Drywall finishing can sometimes be more art than science — give a good drywaller total freedom and they’ll give you a room filled with clean lines and smooth corners without much guidance. But when an architect or specifier needs to get more specific, communication about exactly what they need can get tricky. How can you know what levels of drywall finishing the client wants if they don’t know how to describe it themselves?
That’s the problem that, back in 1990, several organizations within the industry put their heads together to solve. That group — including the Gypsum Association, the Association of the Wall and Ceiling Industry, the Drywall Finishing Council and others — developed an industry standard for the various levels of drywall finishing, to help building owners, specifiers, architects and contractors define the finishes they were looking for on the job in a more clear-cut way.
The final product of these discussions was six different levels of drywall finishing clients could choose from, contained in the Gypsum Association’s “Recommended Levels of Finish for Gypsum Board, Glass Mat and Fiber-Reinforced Gypsum Panels” (GA-214). Here’s your guide to what these six standards mean for you, and your clients too, in this edition of Trim-Tex’s Drywall 101 series.
