Drywall Contractor in Altadore, AB — Infill Finishing and Older-Home Repairs

Calgary Drywall Doctor is a drywall contractor serving Altadore in SW Calgary. Altadore runs along the west side of Crowchild Trail around Marda Loop, and like Killarney next door it has been rebuilt one lot at a time. The original homes are mostly 1950s bungalows, many with plaster. The new ones are tall infills and side-by-side duplexes with open main floors, basements set up as suites or theatres, and walls painted in colours that show every seam. We work on both. For the older homes that means plaster repair, renovation drywall and stipple removal. For the new ones it means Level 5 finishes, party-wall soundproofing and the fire-rated board that suites need. Every job starts with a free written quote and runs with dust control from the first day.

What We Tend to Find in Altadore Homes

Altadore is a mix of old and new, often on the same block, and the drywall issues follow that split.

• New infills with builder finishes. Most infills here were finished to Level 4, sometimes Level 3 on ceilings. With 10-foot walls, pot lights and a feature wall in charcoal or navy, the joints flash. A Level 5 skim coat is the usual answer, and it is the single most common request we get in this community.
• Noise through duplex party walls. Side-by-side duplexes share a wall. If the builder did the minimum, you hear the neighbour. Adding a second layer of 5/8" board on resilient channel with damping compound on your side cuts that down a lot.
• Basement theatres and suites. Infill basements are often sold undeveloped or roughed in. Theatres want soundproofing; suites need 5/8" Type X fire separation per City of Calgary rules.
• Settling in the first winters. New framing dries and shrinks. Nail pops and corner cracks show up in the first few years and are easy to fix properly.
• Plaster in the original bungalows. Cracked and loose plaster, old water stains, and 1960s to 1980s stipple ceilings that should be tested for asbestos before anyone sands them.

A few more Altadore specifics. Infill basements here are often deep, with 9-foot ceilings and large window wells, and they are frequently sold roughed-in for a suite. Fire separation on a suite ceiling means 5/8" Type X with every pot light and duct penetration sealed, and the City of Calgary inspector looks closely at that. Upstairs, the three-storey infills have tall stairwell walls that need staging to patch or skim properly. And in the original bungalows, decades of settling leave plaster ceilings that sag between the laths and crack along the joists.

Drywall Services in Altadore

We bring every service to Altadore. The pages that matter most here:

Drywall Finishing covers the Level 5 Drywall Finish that infill owners ask for before painting dark colours or installing pot lights. We can do a whole floor or a single wall.

Drywall Installation includes New Construction Drywall for infills still under construction and Soundproofing Drywall for party walls, theatres and bedrooms that back onto a busy street.

Basement Drywall and Legal Suite Drywall handle the lower level, with a moisture check first and fire-rated board where the code requires it.

Drywall Repair and Plaster Repair look after the original bungalows. Ceiling Repair covers cracked plaster ceilings, sag, water stains and stipple removal once a lab test clears it.

If you are deciding between a skim coat on one wall or a full Level 5 on the whole floor, send photos taken with the lights on. We will tell you what we would do and quote only that.

We also serve Killarney to the north and Lakeview to the southwest. The rest of the quadrant is on our SW Calgary page.

How an Altadore Drywall Job Goes

Here is how we run a typical infill finishing job, which is most of our Altadore work.

1. Site visit under your lighting. We look at the walls with the pot lights on and with our own raking light, and mark where the seams are showing.
2. Written scope. Room by room: which surfaces get skimmed, which get repaired, what gets primed, and the schedule.
3. Protection. Hardwood, tile, stairs and millwork are covered. Zip walls separate the work area and we run HEPA vacuums on all sanding.
4. Skim and sand. Two thin coats of compound over the full surface, sanded flat and checked under raking light from two directions.
5. Prime-ready walkthrough. We go over it with you and brief your painter on what primer to use. The job is covered by a written workmanship warranty.

A Level 5 skim on a typical infill main floor takes three to five days including drying time. Soundproofing a party wall takes two to three days; a full suite basement takes about two weeks for the drywall portion. Soundproofing, suites and plaster repairs all follow the same steps: look, write it down, protect, build, check, walk through.

Why Altadore Homeowners Call Calgary Drywall Doctor

We have worked across Calgary since 2004 and have completed 500+ projects, including a lot of infill finishing and older-home repair in Altadore, Killarney and the rest of the inner-city SW. We are licensed, WCB-covered and insured. Every job gets a free, written, itemized quote before we start. We protect finished homes, we inspect under raking light, and we back the work with a written workmanship warranty. For a Level 5 finish, a quieter duplex, a basement suite or a plaster repair in Altadore, call 587-417-5252.

We work around how Altadore lives. Lanes are narrow, parking is on the street and most of our customers are home during the day, so we plan deliveries, keep set hours and seal the work area so the rest of the house stays clean. That includes sweeping the lane and the sidewalk when we leave. When a painter, electrician or general contractor is part of the project, we coordinate the schedule and hand off a surface that is ready on the day we promised.