Plasterer in Poole

Ceiling work usually means one of three jobs: repairing a ceiling after a leak, covering an Artex or textured ceiling, or boarding and skimming a new one. The joists, the old boards and any damp above decide the method.

After a leak. Plasterboard that got wet and dried out firm can often stay: the stained section is cut out, the rest screwed back tight to the joists, then taped and skimmed. Board that has gone soft or sagged comes down, and the void above has to dry before new board goes up, or the new ceiling stains again. An old lath and plaster ceiling that has let go can be over-boarded, with new plasterboard screwed through into the joists, or taken down and replaced.

Artex and textured ceilings. A textured coating put up before 2000 may contain asbestos, so have a sample tested before anyone sands, scrapes or drills it. If the ceiling is sound, the usual answer is to leave the coating in place and skim over it after a bonding coat, or over-board it and skim the new board. Neither disturbs it. If the ceiling is cracked or loose, over-boarding is the safer choice.

Dry lining and stud partitions. Dry lining means plasterboard fixed to the wall and then skimmed, or taped and jointed. Dot and dab, where the board is stuck to the brick with blobs of adhesive, suits a sound and fairly straight wall. A metal stud or timber batten frame suits a wall that is out of true. New stud partitions go up the same way. Where most of an outside wall is being lined, Approved Document L can require better insulation, which usually means insulated plasterboard, and building control may need to be involved.

Making good after other trades. A chimney breast taken out, a rewire, a new kitchen or bathroom: each leaves chases, holes and bare brick. Those are filled with bonding or hardwall and skimmed in, so the join does not show once it is painted.

Coving and cornice. New coving is cut and mitred at the corners, bedded in adhesive and the joints filled. In a period room with a run cornice, the damaged length is repaired to match the profile, not swapped for stock coving.

Outside walls. Hollow render and pebbledash are patched, or an elevation is redone in sand and cement, scratch coat then float, or as a thin coat system of primer, mesh basecoat and silicone topcoat above a bell cast bead. See rendering in Poole. In a conservation area, re-cladding a house in render, pebbledash or stone falls outside permitted development for a dwellinghouse, so it needs planning permission. Plastering indoors needs none.

Thomas Hannen comes out and looks at every wall and ceiling himself, tapping for hollow plaster and checking for damp. The quote is itemised: what comes off, how each background is prepared, the beads, the backing coat, the finish coat, the making good and the waste. From the visit to the last coat, there is one person to ring.

Dust sheets go down over floors and furniture before anything starts, and in a flat the shared stair and landing are covered too. Rooms are cleaned each evening and the waste leaves with us. If lath comes away behind a ceiling or damp shows under old plaster, work on that part stops until you have seen a photo and a price.

Before you decorate. New plaster turns from dark pink to an even pale pink as it dries. A skim on board dries fastest; a backing coat plus finish takes longer, and a cold, damp room slows both. Then the first coat is a mist coat, watered-down matt emulsion that soaks in. Vinyl or wipeable paint straight onto new plaster sits on the surface and peels.

A bowing ceiling is the urgent one. Keep everyone out of the room, do not push it to see how bad it is, and if water is behind it, turn off the electrics to that room if you can safely reach the switch.

Plaster falling off a wall in sheets is less dangerous; leave it where it lands. Ring instead of using the form. On the first visit we make the ceiling safe by propping it or taking down what is loose, and price the repair once the cause is fixed and the area is dry. Scheduled work Mon to Fri, 8am to 6pm. Something urgent? Ring, and if we miss you we call back.

Call now: 07435 839745

About a third of the homes in and around Poole town centre are flats or maisonettes. In a leasehold flat you usually own the inside surfaces of your walls and ceilings, while the structure, the outside walls and the communal stairs belong to the freeholder and come under the service charge.

So plastering inside your own flat can be booked straight away. If the damage came from the flat above or the roof, tell the freeholder or managing agent in writing before you book anyone, and ask who is paying. We will send the same written quote to you and to them. Work to the block itself takes longer: where it would cost any one leaseholder more than £250, the landlord has to consult first under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.

In the Old Town, the post-war council blocks such as Lagland Court and the Nelson, Rodney and Drake Court towers mean long stairs or a lift. Tell us the floor, and whether the lift takes a full sheet of plasterboard. If it does not, smaller boards go up by hand. We sort out deliveries and where the van can legally stand before the start date.

Nearby places we also cover for plastering, with straight-line distances from Poole, and the other trades we offer in Poole itself.

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