Lath and plaster in the 1920s houses, drywall in everything since, the crack off the window corner that has been there since the earthquake and the ceiling under the unit upstairs, patched and texture matched. Priced in writing on the call.
BBBAccredited BusinessKaminskiy Care and Repair repairs walls and ceilings across Los Angeles from an office on Wilshire: the crack following the lath in a Hancock Park Spanish, the diagonal off a window corner in a Silver Lake hillside house that opened in 1994 and never closed, the ceiling ring in a Palms dingbat under the neighbor's shower, the knob hole in a Mar Vista hallway, the forty anchor holes a tenant left in a rent-stabilized fourplex, the wall the plumber opened in a Los Feliz bathroom. Plaster is repaired as plaster, drywall as drywall, each finished to the wall around it and primed. Water damage waits for the leak to be fixed and the board to read dry. The price is in writing on the call and most patches are finished in one visit. Since 2023 the crew has made 494 repair visits to 287 Los Angeles homes.
Eight repairs, one crew, priced in writing before we start.
Los Angeles walls come in three generations: lath and plaster from the 1920s through the 1940s, the first drywall of the 1950s dingbats and ranch tracts, and the smooth or skip-trowel skins of the remodels since. Each fails its own way and each is matched its own way: a bonding agent and setting compound keyed into the lath, a backed patch and orange peel on the 1960s board, a wide feather and a raking-light check on a smooth wall. Our technicians carry all three, and the price is written down before anyone starts.
AFTERBEFORE
Hole & Crack Repair
Water Damage Repair
Ceiling Repair
Texture Matching
Big Patches & Full Sheets
Nail & Anchor Holes
Corner Bead & Cracks
Primed & Ready for PaintPlaster and drywall are different repairs and our technicians do both. Tell us the year of the house if you know it and hold your hand over the damage to size it; the price is in writing on the call, before anyone drives across town.
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 Los Angeles drywall repair.
Three forces, three signatures. The earthquake: a diagonal crack off a window or door corner, cracked tape along the ceiling line and a row of nail pops, the pattern the 1994 quake left in tens of thousands of Westside and Valley houses, cosmetic in nearly all of them. The hillside: a cut-and-fill lot settles toward the fill over the years and the crack runs from the corner on the slope side while the door beside it starts to rub. Age: plaster keys break off the lath and a section goes hollow. We fix all three and tell you which you have; a crack that steps across the wall or keeps widening is an engineer's question, not a patch.
The Spanish, Craftsman and Tudor houses of Hancock Park, Los Feliz, Mid-City and the Westside flats are lath and plaster, patched with a bonding agent and a setting compound keyed into the lath and finished to the sand or smooth skim around it; a drywall patch screwed into plaster is the repair that fails. The 1950s and 1960s dingbats and ranch houses carry the first drywall under a sprayed ceiling and an orange peel; the 1980s and 1990s condos a heavier orange peel or knockdown; the remodels a smooth or skip-trowel skin that shows every careless edge. We tell you which wall you have on the first look.
Most Los Angeles water damage arrives through a ceiling: the shower pan or supply line in the unit upstairs, a roof flashing on a flat-roofed 1960s building, a clay sewer line in a 1920s house that backs up into the bathroom wall. The source is fixed first, by the plumber, the roofer or the building, the board dries and reads dry on the meter, then the stained section comes out and new board goes in. A dark patch bigger than a dinner plate is a licensed mold remediation company's job before ours, and we say so on the call.
A house built before 1978 may carry lead in its paint, and a ceiling sprayed or a wall finished before about 1980 may carry asbestos in the texture or the joint compound. An older ceiling is sampled by a licensed lab before anyone sands or scrapes it; abatement, if it is needed, is a licensed contractor's job before our patch; and painted surfaces in a pre-1978 home are handled lead-safe by a certified firm. Half of Los Angeles is older than that, so it is one step in the plan, not a surprise.
1920s and 1930s Spanish and Tudor houses with lath and plaster walls, coved plaster ceilings and ninety years of patches in three materials, next to 1950s and 1960s apartment buildings on their first drywall. Plaster cracks along the lath and goes hollow at the corners; the apartments carry turnover walls and ceilings stained from the unit above. Plaster patched as plaster, drywall as drywall, each finished to match.
Houses on cut-and-fill lots from the 1920s to the 1970s, post-and-beam homes with tall ceilings and smooth walls, and the earthquake's diagonal off the window corners on the slope side. We tape and finish the cracks, say plainly when the pattern reads as the lot moving rather than the wall, and price a ceiling over eight feet after a look.
Ranch houses and bungalows from the 1940s and 1950s with their first drywall and a sprayed ceiling, dingbat apartments and stacked condos from the 1960s through the 1980s with shared walls and the neighbor's bathroom overhead, and remodels finished smooth. The ceiling stain from upstairs, the move-out wall, the smooth patch that has to vanish under the west light: all of it matched and primed.
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.
The City of Los Angeles exempts painting, papering and similar work from a building permit, and a drywall patch, a replaced sheet in an existing wall or a ceiling repair is that kind of finish work; beyond that, LADBS asks for a permit to alter or repair a building. Opening a new doorway, removing a wall or touching framing is the permit kind, and we say so on the call rather than after. The garage wall and the older ceiling each have a rule of their own, below.
The state insurance department's homeowner guide lists sudden and accidental water damage among the perils a policy generally covers, and seepage, slow leaks, wear and tear and neglect among the ones it generally does not, so the adjuster will ask when the leak started. Photograph the stain and the source the day you find them, keep the plumber's or roofer's invoice, and we write the drywall scope as its own line so it reads cleanly beside theirs. We never fix the leak; the board dries and meters dry before new drywall goes in.
In a condo, water from the unit above and damage to a shared wall are settled by the CC&Rs and the association's insurance: California Civil Code 4775 puts the common area on the association and the separate interest on the owner unless the documents say otherwise, and we repair the drywall on your side and write the scope separately. In a rent-stabilized building, which in the City of Los Angeles means most rentals built before late 1978, the turnover wall is patched by the room and invoiced by the room, so the deposit accounting can read it.
Can't find your answer? Call 310-928-6211 and ask us anything.
Call 310-928-6211Usually within days, from the office on Wilshire. The price is in writing on the call, in under ten minutes, and most patches are finished in one visit; a full sheet, a plaster repair or a ceiling may need a short second visit for the final coat, scheduled before we leave.
If it sounds dense when you knock and the crack runs in a straight line, it is lath and plaster, and yes. Plaster is repaired with a bonding agent and a setting compound keyed into the lath, then finished to the sand or smooth skim around it. A drywall patch screwed into plaster is the repair that fails, and our technicians do not do that one.
The cosmetic ones, which is nearly all of them: the diagonal off a window or door corner, the cracked tape at the ceiling line, the nail pops, taped, filled, feathered wide and textured so they stay closed. A crack that steps across the wall, keeps widening or comes with a door that no longer latches is a question for an engineer, and we tell you that instead of patching it.
We repair the ceiling on your side once the source upstairs is fixed and the board reads dry on the meter. Who pays is a question for the CC&Rs, the association or the landlord, with Civil Code 4775 as the default in a condo; we write the drywall scope as its own line so whoever is paying can read it.
Yes, by the room. Up to fifteen nail, screw and anchor holes in a room is one menu item: anchors pulled, every hole filled flush, the texture matched and primed for the turnover paint. Each room is its own line on the invoice. Knob holes, dented corners and the crack above the slider are priced by size on the same call.
It depends on four things you can judge yourself: whether the damage is smaller than your hand, poster-sized or a whole sheet; whether water was involved; whether the wall is plaster or drywall and what finish it carries; and the ceiling height. Tell us those on the call and the price comes back in writing in under ten minutes.
Not for a patch, a replaced sheet in an existing wall or a ceiling repair: the city's building code exempts painting, papering and similar work, and this is that work. A new opening, a removed wall or a framing change is a different job and we say so first.
The flats from Mid-City and Hancock Park to Miracle Mile, the hillside streets of Los Feliz and Silver Lake, the Westside from Mar Vista and Cheviot Hills to Brentwood and Pacific Palisades, and the cities inside the basin: Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Westwood, Bel Air and the Hollywood Hills. Call 310-928-6211 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: 310-928-6211.
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.
