Plasterers in Bournemouth: Skimming, Ceilings and Dry Lining

A plasterer for Bournemouth homes and flats: room skims, full re-plasters, fallen and artexed ceilings, patching after rewiring, and dry lining. Every wall gets tapped before it gets priced, and it is left flat and ready to decorate.

Get your free quote 07435 839745

The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.

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Plasterer in Bournemouth

Does your wall need a skim or a full re-plaster?

A skim is a thin finish coat, two or three millimetres, over plaster or board that is still sound. A re-plaster takes the old plaster back to the brick or block and builds the wall up again. Tapping the wall decides which: sound plaster gives a dull knock, blown plaster sounds hollow, and a skim over hollow plaster fails with it.

Bournemouth Roofing & Building plasters houses and flats across Bournemouth from a base in Boscombe. If you are looking for a plasterer, you are probably looking at one of these.

  • A ceiling that has cracked, stained or come down after a leak from the bathroom or the flat above.
  • A room after rewiring or new pipework, with chases cut across every wall.
  • A kitchen stripped back to torn plaster and tile adhesive, waiting for the new kitchen to go in.
  • Artex or a heavy texture on the ceiling that you want flat.
  • Walls that sound hollow, crumble at the skirting, or keep bubbling through the paint.

Each of those starts the same way. Thomas Hannen comes out, taps the walls and ceilings, looks for whatever caused the damage, and tells you straight whether a skim will do or the plaster has to come off. Then you get a written, itemised price. The visit and the quote are both free.

Closer to the coast or the Poole side of town? There are separate pages for plastering in Boscombe, Southbourne and Westbourne.

Get a plastering quote How we price a job
Freshly plastered lounge with a formed archway, walls and ceiling skimmed and drying (one of our own jobs)
Skimmed and drying out Walls, ceiling and a formed archway, ready for a mist coat once the pink has gone. Photo from one of our own jobs.

The work

Plastering jobs inside Bournemouth homes

Internal plastering comes down to seven jobs, from a skim over sound walls to a full float and set on bare brick. Each one below says what the work involves, roughly how long it takes, and when a good plasterer should talk you out of it.

Skim coat over sound plaster or new board

Two coats of multi-finish trowelled onto a surface that is already sound: old plaster that knocks solid, or new plasterboard. First the loose paper and flaking paint come off, cracks are opened and taped, and PVA or a bonding primer goes on to control the suction so the finish does not dry too fast and craze. An average room takes one to two days, prep included.

When we would talk you out of it: hollow patches, damp, or a wall so far out of line that a skim just follows the bumps.

Float and set: the two-coat re-plaster

Where the old plaster has blown or been hacked off, the wall is rebuilt. A backing coat goes on first: bonding coat on dense or low-suction backgrounds, hardwall or browning on ordinary brick and block. It is ruled flat and scratched to take the finish, then a multi-finish set coat is laid over it. Allow two to three days for a room, and longer drying before you paint.

When we would talk you out of it: a cold, uneven solid wall where dry lining gets you flat sooner and leaves room for insulation, or an old lime wall that needs lime going back on.

Patch repairs and making good

Rewiring, new pipework and a kitchen strip-out all leave chases, holes and torn plaster behind. Chases are filled with bonding coat in layers and finished flush. Around new windows and doors the reveals are rebuilt with an angle bead on every corner and a stop bead against the frame, so the edges stay sharp. Having a new kitchen? The plastering goes in after the electrics and pipes and before the units, so talk to us alongside kitchen fitting.

When we would talk you out of it: a single patch in the middle of a tired old wall. New plaster sits flatter than old and shows through paint, so skimming the whole wall is usually better money.

Ceilings: cracked, stained or down

A ceiling that is cracked but firm can be taped and skimmed. One that sags, feels springy, or has already dropped is either taken down or over-boarded: plasterboard screwed through into the joists, joints taped, then skimmed. A single room is normally a day to board and a day to skim. Lath and plaster that has let go comes down first, which is dusty work and priced as its own line.

When we would talk you out of it: before the leak that caused it is fixed. Board a wet ceiling and the stain comes straight back.

Dry lining, stud walls and loft rooms

Plasterboard fixed to timber or metal stud, or bonded to solid masonry with dot and dab adhesive, then tape and jointed for paint or skimmed for a hard finish. It covers new stud partitions, boxing in pipes, loft rooms, and walls too uneven to plaster. The board suits the room: moisture-resistant board in bathrooms, fire-rated board where the building regulations call for it, acoustic board behind a bedroom.

When we would talk you out of it: dot and dab on a damp wall. The board hides the problem until mould shows through it.

Blown and damp plaster

Blown plaster has let go of the wall behind it. It is tapped out, cut back to a sound edge and made good with a backing coat and a skim. Damp is the usual reason, so the cause is found first: a leaking gutter or pipe, soil or a path piled above the damp-proof course, or a blocked-up fireplace whose capped flue has no ventilation and is pushing brown salts through the chimney breast. Where salts are present, the new backing coat is one made to hold them back.

When we would talk you out of it: re-plastering before the source is fixed and the wall has dried. New plaster over a wet wall fails in the same place.

Lime plaster on older solid walls

Houses built before about 1919 were usually plastered in lime, on solid brick or on lath. Lime lets moisture out of the wall. A gypsum skim seals it in, and the wall blows again after a couple of winters. Sound lime is repaired in lime and finished with a lime skim or a breathable paint.

When we would talk you out of it: any gypsum or cement patch on a wall that is still mostly lime.

Artex and textured ceilings

Artex ceilings: skim over, board over, or take down?

An artex or textured ceiling in sound condition can be skimmed flat or over-boarded, and neither disturbs the coating underneath. Scraping or sanding it off is the route to avoid until it has been tested, because textured coatings put up before 2000 can contain asbestos.

Which of the two suits your ceiling depends on the depth of the texture. A light stipple takes a stabilising primer, a bonding coat to fill the pattern, and then a skim, and most rooms are done in a day. Deep swirls and peaks are better covered: plasterboard screwed through to the joists, taped and skimmed. That drops the ceiling by the thickness of a board, so coving, light fittings and the top of any built-in cupboards have to be worked round. If the room has an old decorative plaster cornice, point it out at the visit, and we will say whether the board can stop short of it.

Testing is a job for an asbestos surveyor or a testing lab, and Bournemouth Roofing & Building does not remove asbestos. If the result is clear, the ceiling is treated like any other. If it is not, skimming or boarding still leaves the coating sealed where it is, and any holes for new lights are drilled the way the HSE asbestos essentials sheet a26 on drilling through textured coatings sets out: wetted or pasted, low speed, and cleaned with damp rags. In the central Bournemouth housing we have figures for, around four in ten homes were built between 1945 and 1982, the decades when textured ceilings were widely used, so it is worth asking the question before anyone gets a sander out.

Dry lining

Dry lining or wet plaster: which suits your wall?

Dry lining suits walls that are uneven, cold or need straightening, plus new stud walls and loft rooms. Wet plaster suits a sound wall where you want the hardest finish and fixings that will carry heavy shelves or a wall-hung TV. The site visit settles which, and the quote says why.

Tape and joint, or boarded and skimmed

Once the boards are up there are two ways to finish. Tape and joint fills the joints and screw heads and leaves a surface ready to paint in days. A skim over the whole board gives the solid, seamless plaster finish, and it needs the drying time any skim does.

Wet plaster is a backing coat and a finish straight onto the brick or block. It knocks harder, and on an old solid wall a lime plaster lets the masonry breathe, which foil-backed board does not. If the wall is cold, decide about insulation before it is lined: our wall insulation page explains which walls can take which build-up, and loft insulation is worth sorting before a loft room is boarded.

Newly plastered media wall with a recessed television alcove and a fireplace opening (one of our own jobs)
Media wall, boarded and skimmed Recess and fire opening set out square, beaded, then finished. Photo from one of our own jobs.

How the job runs

How a plastering job runs, from the visit to the mist coat

A plastering job with Bournemouth Roofing & Building has one person at the centre of it: Thomas Hannen, the owner, who comes to look, writes the price, and is the number you ring while the work is on. The site visit is free, and so is the written, itemised quote.

  • The visit. Every wall and ceiling is tapped, cracks and sag are checked, and you are asked whether wiring, plumbing or new windows are going in first, because plastering follows those. In a flat, the stairs, any lift and where a van can stop come up too: every bag goes up and every bag of rubble comes down.
  • The quote. Separate lines for protection, stripping, backing coat or board, beads, the finish coat, making good and taking the waste away, so you can see what each part costs.
  • On the day. Floors and stairs go under dust sheets, furniture is moved to the middle and covered, sockets and woodwork are masked, and doorways are taped so the dust stays in the room.
  • Mess. The waste leaves with us, and the floors are swept at the end of every day.
  • Surprises. Anything found behind the old plaster, such as a cracked lintel, rotten lath or damp, is photographed and priced, and waits for your go-ahead.

Drying out and the first coat of paint

A skim on plasterboard is normally dry in four to seven days. A re-plastered solid wall, or anywhere the plaster went on thick, can take two to four weeks. Judge it by colour: an even pale shade with no darker patches in the corners or along the skirting. Keep the room warm and aired, not blasted with a heater, which can crack the surface. Then a mist coat, matt emulsion thinned roughly three parts paint to one of water, soaks in and grips. Full-strength paint on fresh plaster sits on top and peels.

What it costs

What decides the cost of plastering?

Plastering is priced by the job, once the walls have been tapped, and not by the hour or by the square metre. The trowelling is the quick part. The price is set by what has to come off first, the state of the wall underneath, the corners and ceilings, and how easy it is to get materials in and waste out.

Plenty of people search for what a plasterer charges per hour. An hourly figure tells you very little, because the same bedroom can be a one-day skim or a three-day re-plaster, and nobody knows which until the wall has been tapped. A skim is cheaper than a re-plaster for the same wall, because the existing plaster stays: no stripping, no backing coat, far less to carry out. But that only holds if the wall is sound. These are the things that move the quote.

What moves the number

  • The background. New plasterboard is the simplest thing to skim. Sound old plaster is next. A wall that sounds hollow, or has been painted in something plaster will not grip, needs treating or taking off, and that is where two quotes split.
  • Skim or re-plaster. A skim is millimetres of finish. A re-plaster is stripping, a backing coat, a finish coat and the disposal of everything that came off. No amount of finish coat fixes a blown wall underneath.
  • Corners, reveals and openings. A plain rectangular room is quick. A bay window, an alcove, an archway, a boxed-in soil pipe and every window reveal need beading, setting out and checking square, and that time is real.
  • Ceilings. A ceiling takes longer than a wall of the same size. Taking down lath and plaster, or over-boarding artex, adds a stage and the waste that goes with it.
  • Access and clearing the room. An empty room with a van outside is quicker than a full one up three flights of stairs, where every board and bag is carried by hand past other people's doors. A stairwell or a high hallway ceiling needs a tower or a stair platform to reach it safely.
  • Disposal. Old plaster is heavy. A room stripped back to brick fills a lot of bags, and taking it away properly is a line on the quote.

Questions to ask any plastering quote

Is it a skim or a re-plaster, and did they tap the walls to decide? Are beads going on every corner and reveal, or only where they show? Is stripping and taking the waste away included, or left in your bin? Who moves the furniture and covers the floors? And how long do they say to leave it before a mist coat? Two quotes that answer those differently are not pricing the same job.

If it is urgent

Ceiling down or plaster falling off the wall?

A ceiling that has sagged or dropped needs the room cleared and the cause stopped before anything is plastered. Keep everyone out, shut the door, and do not push a bulging ceiling back up: wet plaster and lath are heavy, and they come down all at once.

If water is involved, turn it off at the stopcock, put a bucket under the drip, and switch off the lighting circuit for that room at the consumer unit. In a flat, tell the neighbour above or the managing agent straight away. If it is coming through from the roof, our roofing page covers leaks, and our guide to what a brown stain on the ceiling means helps you read the mark it leaves.

The first visit makes it safe: loose plaster brought down, the rest propped or boarded, the cause found, and then the repair priced in writing. Scheduled work Mon to Fri, 8am to 6pm. Something urgent? Ring, and if we miss you we call back.

Ring 07435 839745

Flats and older houses

Plastering in a Bournemouth flat: whose wall is it?

Inside your own flat, the plaster on your walls and ceilings is normally yours to repair under the lease, so you can book a skim or a new ceiling without asking anyone. Communal stairwells, landings and the outside walls usually belong to the freeholder, so check the lease before instructing anything beyond your front door.

That matters in Bournemouth, where about half of the homes in the central part of town are flats. It changes the order of the job. A ceiling cracked or stained from the flat above needs the leak dealt with by the neighbour or the freeholder first. A ceiling between two flats is also a separating floor for fire and sound, so if it comes down it goes back with at least the same protection it had, not a single sheet of board, and we will tell you if building control needs to be involved. If you are the freeholder or on the residents' company and the stairwell needs plastering, leaseholders may have to be consulted under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 first, so allow time for the notices. We will put the specification in writing so you have something to send round.

Plastering inside your home does not need planning permission. A listed building is the exception to doing as you please: taking out original lime plaster or a lath ceiling can need listed building consent, and works affecting the character of a listed building need consent under the law. Check the council's listed building records before anything is stripped back to brick.

Outside walls

Rendering the outside of the house

External rendering is a separate job with its own page. Sand and cement and silicone thin-coat systems such as K Render, crack and hollow-patch repairs, pebbledash, and the walls we would talk you out of rendering at all are all on our rendering page.

Two points are worth knowing before you start. Re-rendering a street-facing wall in one of Bournemouth's conservation areas, such as Boscombe Spa, Westbourne or Southbourne Grove, can need permission, so check the council's list of conservation areas first. And this close to the sea, beads and fixings in the render want to be stainless steel or plastic, because salt eats galvanised steel from the cut edge in.

Who you are dealing with

Who you are dealing with

Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd is a limited company registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, owned by Thomas Hannen and based at 80a Wolverton Road, Boscombe, BH7 6HX. Thomas looks at every plastering job himself before it is priced.

On Checkatrade, a verified customer has given us 10 out of 10. The site visit and the written itemised quote are both free. You can read our Google reviews word for word on our reviews page, and more about the firm on the about page. We plaster across Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch and inland to Wimborne, Ferndown and Ringwood. BCP Council is the planning and building control authority for Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch.

Questions

Plastering questions, answered

Plastering questions from Bournemouth homeowners, answered plainly: the hourly rate, skim against re-plaster, drying times, artex, old lime walls and the mess.

How much does a plasterer charge per hour?

We do not charge by the hour, and we do not publish a day rate or a price per square metre. A plastering job is priced as a whole after the walls have been tapped, because the hours depend on what is under the paint: the same room can be a one-day skim or a three-day re-plaster. The written quote is itemised, and anything extra found once the old plaster is off is photographed and priced before it is done.

Is skimming cheaper than plastering?

Yes, for the same wall. A skim keeps the existing plaster or board and adds a thin finish coat, so there is no stripping, no backing coat and far less waste. A full re-plaster takes the old plaster off, builds the wall back up with a bonding or hardwall coat, then finishes it. Skimming only works out cheaper if the wall underneath is sound. Skim over blown plaster and you pay twice.

How long does plastering a room take, and when can I paint it?

A skim on an average room is one to two days, and a full re-plaster two to three, depending on the corners, reveals and ceiling. Then it has to dry: four to seven days for a skim on board, two to four weeks for a re-plastered solid wall. Wait for an even pale colour with no dark patches, and put a mist coat on before full-strength paint.

Can you skim over artex?

Yes, if the artex is sound and firmly stuck. It gets a stabilising primer, a bonding coat where the pattern is deep, then a skim. Very deep textures are better over-boarded with plasterboard. Do not sand or scrape an old textured ceiling first: coatings put up before 2000 can contain asbestos, so have it tested. Skimming or boarding over it leaves the coating sealed and undisturbed.

Can you skim straight over old lime plaster?

Not with modern gypsum, and on a damp solid wall it tends to fail. Lime lets moisture in the wall dry out through the surface. A gypsum skim seals the face, the moisture builds up behind it, and the new coat blows, often after a couple of winters. On an old solid wall the first step is finding out whether the lime is sound and the wall is dry. Sound, dry lime is repaired in lime and finished with a lime skim or a breathable paint, and failed sections are cut out and patched in lime to match.

Will you cover our floors and furniture?

Yes. Floors are sheeted, sockets and woodwork are masked, and anything staying in the room is moved to the middle and covered before a bag is mixed. Plastering is wet work, so the more you can clear out beforehand the easier it is, but you do not have to empty the house. The waste leaves with us and the floors are swept at the end of each day.

Areas covered

Plasterers across Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset

Plastering pages for the Bournemouth neighbourhoods and for every town and village we cover, grouped by distance. Each covers the housing and the planning position of that place; the phone number, the free visit and the written quote are the same everywhere.

Bournemouth neighbourhoods

Within 8 miles

8 to 14 miles

14 to 20 miles

See every area we cover

Free quote

Free Plastering Quotes in Bournemouth

A plastering quote from Bournemouth Roofing & Building costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Tell us the rooms, the ceilings and the address, and Thomas Hannen will come and tap the walls before he puts an itemised price in writing.

Request a free quote Call 07435 839745