Plastering in Breamore
Lime and gypsum work across Breamore and SP6, matched to what the building is already made of and priced in writing.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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On the old buildings in Breamore the plaster wants to be lime, not gypsum. A solid wall with no cavity sheds the water it takes in through its own surface, and a hard modern coat over the top stops it doing that and blows off in plates a winter or two later.
Plastering in a Breamore house usually starts with a sagging ceiling, a salty wall or a barn. A lath ceiling has started to sag and drop dust on the furniture. A wall has gone soft and salty near the floor and the paint is lifting. Or a barn or an outbuilding is being brought into use and every surface in it needs a finish.
Each is a job where the wrong material is worse than no work at all, so we start by finding out what is already on the wall. Lime and gypsum behave differently and it is usually obvious within a minute of scraping a corner. You get a written price saying what is coming off, what is going back on and why, and if the honest answer is to leave a wall alone and deal with the water reaching it, that is what the quote says.
The work
Dot and dab is the one thing we will not do here
Lime plaster sits on lath. The ceilings and partitions in the older Breamore buildings are riven laths with a haired lime backing coat pushed through them. Where the keys have snapped the ceiling sags between the joists and no amount of filler puts that back.
If enough key survives we can consolidate and repair a section. If it does not, the ceiling comes down and goes back either in lime on new lath or, where you are not fighting to keep the original, in plasterboard with a lime finish so the room still breathes.
Dot and dab is the one thing we will not do here. Older buildings in Breamore were built without a damp proof course and have coped for centuries by drying out through the wall face. What breaks that is usually something recent: a cement render outside, a plastic paint, or ground and paving that have crept up the wall. We take the hard coat off, let the wall dry, then put a breathable lime backing coat and finish back on it. Board on dabs against an old solid wall leaves a void that goes cold and wet behind it, and that is why we will not do it here.
A lot of the older fabric in this parish is agricultural, and there are sixty-three listed entries in it. Converting a barn or an outbuilding means new stud partitions boarded and taped, insulation lined out, and the old walls left in lime so the new work and the old are not fighting each other. Not every job here is a heritage job: newer houses get what they should get, a hardwall, bonding or browning backing coat on blockwork, plasterboard ceilings, tape and joint or a full skim, and angle bead and stop bead at the corners and reveals.
Outside, a mesh reinforced basecoat with a silicone thin coat, K render or monocouche topcoat makes a good, long lived wall on a modern house. On a solid old wall it is the wrong answer, and so is sand and cement. There the render is lime, put on in a scratch coat and a topcoat, finished to match what is next door and painted in something mineral, never plastic. Where a wall carries old pebbledash we sound it before deciding, because pebbledash that is still keyed is often better left than replaced. Where an extension meets an old wall the junction cracks, because the two halves move at different rates, and that is a joint to detail, not a crack to fill every spring. For the outside walls, see rendering in Breamore.
How it runs
Repairing lime plaster and lath ceilings
Thomas visits, sounds out the walls by tapping them, and checks the ceilings closely. In an older building in Breamore that may be lime plaster on solid walls, or on timber laths overhead. In a newer one, gypsum on block or plasterboard.
The two need different materials, and putting gypsum onto an old solid wall traps damp. The written quote prices protecting the room, hacking off, the base coat, any beads, the finish, making good and clearing the waste, line by line. You deal with one company for all of it.
Floors and furniture are sheeted and doorways taped to keep dust in one room. Rubble and old plaster are bagged and taken away each day. Lime needs time between coats and cannot be rushed, so it may take more visits. If hacking off shows rotten laths, a damp wall or a beam that needs attention, you see it and get a price before we carry on.
Ordinary repairs and like for like work need no planning. Changing the material or look of an outside wall can, and Planning Portal guidance on external walls explains when. On a listed building, removing historic plaster inside needs consent. Breamore is in the Breamore Conservation Area, and New Forest District Council can say what that means for your house. Stripping an entire outside wall to the brick counts as renovation, which brings in Approved Document L and building control.
Cost
What decides the price of plastering here
Lime or gypsum is the first choice. Lime is right on old solid walls and lath ceilings, because it lets moisture move in and out. It goes on in several thin coats, with drying time between each, so it takes more days than a gypsum skim. Gypsum is quicker and suits modern block and plasterboard.
How much has to come off. Plaster that is sound can be repaired or skimmed. Plaster that sounds hollow or crumbles must be removed, after which a backing coat and a finish go on. On a lath ceiling, loose areas can sometimes be pinned back instead of replaced, which keeps more of the original.
The background. Lath, solid brick, stone or modern block each take a different first coat. Broken laths may need replacing before any plaster goes on.
Consent and matching. On a listed building, the repair should match the original in material and finish. That can mean a hair-reinforced lime and a hand-finished surface.
The distance. Lime work means several visits, and Breamore is a long drive, so the work is planned around drying times.
Ask any other quote whether lime or gypsum is going on, how many coats over what backing, and who takes the waste away.
If it has let go
A lath ceiling that has cracked or started to sag
If a ceiling has a crack running along the laths, a bulge you can move with one finger, or plaster dropping after a leak, clear the room and keep it shut. Old lath and plaster ceilings tend to come down in one heavy piece rather than a bit at a time.
Do not push it to test it. If water is involved, switch off the electrics to that room. Please ring about it. Do not use the form. Plastering is booked Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. Missed calls are returned the first moment we can. The first visit props the ceiling or takes the loose part down safely.
One local thing
What the conservation area changes
Breamore is a conservation area, and the parish has more than sixty listed entries in it, from the church and the big house down to barns and farm cottages. That reaches a plastering job outside and in, and people usually know about only the outside.
Outside, appearance is controlled: repairing a render like for like is maintenance, but swapping a lime render for a cement one, or a smooth finish for a textured one, is a change of appearance and may need permission before it goes on.
The boundary follows properties rather than the village sign, so check the address on the National Park property map before assuming anything.
The inside bites harder. If the building itself is listed, the protection is not skin deep: it covers the inside, and historic plaster, lath ceilings and cornices are part of what is protected. Hacking a room back to brick in a listed cottage because it looked tired is work that needed listed building consent first, and doing it without is a criminal offence rather than a paperwork slip.
It is also avoidable. Photograph the room before anybody touches it and ring the conservation officer, and a sensible lime repair is usually agreed without much fuss. We will look at a room and tell you which side of that line it sits on before you commit.
Who you are dealing with
Who plasters your walls, and how to check
Thomas Hannen owns the business and visits in person to check the walls and ceilings, then prices the work himself. The base in Boscombe is 16.1 miles from Breamore. He covers the Avon valley through Fordingbridge and Woodgreen, and across to Rockbourne, Sandleheath and Downton.
New Forest District Council is the council. The company is registered in England and Wales as Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, number 15471719. Checkatrade shows a 10 out of 10 from a customer it has verified. The visit is free, and the itemised written quote costs nothing either. Before you book a visit in Breamore, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Breamore?
Most repairs in Breamore need no application at all. What decides whether a change to the outside of your house does is who the council is, whether a conservation area or a listing applies, and whether the place sits in a protected landscape.
| Question | In Breamore |
|---|---|
| Who decides | New Forest District Council is the planning authority for Breamore. The National Park boundary runs close by, and the Park's property map shows which side an address falls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: Breamore Conservation Area. Check whether your street is inside the boundary before changing anything visible. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Breamore. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Breamore. |
Questions
Questions about plastering in Breamore
Does the Breamore conservation area cover the render finish?
The Breamore conservation area covers the way a building reads from outside, so the render finish is part of it. Replacing what is there in the same material is maintenance. Swapping a traditional surface for a modern coloured system is a change, and that is a conversation with New Forest District Council before the scaffold goes up. Rear elevations screened from any public view get looked at less closely than the road frontage.
Can a listed barn be plastered out like a house?
Not without care and not without consent. Breamore has 63 listed entries and they include farm buildings, among them a barn south of Home Farm Cottages, so agricultural structures here carry the same protection as the houses. Lining a barn out with modern board and gypsum traps moisture in walls that were never built to hold it. Lime and a ventilated build up are what usually gets approved.
What paint can go over new lime plaster?
Something that lets the wall breathe. Limewash or a mineral silicate paint sits on lime properly and allows moisture to keep moving out through the surface. Vinyl emulsion seals it, and the first thing you see is the paint film lifting in patches while the plaster behind stays damp. Wait until the lime has carbonated and lost its dark patches before anything goes on it.
Does the Avon nutrient rule touch a barn conversion?
It does, because a conversion creating somewhere to sleep counts as new overnight accommodation and Breamore drains to the River Avon. That is a planning condition to resolve at application stage rather than a building matter. Straight repair work, replastering rooms in the existing house or re-rendering an elevation, sits outside it entirely. By the time we are on site it has been dealt with.
Will you come out to Breamore to price a job?
Breamore is 16.1 miles from our base, and New Forest District Council is the planning authority for the village. Thomas Hannen drives out, looks at the walls and writes the quote himself. Neither the visit nor the written quote costs anything, and it is itemised stage by stage so you can see where the lime work and its waiting time are going.
Nearby, and next door
Plastering near Breamore
Nearby places we also cover for plastering, with straight-line distances from Breamore, and the other trades we offer in Breamore itself.
Plastering nearby
Our other trades in Breamore
Plastering and rendering guides
Silicone, cement or lime: which render? Cracked render: which cracks matter Hollow-sounding wall: blown plaster or dot and dabEverything we do in Verwood Plastering, all areas Every area we cover
Free quote
Old wall, or a new one?
Tell us the address and what you have spotted. The visit is free and so is the written itemised quote.