Plastering

Plastering in London

Walls taken back to brick and built up in coats, or new board fixed and skimmed. Flat, square and ready for a decorator.

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Written price after a look at the job

Dust sheeted, swept and cleared down daily

One person on site, start to finish

Work planned around parking and access

Most plastering in London happens in rooms that are already lived in, in buildings that were finished by hand a hundred years ago and altered half a dozen times since. Walls are rarely square, floors are rarely level, and the plaster already there is usually a mix of original lime, later gypsum and whatever the last person used to fill a chase.

That changes how a job is priced and how it is run. The wall gets looked at properly first, because whether it needs a full float and set or only a skim is the difference between a two day job and a week. You get told which it is before anything starts, in writing.

Float and set, and when a wall needs it

Float and set means two stages. A backing coat goes on first to build the wall out and get it flat and plumb, scratched while it is green so the next coat has something to key to. Once that has pulled in, the finish coat goes over it and is trowelled up in passes as it sets.

A wall needs it when there is nothing sound left to skim onto: brick exposed after old plaster has been hacked off, a wall badly out of plumb, or one where the existing plaster is blown across most of its area. Skimming over a wall like that puts a thin flat layer over a problem that is still moving underneath.

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Wall taken back to bare brick before plastering, London

Board and skim on new work

Where a wall is being built or lined out, plasterboard goes up first. Boards are set out so joints land on a fixing, screwed off at the right centres, and every internal angle is scrimmed. External corners and reveals get beading, and that beading is what decides whether an edge looks crisp or soft once the paint is on.

Then the skim goes over the lot. Two coats, laid on and flattened, then trowelled as it firms up. The aim is a surface that needs a mist coat and nothing else, not one a decorator has to fill first.

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Backing coat scratched ready for the finish, London

Working in an occupied flat or house

Plastering is wet and it is dusty, and in a London flat there is nowhere for either to go. Floors get sheeted and taped, doorways get sealed where the rest of the property is in use, and waste goes out in bags rather than being piled in a communal hallway.

Hacking off is the noisy part and it gets done early in the day rather than at eight in the evening, because in a converted house there is somebody on the other side of every wall. If the building has quiet hours or a works agreement, say so at estimate stage and the days get planned around it.

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Finished plaster wall ready to decorate, London

Drying, and why the paint has to wait

Fresh plaster is full of water and it has to leave before anything seals it in. In a well ventilated room in summer that can be a few days. In a basement flat in February with the windows shut against the noise, it can be a fortnight. It is ready when the dark patches have gone and the whole wall is an even pale colour.

Painting too early traps the moisture and the paint peels, usually in sheets and usually across the patch that dried slowest. The first coat should be a watered down mist coat so it soaks in rather than sitting on top. You get told this on the day the job finishes, not left to find out.

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When to get it looked at

Plaster that sounds hollow when you tap it
Walls back to brick after a damp course or a rewire
A room replastered in patches that reads like a map
New stud walls or a lined out room waiting on a finish
Chases and sockets that were filled and never made good
Walls so far out of plumb that furniture will not sit against them

Plastering 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.

Plastering across London

Central and South West London

Plastering: frequently asked questions

How long does a room take?

A straightforward skim on a single room is usually a day. A full float and set back to brick on the same room is more like two to three, because the backing coat has to be allowed to pull in before the finish goes on. Ceilings add time if they are being overboarded first.

Do I need to move out?

For one or two rooms, no. The work gets sheeted and sealed off and you keep the rest of the flat. For a whole property back to brick it is easier on everyone if you are not living in it, because there is no clean room left and the dust from hacking off travels.

Can you plaster over artex?

Sometimes, if it is a light pattern and stuck fast. Anything heavily textured is better overboarded, because filling the pattern flat uses more material than boarding it and still leaves the old surface holding the new one on. Artex from before the mid eighties may contain asbestos and is not something to sand or scrape at.

When can I paint it?

When the whole wall has gone an even pale colour with no dark patches, anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks depending on the room and the season. Start with a thinned mist coat so it keys, not a full coat of emulsion.