Plastering in Milborne St Andrew
Lime plaster and lath repairs on the older houses, skimming and ceilings on the newer ones, across Milborne St Andrew and DT11.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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The first question on a house in Milborne St Andrew is not what finish you want, it is what the wall is made of. A solid wall wants a breathable repair and a cavity wall does not, and putting the wrong one on is the reason so much replastering round here has to be done twice.
In Milborne St Andrew the plastering is plaster blowing along the bottom of a wall or around a chimney breast in an older property, a ceiling that has cracked, sagged or come part way down, or a room in a newer house that simply wants skimming flat before it is decorated.
We come out and knock every wall and ceiling, and where the house is old we take a small area off in a corner to see what is actually behind the finish. Guessing from the street tells you nothing. Then you get a written price with the repair and the full strip out kept apart. The site visit and the quote are free. We are twenty miles out, so we plan work in Milborne St Andrew in consecutive days, with no dropping in for an hour and coming back next week.
The work
Not every wall here needs a heritage repair
Not every wall here needs a heritage repair. Twenty-five entries in and around Milborne St Andrew are listed, and plenty of buildings that are not listed were put up the same way. A solid wall has no cavity to stop water, so it copes by taking damp in and letting it back out through the surface.
Gypsum plaster or a cement render seals that surface, the water goes sideways instead, and the plaster blows above the skirting within a couple of winters. On those walls we work in lime and keep the whole build-up breathable.
Older ceilings and stud partitions are three coats on riven lath, and when one fails it is usually the key that has gone rather than the plaster, so the ceiling sags in a bay while the surface still looks fine. If most of the key is sound it can be secured and repaired in lime and it is worth keeping. If it has gone across the whole span the ceiling comes down and goes back in board, and we tell you honestly which it is.
There is no sense charging for a heritage repair on a wall that does not need one. On a cavity wall a sound float coat takes two passes of finish coat, and a blown patch comes off back to the block and goes back in bonding or hardwall. Later houses are board on dot and dab finished in tape and joint, with an angle bead on every corner and a stop bead against each frame. Outside, where an older elevation was given a hard sand and cement render or pebbledash in the last fifty years it will be cracked and drumming and holding water in the wall behind, and taking it off and returning to lime is the honest answer on solid fabric. On modern blockwork a silicone thin coat is the right answer instead. A bell cast bead at the base keeps any render clear of the damp proof course. For the outside walls, see rendering in Milborne St Andrew.
How it runs
Replastering a room, from dust sheets to skim
Thomas comes and taps the walls and ceilings himself. He is listening for hollow patches, looking at cracks and checking whether the old plaster is lime on lath, lime on solid masonry or modern gypsum, because that decides what goes back. The itemised quote then lists protection, hacking off, any lath or plasterboard, backing coats, the skim and making good, room by room.
Furniture is moved or covered, floors are sheeted, and dust is kept to the rooms we are working in. On a cottage fronting the street with no drive, where the skip or the bags go is arranged at the visit so nothing blocks the road. Rubble leaves with us and rooms are swept each day. If hacking off reveals rotten lath, a damp wall or old wiring, Thomas takes a picture, gives you a price, and waits for your answer.
Much of the older village is in the Milborne St Andrew Conservation Area, where rendering an outside wall that was not rendered before needs planning permission; like for like repair does not. On an unlisted house the inside finish is your choice. A listed building needs listed building consent for a change of plaster or render even when it looks like maintenance, so we check the address first. Planning Portal guidance on external walls sets out the outside rules. Renewing render across an elevation brings in Approved Document L, and on solid fabric any insulation has to let moisture out.
Cost
Skim, replaster or lime: what the price turns on
We do not price plastering in Milborne St Andrew by the square metre. What is behind the finish decides the job. Skim or replaster. A sound wall with a tired surface wants a skim. Plaster that has blown from the wall comes off back to the masonry, and a backing coat goes on before the finish, so the job gains a stage and a day or two of drying.
Lime or gypsum. On an old solid wall lime is usually right, because it lets the wall breathe and dry out. It is slower, since each coat must go off before the next, and the price reflects that. On a later house with plasterboard ceilings, boarding and a gypsum skim is quicker.
Ceilings. A lath and plaster ceiling that has sagged is taken down under control and replaced with plasterboard or new lath, and the mess and the time are a big part of the cost.
Access. Upstairs in a cottage, the staircase decides how big a board can be carried. On a street-front house a skip on the road needs the council's permit. Outside, a gable wants a tower or a scaffold on its own line.
Ask any rival quote whether it is a skim or a full replaster, whether it is lime or gypsum going back, and whether the making good is included.
If it has come down
A ceiling cracked and sagging, or plaster falling
A ceiling that has cracked and dropped, or plaster coming off a wall in sheets, needs dealing with before it lands on someone. Keep people out of the room, move what you can, and if water is behind it, turn off the supply and keep clear of light fittings.
Speak to us by phone rather than through the form. Our plastering runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, but a falling ceiling is urgent, and if there is no answer we return your call as soon as we can. Making it safe, on a lath ceiling, usually means bringing the loose part down under control and propping the rest.
Worth knowing
Lime or gypsum, and why it decides the whole job
More than twenty listed entries in a village the size of Milborne St Andrew tells you something useful before we have even seen your house: there is a real chance the walls are solid rather than cavity, and that changes the material, the method and the price. A solid wall was built to get wet and dry out again through its own surface.
Lime plaster and lime render let it do that. Gypsum plaster, cement render and modern masonry paint do not, and once a wall like that is sealed the water it takes in has to leave somewhere else, which is usually as blown plaster above the skirting, a damp smell in a back room and paint lifting in sheets.
The practical points are the same whether or not your house is listed. Find out what the wall is before choosing a finish, and be suspicious of a quote that names the material before anyone has opened a corner. Expect lime work to take longer, because each coat has to carbonate before the next one goes on and it will not be rushed for a decorating date.
Do not put a modern waterproofing paint on a lime render and undo the whole point of it. And if the house is listed, get the consent question answered first: it applies to the material as much as to the work, and it is far cheaper to ask before than to explain afterwards.
Who you are dealing with
Who you are hiring for plastering in Milborne St Andrew
About 20 miles separate our Boscombe base from Milborne St Andrew, and we cover it with Puddletown, Winterborne Whitechurch and the DT11 addresses on the Dorchester road. Building control and planning here are Dorset Council's job.
Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd is registered in England and Wales as company 15471719 and owned by Thomas Hannen, who taps the walls and prices every plastering job in person. On Checkatrade, a verified customer marked us 10 out of 10. Both the visit and the written quote, itemised, cost you nothing. Before you book a visit in Milborne St Andrew, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Milborne St Andrew?
Most repairs in Milborne St Andrew 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 Milborne St Andrew |
|---|---|
| Who decides | Dorset Council is the planning authority for Milborne St Andrew. Dorset Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: Milborne St Andrew Conservation Area. Check whether your street is inside the boundary before changing anything visible. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Milborne St Andrew. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Milborne St Andrew. |
Questions
Questions about plastering in Milborne St Andrew
More than twenty listed entries around the village. Is ours likely listed?
Possibly, and it is worth checking before anything is touched. There are more than twenty listed entries within a kilometre of the village, including the Parish Church of Saint Andrew, and in a village this size that reaches well beyond the obvious buildings into ordinary cottages. Dorset Council holds the list and will confirm an address. Where a building is on it, stripping old plaster or changing a render needs listed building consent, and going ahead without is an offence.
Outside the conservation area, what can we change?
On an unlisted house outside the conservation area, the outside finish and its colour. Much of the older village lies in the Milborne St Andrew Conservation Area, and there rendering a wall that was not rendered before needs planning permission from Dorset Council, although re-rendering or repainting like for like is still repair. That changes again the moment the building is listed or joined to one. It also changes if the work forms part of an extension instead of a repair, because the extension carries its own permissions with it.
Does a loft conversion need anything from Dorset Council first?
The plastering does not, but adding a bedroom may well. This village drains into the Poole Harbour catchment, and nutrient neutrality only bites where a scheme creates new overnight accommodation. Making good a ceiling, patching a wall or re-rendering an outside face creates none of that, so it is untouched. Where the conversion adds a room to sleep in, settle it with the council before we board and skim anything up there.
Will you come this far out for one room?
Yes. Milborne St Andrew is around twenty miles from our base, so the work gets planned as a run of consecutive days instead of two hours at a time. That suits most people better anyway, because a room is opened up, backed, skimmed and finished in one go rather than sitting half stripped between visits. Thomas Hannen comes out to price it first, and that visit and the written quote cost nothing.
Can you match the plaster on an old solid wall?
We match what is already on there, and gypsum is not the default. On an older solid wall the backing coat decides whether the job lasts, so where the existing plaster is lime we go back in lime and let it set at its own pace. Getting that wrong is what makes a new skim blow off a cold external wall inside a couple of winters. On modern blockwork ordinary backing and finish is the right answer.
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Plastering near Milborne St Andrew
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Free quote
Get a written price for plastering in Milborne St Andrew
A free site visit, a corner opened up to see what the wall really is, and an itemised written quote.