Written price after a look at the job
Dry Lining
Plasterboarding and Dry Lining in London
New partitions, lined out walls and insulated board, set out square and finished to take a skim or a taped joint.
Dust sheeted, swept and cleared down daily
One person on site, start to finish
Work planned around parking and access
Dry lining is how most London rooms get changed now. A flat gets split, a bedroom gains an en suite, a cold solid wall gets lined with insulated board, or an uneven wall gets brought back to flat without three coats of wet plaster and a fortnight of drying.
It is fast and clean compared to plastering, but it lives and dies on the setting out. Board hung on a frame that is not square and plumb gives you a flat wall in the wrong place, and every skirting, door lining and worktop after it inherits the error.
Stud partitions
Metal or timber stud, set out from a line on the floor, plumbed up and fixed at the head. Studs go in at the centres the board needs rather than wherever they land, and openings get framed properly so a door lining has something solid to fix to.
Where a partition is splitting a room in a converted house, what goes inside it matters as much as the board on the face. Insulation in the void and the right board on each side is what stops the new wall being a drum, and in a flat conversion there are usually rules about what the wall has to achieve for sound and fire.
Lining out solid walls
Old London walls are rarely flat or plumb. Lining them out with board on dabs or on battens brings the face back to true without building the wall up in wet plaster, and it gives you a void for cables that would otherwise mean chasing into brick.
On a cold external wall, insulated laminate board does the same job and adds a thermal layer. That has to be thought through rather than just stuck on, because moving the warm face of the wall changes where condensation wants to form. Continuity at the reveals and around the floor and ceiling junctions is what makes the difference.
Skim finish or tape and joint
Two ways to finish board, and they are not the same thing. A skim coat covers the whole surface in plaster and gives a continuous finish across board and angle alike. Tape and joint treats only the joints and the screw heads, filled and sanded flush, leaving the board face as the finish.
Skim is the usual choice in a home and it is more forgiving under a strong light. Tape and joint is quicker, drier and makes sense on large areas or where the boards are going straight behind something. It does need better board work, because nothing is covering the face of the sheet.
Getting board into a London flat
A full sheet of plasterboard is eight feet long and it does not go round the turn of a Victorian staircase. Getting it in often means smaller boards, a window, or carrying sheets up one at a time, and that is part of the price rather than a surprise on the day.
Waste is the other half. Offcuts and stripped out material have to leave the building, and plasterboard is not something that can go in a general skip. Where there is no parking outside, that gets planned around a suspension or a timed collection rather than left stacked in a hallway.
When to get it looked at
- Splitting a room or adding an en suite
- Cold solid walls you want lined and insulated
- Walls too far out of true to plaster flat
- A new opening or a removed wall that needs framing and boarding
- Services you would rather run in a void than chase into brick
- A ceiling that needs overboarding before it is skimmed
Dry Lining on site
Photographs of finished work go here. Until they do, each frame is labelled with what belongs in it rather than filled with a picture of somebody else's job.
Dry Lining across London
Central and South West London
ChelseaKensingtonFulhamBatterseaClaphamWandsworthHammersmithPutneyPimlicoWestminsterBalhamTootingEarlsfieldSouthfieldsBarnesRichmondTwickenhamChiswickActonEalingShepherd's BushNotting HillHolland ParkBayswaterPaddingtonMaryleboneBelgraviaKnightsbridgeBrixtonStreathamDulwichCamberwellKenningtonVauxhallNine ElmsStockwell
Dry Lining: frequently asked questions
Is dry lining quicker than plastering?
Yes, mostly because far less water goes into the building. A lined and taped wall can be painted within a day or two, where a floated and set wall needs a week or more to dry before it takes a mist coat.
Will a stud wall sound hollow?
An empty one will. Insulation in the void and the right board on the face takes most of that away. If the wall is between two dwellings or forms part of a conversion it has to meet the building regulations for sound anyway, which means a specific build up rather than whatever fits.
Can you fix a TV or shelves to it?
Yes, but it wants planning. Noggins or a plywood pattress go in behind the board before it is closed up, at the height the bracket will sit. Say what is going on the wall at the start and it gets built in. Retro fitting into a finished stud wall means finding the frame or using heavy duty fixings.
Do I skim it or tape it?
Skim if it is a room you will look at in daylight from an angle, which is most living space. Tape and joint if the area is large, the finish is going behind units, or you want it painted sooner.
Other work
Plastering
Backing coat and finish on walls taken back to brick, or fresh board skimmed flat and ready for paint.
Read moreSkimming
A finish coat over walls and ceilings that are sound, flattening out years of patching and filler.
Read moreRendering
Rear elevations, side returns and extensions rendered in a reinforced system, with the top coat chosen to suit the wall.
Read moreDry Lining in London
Call Frank or send the job details and he will come and look.
Get in touch
Tell Frank what the walls are doing and he will come and look at them. The visit is free and the price comes after it, in writing.
- Phone07788 866598
- WhatsAppMessage 07788 866598
- CoveringCentral and South West London