Skim coating doesn't cost as much as you might think. Depending on how badly your walls are damaged and on the new type of texture you want, a 10-by-10 room can cost as little as $690.

But skim coating walls will not cost the owner more than removing the plaster and putting up drywall, and skim coating preserves the existing woodwork and other details. And no doubt one of the things ...

We'd "skim coat" instead. What you refer to as a skip-trough finish is actually known as skip trowel, a method of texturing walls that was common in the 1970s and 1980s.