Plastering in Rockbourne

Lime on solid walls. The cottages along the street are brick, flint and timber framed with a solid wall and no cavity, and many carry lime plaster inside and a lime render or limewash outside. That fabric works by letting moisture move through it and dry out. Dust sheets go down first and the background is prepared and brushed clean, with PVA only where a modern background is dusty. Where a wall has blown we take it back carefully, make good the background, and put on a haired lime backing coat and a fine finish, with real drying time between them, and longer again before a mist coat goes on and the room is decorated. Where a previous owner has skimmed over lime with a modern plaster, that is usually the patch that is failing.

In the older houses the ceilings are riven laths nailed across the joists with lime pushed through the gaps, and the nibs that squeeze out on top are all that holds them up. When those snap the ceiling sags in a bay or drops in one go. Depending on the building and its listing, and there are fifty-two listed entries in the parish, we either replace like for like on new lath or, where it is allowed and the joists are sound, over-board and skim. That choice is worth settling before anyone quotes, because the two are days apart.

Damp at the bottom of the wall. The village sits on low ground beside Sweatfords Water and falls in flood zones 2 and 3, so plaster blowing off in the first half-metre above the floor is common here. That is water and salt, not bad plastering, and skimming over it hides it for one winter. We look at what is wetting the wall first: ground levels raised against the house, a hard cement render or a modern floor trapping moisture, a blocked gully. Then the repair, which on an old wall means a breathable lime replastering rather than a waterproof render that pushes the damp higher up.

Outside, local damage is cut out and patched in matching material, because a hard sand and cement patch on soft old work cracks off and pulls the surface with it. Where a whole elevation has gone, the traditional job is scratch coat, render coat and float in lime, finished with limewash or a breathable mineral paint. On the newer houses around the village a silicone thin coat or a monocouche makes better sense, with a bell cast bead at the base. Barn conversions and extensions are dry lining on dabs or board on stud, then tape and joint or a full skim, with stop bead at each reveal, which matters here because the old openings are deep. Where one is floated wet instead the backing coat is browning or hardwall, with bonding on a dense face.

No rate per square metre. On buildings like these the material and the waiting decide it. A gypsum skim is on and closed up in a day, where a lime job is coats with real drying time between them, so the same room needs more visits. Blown plaster comes off and brings a backing coat and a float back in, and a lath ceiling replaced in lime is a different order again. Outside, a full elevation wants a scaffold, which is why work at height rules make access a priced line, and re-rendering it brings Approved Document L in, though on a listed building the conservation position comes first.

We cover Rockbourne, Whitsbury, Damerham and Fordingbridge across the SP6 postcode, and work right across the New Forest, Cranborne Chase and east Dorset from a base near Bournemouth. 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.