Providence Premier Drywall: Drywall Contractor in Providence, RI
Providence Premier Drywall delivers drywall installation, plaster repair, water and mold damage repair, and commercial drywall for residential and commercial properties across Providence, Rhode Island and the surrounding towns. Crews hang and finish standard board, moisture-resistant board, and Type X fire-rated assemblies, matching the board and finish level to the job, from a single-room repair to a full commercial build-out.
Providence Premier Drywall works across residential, rental, remodel, and commercial job sites throughout Greater Providence. In a normal week that's a water-stained ceiling patched on the East Side, cracked plaster skim-coated in a College Hill Victorian, a triple-decker unit turned over in Pawtucket or Central Falls, and metal-stud partitions hung for a downtown office fit-out. What separates us from a crew that only hangs new board is knowing old plaster and rated assemblies as well as new construction: we match the hard, flat plaster finish instead of leaving a soft drywall patch, and we build fire separations to their UL listing so they pass inspection. We're registered with the Rhode Island Contractors' Registration & Licensing Board, EPA RRP Lead-Safe Certified for pre-1978 homes, AWCI members, and we finish to GA-214 Level 4 and Level 5 standards.
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Our Services
Residential and commercial drywall services across Providence and the surrounding area.
Water Damage Drywall Repair
A burst pipe or roof leak leaves stained, sagging ceilings and soft walls. We find the cause, cut back to sound board, check for mold, and refinish so the repair disappears.
Learn morePlaster Repair & Plaster-to-Drywall Conversion
Providence's triple-deckers and East Side homes are full of plaster over wood lath. We stabilize sound plaster or convert failing walls to drywall, matching the flat original finish.
Learn moreMold Drywall Replacement
When drywall stays wet it grows mold behind the paint. We remove the affected board, treat the cavity, and replace it with moisture-resistant board so it does not come back.
Learn moreCeiling Repair
Sagging, cracked, or water-stained ceilings are our most common call. We repair the section, match the texture, and prime it so the fix reads as one clean surface overhead.
Popcorn Ceiling Removal
Textured popcorn ceilings date a room and hide stains. We test pre-1980 ceilings for asbestos first, then scrape, skim, and refinish to a smooth modern ceiling.
Drywall Repair & Patching
Holes, dents, cracks, and doorknob damage. We patch drywall of any size and blend the texture and paint so you cannot find where the damage was.
Basement Drywall Finishing
A finished basement adds real living space. We frame, insulate, and hang moisture-resistant board built for below-grade humidity, then tape and finish it paint-ready.
Drywall Installation & Hanging
New construction, additions, and gut renovations. We hang and finish drywall to the right level, from a single room to a whole house, square and on schedule.
Skim Coat & Level 5 Finish
Under bright or raking light, ordinary walls show every flaw. We skim-coat to a Level 5 finish for a dead-flat, smooth wall that photographs and paints clean.
Texture Matching
A patch that does not match the surrounding texture stands out worse than the damage did. We match knockdown, orange peel, and hand textures so repairs blend in completely.
Drywall Taping & Finishing
Board that is already hung still needs taping and finishing to look right. We tape, mud, and sand to a smooth Level 4 or 5, ready for primer.
Drywall Crack Repair
Cracks that keep coming back at corners and seams point to movement, not just cosmetics. We fix the cause and the crack so it stays closed.
Garage Drywall & Fire Separation
The wall between an attached garage and the house has to be a rated fire separation. We hang and finish ⅝-inch Type X board to code, whether finishing a bare garage or repairing the firewall.
Drywall Removal & Demolition
Before a renovation or after water or mold damage, the old board has to come out clean. We tear out drywall and plaster, contain the dust, and haul it away.
Soundproof Drywall
Shared walls in condos and triple-deckers carry every sound. We build soundproof assemblies with QuietRock, resilient channel, and Green Glue to quiet a room.
Fire-Rated Drywall Assembly
Rated walls and shaft walls have to be built to their UL listing to pass inspection. We install Type X fire-rated assemblies and firestopping to the exact spec.
Metal Stud Framing & Commercial Drywall
Commercial interiors run on light-gauge steel, not wood. We frame demising and partition walls in metal stud and hang commercial drywall for offices, retail, and buildouts.
Suspended / Drop Ceiling
Offices and commercial spaces use suspended acoustical ceilings for access and sound. We install and repair drop-ceiling grid and tile, level and clean.
Why Choose Us
We diagnose the cause before we close a wall
A stain, a soft spot, a crack that keeps returning: the fix depends on why it happened. We use a moisture meter and check for water, mold, movement, or plaster letting go of the lath before we cover anything, so you are not paying twice for the same repair.
We know old plaster and the triple-decker
Providence housing is largely pre-1940 lath-and-plaster. We know when to stabilize sound plaster with washers and skim it versus when a plaster-to-drywall conversion makes more sense, and we work lead-safe (EPA RRP) in pre-1978 homes. A crew that only hangs new board treats every old wall the same, and it shows.
One crew from a single patch to a rated commercial buildout
The same outfit handles a water-stained ceiling and an inspected, fire-rated commercial fit-out. Residential repairs, whole-home finishing, and commercial metal-stud and UL-rated assemblies come from one registered contractor, so a landlord or a facility never re-explains the job to a new sub.
Commercial Drywall Services
We work across Greater Providence's commercial building stock, from mill and office adaptive-reuse conversions in Olneyville and downtown to medical suites, university and institutional interiors, restaurant and retail buildouts on Federal Hill, and municipal and senior-care facilities.
Multi-Family & Landlord Turnover
Rental units in triple-deckers and multi-family walk-ups across the West End, Olneyville, and the Pawtucket and Central Falls line need drywall patched, ceilings fixed, and walls repainted at every tenant turnover, fast enough to re-lease. We turn the whole unit around on the lease calendar, and on the rated wall between units we rebuild the separation to its fire listing instead of skinning over it, so the turnover holds up at an inspection or sale.
Mill & Office Conversion
Developers are converting the empty mills and older office blocks in Olneyville and the Valley into apartments and creative workspace. New partitions have to land inside old timber-and-masonry shells, meet modern fire separations, and satisfy an inspector who knows adaptive-reuse, so a crew used to open new construction gets tripped up. We frame and finish to the structure that's actually there, build the demising and corridor assemblies to their UL listing, and sequence the work to hold your schedule.
Office & Tenant Improvement
Downtown and Federal Hill offices change tenants often, and every fit-out runs on light-gauge steel, not wood. We frame the demising and partition walls in metal stud, hang commercial board, set the drop ceilings, and finish to the Level 4 or 5 the wall schedule calls for. We work around the occupied floors and sequence inspections against the certificate of occupancy, so the tenant opens on schedule.
Medical & Healthcare
Exam rooms, labs, and clinical suites for the Lifespan and Care New England systems and the practices around them get built while the space next door keeps seeing patients. That means containing dust in occupied clinical space and holding rated walls to their listing. We run ICRA containment and negative air, hang abuse- and impact-resistant assemblies, and build the fire-rated walls to spec, so the suite passes and stays in service.
Education & Institutional
The universities and institutional campuses around Providence renovate classrooms, labs, and common areas on a tight academic calendar. Those walls take daily abuse and carry acoustic and fire ratings a standard partition can't meet. We build the high-abuse and sound-rated assemblies, hold the rated corridors to code, and work the summer and break windows, so the space is ready when students come back.
Retail & Restaurant
Federal Hill restaurants and storefronts across the city open on a lease clock, usually from a bare white-box, and every day of drywall delay is another day of rent without revenue. We frame in metal stud, hang moisture- and impact-resistant board where the kitchen and back-of-house need it, and build the fire separations a tenant space needs to clear inspection and open on time.
Government & Municipal
Municipal buildings, schools, and public facilities across Rhode Island run their drywall as prevailing-wage projects with the documentation to match. We build the rated assemblies to their listing, track the materials and submittals a public job requires, and sequence inspections so the project clears its milestones without a paperwork hold.
Senior & Assisted Living
Senior and assisted-living facilities around Providence renovate resident rooms, corridors, and common areas while residents keep living there. Those walls have to shrug off wheelchairs and carts and hold their corridor fire ratings. We hang impact- and abuse-resistant board, build the rated corridors to code, and contain the work so it stays quiet, clean, and safe in an occupied building.
How it works
- 1
Call and describe it
Tell us what you are seeing (the stain, the crack, the scope). We tell you honestly whether it is a quick patch, a bigger repair, or something with a cause that has to be handled first.
- 2
On-site look and cause diagnosis
We assess the real scope in person and confirm the cause with a moisture meter, checking for water, mold, or movement before we quote, so the repair fixes the problem and not just the symptom.
- 3
Written quote
You get a clear written quote with the scope, the board type, and the finish level spelled out. No mystery pricing, no pressure.
- 4
Scheduling and site protection
We schedule around your timeline, then protect floors and furniture and set up dust containment. This matters in an occupied home and is required in occupied clinical spaces.
- 5
Removal and substrate check
We cut back to sound material, pull damaged or moldy board, and confirm the framing or lath behind it is dry and sound before anything new goes up.
- 6
Hang or repair to the conditions
We install the right board for the job: moisture-resistant in wet areas, ⅝-inch Type X where a fire separation is required, abuse-resistant or acoustical assemblies where they belong, all fastened per ASTM C840 and GA-216.
- 7
Tape and coats
We tape the seams and build up joint compound in coats, using setting-type compound where speed or strength calls for it and matching the standards a rated assembly requires.
- 8
Sand to the finish level
We sand to the agreed GA-214 finish level, a Level 4 for most walls and a Level 5 where critical or raking light will show every flaw.
- 9
Texture match, prime, and walk it
We match the surrounding texture, prime paint-ready, seal any water stains so they do not ghost back, and walk the finished job with you so the repair reads as one uniform surface.
Who we help with drywall and plaster in Greater Providence
Old-home & plaster owners
Most houses on College Hill, the East Side, and Fox Point were built before 1940, with plaster over wood lath instead of drywall. As that plaster ages it loses its keys and starts to crack, bulge, and sag. Most crews patch it like ordinary drywall, and plaster patched that way just cracks back within a season. We handle it as plaster: stabilize what's still sound with washers and skim it, convert what's failing to drywall, and match the flat, hard plaster plane so the repair holds and doesn't show under raking light. In homes built before 1978 we work lead-safe under EPA RRP.
Landlords & property managers
Landlords and property managers turn over multi-families and triple-deckers across the West End, Elmwood, Olneyville, and Smith Hill, and the dense rental stock of Central Falls, Pawtucket, and Woonsocket. Between tenants a unit needs holes patched, water stains covered, corner dings and ceiling cracks fixed, and the whole thing repainted, fast, so you can re-lease. The trap is the fire-rated walls: on a multi-family the shared walls and garage-to-dwelling separation carry a rating under IRC R302.6, and a handyman's cosmetic patch quietly voids it, then it surfaces as a violation at an inspection, a sale, or a fire-marshal visit. We run these turnovers at volume on a schedule that keeps you leasing, and on the rated walls we rebuild the assembly instead of just skinning it, so the rating stays intact.
Water-damage & mold callers
Water damage is steady here because of Narragansett Bay humidity, century-old plumbing, and freeze-thaw winters that cause ice dams. A brown ring, a bubbling ceiling, or a soft wall means water got into the board, and the real question is whether it can dry out or has to come out, and whether there's mold behind it. The quick fix is to prime and paint over the stain, but that only hides it: it bleeds back through, and any mold behind the board keeps growing. We check with a moisture meter first, replace with moisture-resistant board (USG Mold Tough, Gold Bond XP) where it belongs, and seal with stain-blocking primer so the stain doesn't return. When it's an insurance claim, we document the damage for your adjuster.
Renovators & pre-sale sellers
Before a home is listed or photographed, the walls and ceilings have to look right, and on renovations that extends to the wall side of the whole job. That means cracked plaster repaired, popcorn ceilings removed, and walls smooth enough to photograph clean, plus new board hung and taped, basements finished in moisture-resistant board, and additions texture-matched into the original house. Two things go wrong when it's rushed: a patch that flashes under bright listing photos reads as deferred maintenance and invites a lower offer, and scraping pre-1980 popcorn without testing it can hit asbestos and turn a ceiling job into a hazmat stop-work that blows your listing date. We skim to a smooth Level 5 that disappears in photos, and we test old popcorn for asbestos before we scrape, so removal stays legal and on schedule.
Commercial, healthcare & developers
General contractors, facilities managers, and developers hire us for commercial work: mill and office adaptive-reuse conversions in Olneyville and the Valley, tenant fit-outs on Federal Hill and downtown, and exam-room and lab work for the Lifespan and Care New England hospitals and the universities. This is metal-stud (light-gauge) framing, commercial drywall, UL-listed fire-rated assemblies, ICRA containment in occupied space, and abuse- and impact-resistant board where the wall schedule calls for it. The failure that costs you is a rated assembly built off its listing or firestopping missed at a penetration: it fails inspection and holds up your certificate of occupancy. We self-perform the framing and board, build the fire-rated assemblies (Type X, IBC 707/708/709/713) to the listing and firestop them, and sequence inspections through the Providence Dept. of Inspection & Standards. See our commercial page for the full picture.
How Much Does Drywall Installation Cost in Providence, RI?
| Scope | Cost per sq ft |
|---|---|
| Drywall installation — hang & finish (new) | $2.25–$4.25 |
| Taping & finishing only (board already hung) | $1.10–$2.00 |
| Basement finishing (moisture-resistant board + framing) | $2.75–$5.00 |
| Garage drywall & fire separation (⅝″ Type X) | $2.50–$4.50 |
| Skim coat / Level 5 smooth wall | $1.75–$3.75 |
| Plaster repair / skim over lath | $3.00–$7.00 |
| Popcorn ceiling removal + refinish | $1.75–$3.50 |
| Texture application & match | $0.80–$2.00 |
| Soundproofing assembly (QuietRock / resilient channel) | $4.00–$8.00 |
| Drywall removal & demolition (tear-out) | $0.60–$1.50 |
Ranges reflect Providence-area labor; your final number comes after an on-site look. Repair and water- or mold-damage calls are quoted per job, not by the square foot.
Areas we serve
We cover Providence and the surrounding cities and towns, from the dense triple-deckers of Pawtucket, Central Falls, and North Providence to the older cores of Cranston and East Providence and out to suburban Warwick and Johnston. Residential and commercial both.
Frequently asked questions
Do you do both small repairs and big jobs, or only one? +
Both. The same crew handles a single water-stained ceiling, a whole-home renovation, and a fire-rated commercial buildout. There is no job too small to call about and none too big to be the right fit.
Are you licensed and insured in Rhode Island? +
Yes. We are registered with the Rhode Island Contractors' Registration & Licensing Board and carry general liability insurance, and we provide a certificate of insurance on request. For commercial work we bond where the project requires it and meet GC roster and facility credentialing.
Do you work on older homes with plaster, not just drywall? +
Yes, and it is a lot of what we do here. Providence is full of pre-1940 plaster over wood lath. We know when to stabilize and skim existing plaster and when a plaster-to-drywall conversion is the better call, and we match the finish so a repair does not stand out. In pre-1978 homes we work lead-safe under EPA RRP.
How fast can you come out? +
For urgent problems like a sagging or water-damaged ceiling we prioritize the visit, since an overhead failure is a safety issue. For planned work we schedule around your timeline, including pre-listing and lease-turnover deadlines. Tell us the deadline when you call.
Will my repair be noticeable when you're done? +
That is the whole job. We texture-match, feather the finish, and prime paint-ready so the repair reads as one uniform surface. Ceilings especially get raking light that reveals a bad patch, so we finish them to disappear, not just to fill.
Do you clean up, or do I have to move everything out? +
We protect floors and furniture, contain the dust (this matters in an occupied home and is required in occupied clinical spaces), and clean up after. For typical repairs you can stay in the home.
Do you handle the drywall part of an insurance claim? +
Yes. When a water-damage repair is tied to a claim we document the damage and scope for the adjuster and coordinate the drywall portion so it lines up with the rest of the restoration.
Which towns do you serve? +
Providence and the surrounding cities and towns: Cranston, Pawtucket, East Providence, Warwick, North Providence, Johnston, and Central Falls at the core, plus Cumberland, Lincoln, Woonsocket, West Warwick, Barrington, and Smithfield. If you are just outside that ring, call and ask.
Get a fast, no-pressure quote
Call or send a few details — we serve Providence and the surrounding area.
Call (401) 593-5650