles a little toward the fill over its first years and a little more in a wet winter. The drywall shows it as a diagonal crack from a window or door corner on the downhill side, and a door on that side that rubs. The crack is taped, filled, feathered and finished so it stays closed; a crack that keeps widening or steps across the wall is a question for a soils or foundation professional, and we say so rather than patch it twice.
Lafayette gets its rain between November and March, and the oak canopy keeps the roof wet for weeks after each storm: a flashing at a vent, a valley full of leaves, a gutter overflowing into the eave, and the stain shows on the bedroom ceiling below. The roofer fixes the source and clears the valley, the ceiling dries and meters dry, then we cut out the stained section and replace it. Dark growth bigger than a dinner plate goes to a licensed mold remediation company before we open the ceiling, and we tell you so on the call.
Central Lafayette, the Trail neighborhood, the streets around the Reservoir and the earliest Happy Valley houses date from the 1930s through the 1950s and many are lath and plaster: a crack follows the lath, the keys break and a section goes hollow, a corner crumbles. Plaster is repaired with a bonding agent and a setting compound keyed into the lath and finished to the sand or smooth coat around it, never with a drywall square screwed in. A house painted before 1978 may carry lead and the surface is handled lead-safe; a ceiling sprayed before 1980 is tested by a licensed lab before anyone sands it.
Half of Lafayette has been remodeled in the last twenty years, and the remodels are smooth: no texture to hide an edge, west light through big windows, and a patch that shows from the doorway unless the feather is wide, the coats are one more than usual and the surface is checked in raking light before primer. That is the standard our technicians finish smooth walls to, and it is the difference between a patch and a repair. Knockdown and orange peel in the unremodeled rooms are matched on a scrap board first.
Big hillside lots with 1950s and 1960s ranch houses and newer custom homes, smooth and skip-trowel finishes, tall rooms over eight feet priced after a look, and the diagonal crack from the window corner on the downhill side. Oaks over most of it, so the ceiling under the shaded roof stains in a wet January. The crack is taped so it stays closed; the ceiling is replaced after the roofer and a dry meter.
Smaller older lots with houses from the 1930s through the 1960s, many in lath and plaster, with additions in drywall of two later decades and ceilings sprayed before 1980 that are tested by a licensed lab before anyone touches them. Plaster patched as plaster, drywall as drywall, each matched to its own finish, and the painted surfaces of a pre-1978 house handled lead-safe by a certified crew.
Family streets from the 1960s and 1970s on the valley floor's clay: the crack above the hall door that opens every fall, truss lift along the upstairs ceilings in the two-stories, the hall bath over the kitchen, orange peel to match, and the knob hole in a house full of children. Taped, feathered wide, textured and primed, and the bath leak dried before the ceiling is replaced.
Lafayette's crew comes from Walnut Creek and works the whole Bay; the Bay Area drywall repair page explains how walls fail differently from Lamorinda's shade to the Peninsula's fog, and what each city asks before a repair.
Hold your hand over the damage and tell us: smaller than your hand, bigger than your hand, poster-sized, or a whole sheet. We price it on the call, in writing, in under ten minutes.
Water damage is repaired after the source is fixed. If the stain is still wet we tell you who fixes the leak, and we schedule the drywall for when it is dry.
Backing where it needs it, new board cut to fit, every seam taped, three coats of compound sanded smooth, your texture matched, then primer.
Dust contained and the room left clean. Most patches are finished in one visit; a full sheet may need a short second visit for the final coat, scheduled before we leave.
Lafayette contracts its building permits and inspections to Contra Costa County, and both build to the California Residential Code, which lists painting, papering and similar finish work as needing no permit and asks no application for ordinary repairs to a structure. A drywall or plaster patch, a replaced sheet in an existing wall or a ceiling repair is that work; the city's own exempt list on the planning side keeps like-for-like repairs out of its zoning check as well. A new opening, a removed wall or a framing change is a county permit, and we say so before anyone opens a wall.
A roof that failed in one storm and a valley that has dripped under the oaks for three winters are different claims. The state insurance department's homeowner guide lists sudden and accidental water damage among the perils usually covered, and seepage, leaks and lack of maintenance among the ones usually not. Photograph the ceiling and the roof the day you find the stain, keep the roofer's invoice, and we write the drywall scope as its own line so it reads cleanly beside theirs. The roofer first, a dry meter second, new board third.
A Lafayette house from before 1978 may carry lead in its paint, and the federal renovation rule asks that the painted surface be disturbed lead-safe by a certified crew; a ceiling sprayed before 1980, and the joint compound of that era, may carry asbestos and are tested by a licensed lab before anyone sands or cuts them, with abatement by a licensed contractor if it is needed. Plaster itself is patched as plaster. The wall between the house and an attached garage is fire separation under the state code, and a full-sheet repair there goes back with the same board.
Can't find your answer? Call 925-302-5955 and ask us anything.
Call 925-302-5955Our Walnut Creek office is ten minutes down Highway 24, so usually within days. A hole, a crack or a stained ceiling is priced on the call, most patches are finished in one visit, and a plaster repair or a smooth-wall finish may need a short second visit for the final coat and the raking-light check.
On a hillside lot a diagonal crack from a window corner is the house settling toward the fill side, and in the first years it is cosmetic: taped, filled, feathered and finished, it stays closed. If it keeps widening winter after winter, or the door beside it rubs harder each year, we tell you to have the lot looked at rather than patch it again.
Yes. The older houses in central Lafayette and the earliest Happy Valley streets are often lath and plaster, and plaster is repaired with a bonding agent and a setting compound keyed into the lath, then finished to the coat around it. A drywall patch screwed into plaster is the repair that fails, and we do not do that one.
Yes, with a wider feather, an extra coat and a check in raking light before primer, because the afternoon light through a Lafayette window shows every edge. That is the standard for every smooth-wall repair we leave, in a remodeled kitchen or a custom house on the ridge.
The roof. A roofer clears the valley and fixes the flashing, the ceiling dries until the meter says so, then we cut out the stained section, replace it, tape, finish, match the texture and prime. Patched before the roof is fixed, the ring comes back with the next storm.
Size, water, material and finish: hand-sized, poster-sized or a whole sheet; dry or water-damaged; drywall or plaster; orange peel, knockdown or smooth; eight feet or a tall ridge-top room. Say which on the call and the price is in writing in under ten minutes.
Not for a patch, a replaced sheet or a ceiling repair in an existing wall: the county inspects Lafayette to the state residential code, which treats finish work and ordinary repairs as permit-free, and the city's planning side keeps like-for-like repairs out of its zoning check. A new opening, a removed wall or framing is a county permit, and we say so first.
All of Lafayette, Happy Valley, Upper Happy Valley, Reliez Valley, Acalanes Ridge, Burton Valley, Springhill, the Trail neighborhood and the Reservoir streets, plus Orinda, Moraga, Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill. Call 925-302-5955 to confirm your address.
Describe the wall or ceiling, or text a photo, and we call back with a written price and a time. Calling is still faster: 925-302-5955.
Priced in writing before we start, matched to the wall, warranted in writing.
We answer in under three rings, 24/7.No price games. You get a clear written quote before any work begins, backed by our workmanship warranty.
