Plasterer in London

Interior Plastering & Skimming

Skimming applies a thin top coat of plaster over existing plasterboard or a sound base coat, giving walls and ceilings the smooth, paintable finish that's the standard for most UK interiors. It's usually needed after plasterboard's been fitted following other renovation work, or when an existing wall's surface has deteriorated enough that painting over it directly wouldn't give a good result.

Getting a smooth, even finish is more technique-dependent than most people expect — plaster needs to be worked within a specific window before it starts setting, which is why a rushed skim job shows up as visible trowel marks and an uneven surface once it's painted, particularly under the kind of angled light that reveals every imperfection. Corners and edges are usually where quality shows first, since they're harder to get sharp and consistent than a flat expanse of wall.

Ceiling Plastering

Ceilings show plastering flaws more obviously than walls, since light typically rakes across them at an angle that highlights every ripple, join line and uneven patch — a ceiling that looks fine from directly underneath can look considerably worse once a light's switched on at the wrong angle. Ceiling work is also physically more demanding than wall plastering, done overhead rather than at a comfortable working height, which is part of why it's usually priced separately from wall skimming rather than bundled in as the same job. Where a ceiling's being fully replaced rather than skimmed, the boarding underneath needs to be properly fixed and sound before plaster goes on, not just assumed adequate.

Exterior Rendering

Render types vary considerably in how they perform, not just how they look. Traditional sand and cement render is the most common on older London properties, but it needs to be breathable to suit older solid-wall construction — sealing it with the wrong modern render or paint traps moisture rather than letting it escape, which is one of the most common causes of damp in a period property that otherwise has no obvious source.

Modern monocouche and silicone renders are self-coloured — no painting needed afterward — more crack-resistant, and considerably lower maintenance than traditional render, but they're better suited to modern cavity-wall construction than to older solid-wall properties where breathability matters more than low maintenance.

Artex Removal & Ceiling Textures

Artex — the textured ceiling and wall coating common in British properties from the 1970s through the 1990s — has fallen out of fashion, and removing it or skimming over it is a common request in older property renovations. Older Artex, applied before the mid-1980s, can contain asbestos, which means testing before removal rather than assuming it's safe to sand or scrape off.

Where testing confirms it's safe, Artex is either skimmed over directly, covering the texture with a smooth plaster finish, or removed entirely before replastering, depending on the ceiling's condition and how well the existing texture's adhered to the surface underneath.

Repair vs Full Re-Plaster

Not every plastering problem needs a full re-plaster. Small cracks, a section of blown plaster, or a patch of damage from other renovation work can usually be repaired locally, matching the new plaster into the existing surface rather than stripping back an entire wall or ceiling that's otherwise sound. A full re-plaster becomes necessary when the existing plaster's failing more broadly — widespread cracking, plaster that sounds hollow when tapped across large areas, or damp damage that's affected the base coat beneath the surface, which is a structural problem no amount of surface patching will actually resolve.

Working Around Other Trades

Plastering usually sits in the middle of a renovation's schedule rather than at either end — it needs first-fix electrics and plumbing already run behind the walls, but it needs to happen before painting and flooring go in. Getting that sequencing right matters more than it might seem: plastering over a first fix that isn't actually finished means chasing back into a wall later, and painting before plaster's properly cured means a finish that fails within months. One team managing the whole schedule is what keeps this handoff clean, rather than each trade working to its own separate timeline.