Plastering in Westbourne

Skimming covers sound plaster. Where the plaster is sound and just tired, cracked or patched, a PVA or bonding primer goes on and then a two coat skim, trowelled to a smooth finish coat. Beads go on the corners and reveals: an angle bead on every external corner and a stop bead where the plaster meets another surface. A room is usually a day to skim, and it needs drying time before it can be painted.

Lath and lime ceilings. Many of the older Westbourne villas still have their original ceilings, lime plaster on timber lath, often with a cornice and a ceiling rose. They sag when the plaster loses its key on the lath, and they crack when a floor above moves. Where it is still sound, we fix it back and patch in lime, which is breathable and moves with the building. Where a whole ceiling has gone, it comes down and a new plasterboard ceiling goes up, with the cornice kept or run in again.

Solid walls. The older walls in Westbourne are solid brick, and a gypsum plaster over a wall that is still damp will blow again. On those walls a lime or breathable backing coat does better than hardwall or bonding, and the finish comes after the wall has dried.

Dry lining and partitions. Converting a villa into flats means new stud partitions and plasterboard ceilings, and later blocks are usually dry lined throughout, with board on dot and dab or on studs, tape and joint finished. A hollow sound there is normal rather than a fault. Where a ceiling or wall between two flats is part of the fire separation, it has to be put back with the right board, not just any board.

Artex and old finishes. Textured ceilings are skimmed over or boarded. Older artex can contain asbestos, so it should be tested before anyone sands or scrapes it, and skimming or boarding over it leaves it undisturbed.

Making good. After a leak, a rewire or a new kitchen, we patch holes, cut back blown areas to sound plaster and bring the new work flush. Once it is dry, a mist coat of watered down paint goes on before you decorate. Outside walls are a different trade: rendering in Westbourne covers sand and cement, silicone thin coat, monocouche, K render and pebbledash.

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 in a converted villa with three flights of stairs and no lift, a shop with a flat above it on Poole Road, and a ground floor flat in a later block with parking outside are three different days' work. 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 Westbourne and BH4, from County Gates across to the West Cliff side and down to Alum Chine, and next door into Branksome and Canford Cliffs. BCP Council deals with planning and building control, and we are based in Boscombe.

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 Westbourne, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Westbourne 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.