Plastering in Parkstone

Skimming suits plaster that is still sound. Where the existing plaster is sound but tired, cracked or patched, we prepare the surface, apply a bonding coat or PVA where it needs it, then a two coat skim with a finish coat trowelled flat. New angle beads go on corners and reveals so the edges stay straight. A typical room is a day or two, then it needs time to dry before a mist coat and paint.

Old ceilings. Many of the older houses in Parkstone still have lath and lime plaster ceilings. When the plaster loses its grip on the laths it sags, and a sagging ceiling can come down. Where it is sound but cracked we can secure it and skim. Where it has gone, we take it down, fix plasterboard to the joists, tape and joint, and skim. The Artex on some later ceilings we skim over or board over rather than sand.

Walls that have blown. Hollow, crumbly plaster after a leak or years of damp is hacked back to the brick. On a solid wall we replaster in a way that lets it breathe. On a newer cavity wall we use a backing coat of browning, hardwall or a sand and cement render coat, float it flat, then skim. Where speed matters, dry lining with plasterboard on dot and dab or a timber stud is an option, and we explain the trade off.

Making good after other trades. New windows, rewiring, a removed chimney breast or a new doorway all leave patches. We cut back to sound edges, bead the reveals and patch so the join disappears under paint.

Room by room, or a whole house. In the Parkstone flats in converted villas and above the shops on Ashley Road the job is often a whole flat between tenants. We work one room at a time, with dust sheets down and the floors covered.

For outside walls, render systems such as silicone thin coat, monocouche or pebbledash repairs are covered on our rendering in Parkstone page.

No rate per square metre, because two rooms of the same size can be a day apart once you have seen the walls.

Getting to it. A top floor flat above an Ashley Road shop, a Victorian ceiling near Ashley Cross and a 1930s semi with the furniture still in set up very differently. Ceilings and stairwells need a platform, and a room you are still living in needs protecting rather than emptying. Where the work is at height the work at height rules apply just as they do on a roof.

What is behind it. Skimming over sound plaster is a different job from taking a wall back to brick, and you often cannot tell which you have until something is tapped. Lath and lime, old bonding, dot and dab and bare block all take different preparation and a different number of coats.

The awkward parts. Reveals, beads, stop ends, arches, curved walls and getting a flat finish where an old ceiling has dropped. The middle of a wall is quick. The edges are where the day goes.

Comparing quotes? Ask how many coats are included, whether the walls are being skimmed or taken back, whether beads and making good are in the price, and who moves and protects the furniture.

We cover the whole of Parkstone, from Ashley Road and Heatherlands on the higher ground down to Ashley Cross and Penn Hill, across BH12 and BH14, under BCP Council.

You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, which you can look up in a minute. Thomas Hannen's business, and he is the one who comes out to price the job, not a salesman. A verified customer's 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The visit and the written quote are both free. Before you book a visit in Parkstone, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Parkstone 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.