Written price after a look at the job
Repairs
Plaster Repairs in London
Cracks, blown patches, water damage and the mess other trades leave behind, cut back to something sound and rebuilt.
Dust sheeted, swept and cleared down daily
One person on site, start to finish
Work planned around parking and access
Repair work is most of what an older London property needs. Not a whole room stripped out, but a crack that keeps coming back, a patch of ceiling that came down after a leak upstairs, or the trail of chases and holes left after a rewire.
The repair itself is usually straightforward. Making it invisible is the part that takes the skill, because a patch that is flat and a patch that disappears under paint are two different things.
Finding out why it cracked
A crack filled three times and back three times is telling you something. Fine hairline cracking in a straight line along a board joint is one thing. A crack that steps through the brickwork, or opens and closes with the seasons, is movement, and filling it again will achieve exactly what it achieved last time.
So the first job is to look at what is behind it. Old lath and plaster letting go, a board joint that was never taped, a lintel over a window, or genuine structural movement that wants an engineer rather than a plasterer. You get told which one it looks like, including when the answer is that it is not a plastering job.
Lath and plaster ceilings
Plenty of London ceilings are still original: plaster pushed through timber laths, held up by the nibs that squeezed between them. Over a century those nibs break, and the ceiling starts to bow and drop away from the laths in patches while still looking intact from below.
A small sound area can be repaired in place. A ceiling bowing across its width, or one that moves when you push it, is usually better overboarded and skimmed, which keeps the original above and gives a flat surface below. Where there is cornice worth keeping, the board goes up to it rather than through it.
Water damage, and waiting for it to dry
After a leak, the damaged plaster has to come off and the structure underneath has to dry out before anything goes back. How long that takes depends on how much water arrived and how well the room ventilates, and it is usually longer than anybody wants.
Replastering a wet ceiling is a job that gets done twice. The new plaster will stain, and the joists above it are still holding water. Where the leak has been fixed and the area is drying, it is worth waiting the extra fortnight rather than paying for the same repair again in spring.
Making good after other trades
Rewires, new bathrooms, removed chimney breasts and moved radiators all leave the same thing behind: a wall with a story written across it in filler. Chases get filled properly in coats rather than bridged over, and socket boxes get made good up to the edge.
Where a chimney breast has come out, the giveaway is usually a flat patch on a wall that is not flat, catching the light differently from everything around it. The fix is often to skim the whole wall rather than the patch, because a repair that stops halfway across a wall will always find a way to show itself.
When to get it looked at
- A crack that has been filled and keeps coming back
- Ceilings that bow, sag or move when pushed
- Damage after a leak from a flat or bathroom above
- Chases and holes left after a rewire or new plumbing
- A removed chimney breast that still reads through the paint
- Hollow patches that sound drummy when tapped
Repairs 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.
Repairs across London
Central and South West London
ChelseaKensingtonFulhamBatterseaClaphamWandsworthHammersmithPutneyPimlicoWestminsterBalhamTootingEarlsfieldSouthfieldsBarnesRichmondTwickenhamChiswickActonEalingShepherd's BushNotting HillHolland ParkBayswaterPaddingtonMaryleboneBelgraviaKnightsbridgeBrixtonStreathamDulwichCamberwellKenningtonVauxhallNine ElmsStockwell
Repairs: frequently asked questions
Is it worth patching, or doing the whole wall?
A patch in the middle of a large wall that is otherwise sound is fine. A patch near a corner, on a wall that catches side light, or on a wall that already has three other repairs in it will usually show. In those cases skimming the whole wall costs a little more and ends the problem.
Can you repair a cracked ceiling without replacing it?
Often, if the ceiling is still firmly attached. If it is lath and plaster and it moves when pushed, repairing one crack just moves the problem to the next weak point. Overboarding and skimming is the more durable answer and it keeps the original ceiling in place above.
My crack came back after filling. Why?
Because filler is rigid and whatever is moving is still moving. Seasonal cracks along board joints want taping rather than filling. Cracks that step through brickwork or open over time are movement, and that needs looking at properly before any finish goes over it.
Do you do small jobs?
Yes. A single patch or one ceiling is a normal day's work. Small jobs get priced the same way as large ones, after a look, so you know what it costs before anybody starts.
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 moreRepairs 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.
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- CoveringCentral and South West London