Skimming, re-plastering, boarding and ceilings, plus lime plaster for older houses. Family-run, with over 35 years in the building trade.
We’re a family-run building firm in Brighton, and plastering is one of the trades we cover. We skim walls, re-plaster rooms, board out ceilings and repair lime plaster in period houses. The firm has been in the building trade for over 35 years, and Grant heads up each job.
Some jobs are a single ceiling in Hove. Others are the last stage of an extension or loft we’ve built. Outside walls are covered on our rendering page.
Plastering is often the finishing stage of a bigger build. On the extensions and loft conversions we build, plastering is planned in from the start. It isn’t left to the end while someone hunts for a plasterer.
Older rooms are different. We look at what’s on the wall now (lime, gypsum or board) and tell you what it needs before we price it.
A skim is a thin finish coat, about 2 to 3 mm thick, over a wall that’s sound but tired. It covers small cracks and patchy repairs and gives you a smooth wall to paint. Old wallpaper, loose paint and flaky filler all come off first.
A skim won’t hold on plaster that’s loose, blown or damp. Tap the wall. If it sounds hollow, the plaster has come away from the brick. Then we hack it off and re-plaster with a base coat and a finish coat.
New walls and ceilings in extensions, lofts and partitions are nearly always plasterboard. We fix the boards, tape the joints and skim them ready to decorate. For new partitions, we build the timber stud frame first, then board and skim both sides.
Dry lining can also save an old wall that’s too far gone to patch. It’s quicker than wet plaster, but it isn’t right on every wall. In bathrooms we use moisture-resistant board, and between flats we can fit acoustic board.
Need a room plastered?
Call Grant on 07885 325954 or the office on 01273 950800 for a free visit and written quote.
Plenty of Brighton houses still have their original lath and plaster ceilings. Over time the plaster loses its grip on the timber laths, and the ceiling cracks or sags. Some can be fixed back up. Others need taking down and re-boarding. We keep original cornices where we can and work carefully around them.
We also plaster over textured Artex ceilings. Artex put up before 2000 can contain asbestos, so we have it tested before anyone sands or scrapes it.
Most Brighton houses built before about 1920 have solid walls, plastered in lime. Those walls need to breathe. Modern gypsum plaster traps the moisture, and you get blistering, staining and damp patches that keep coming back.
We repair and replace lime plaster in Victorian, Edwardian and Regency houses. Small patches are matched to the old plaster around them. Where a room was redone in gypsum and damp followed, we can take it back to the brick and redo it in lime.
Plastering is messy, and a lot of it happens in homes people are living in. We sheet floors and furniture and seal doorways to keep the dust in the room we’re working on. If other trades are in, we plan the plastering around the electrician and plumber, so finished walls don’t get cut open again.
You’ll get a written quote after a free visit, and we’ll tell you how long the room needs to dry before you paint.
Yes. A skim is one thin coat over existing plaster, so it’s quicker and uses less material. Re-plastering means hacking off the old plaster and putting on two coats, which takes longer.
You can skim over old plaster if it’s dry and firmly stuck to the wall. Loose, hollow or damp plaster has to come off first. Lime plaster in older houses should be repaired in lime, not skimmed with gypsum.
A plasterer can usually skim the walls of an average bedroom in a day. A ceiling adds time, and re-plastering takes longer than a skim. We’ll say how long your job should take when we quote.
It comes down to the size of the room, the state of the walls and how much has to be stripped off first.
As a rough guide, Checkatrade’s Brighton price guide puts most plastering jobs at about £280 to £735. We give a written price after a visit.
A skim usually needs about a week to dry, and a full re-plaster can take longer. It turns from dark to an even pale pink when it’s ready. Start with a watered-down mist coat.
We plaster homes across Brighton and Hove, including Kemptown, Hanover, Preston Park, Seven Dials, Fiveways, Withdean, Patcham and Portslade, and out to Shoreham and Lewes. Our office is at Stanford Gate, South Road, Brighton BN1 6SB. Call Grant on 07885 325954 or the office on 01273 950800.
Rendering · Refurbishment & Renovation · Soundproofing · Painting & Decorating
Call Grant on 07885 325954 or the office on 01273 950800. We will come out, look at the job and give you a free, no-obligation quote.
I can confirm that Grant has worked for me on two projects. The first project was to build two semi-detached houses in Hove. The second project was to convert an 1850s listed building in Brighton into four top-end apartments.
Grant is a very practical builder and gets on well with people, particularly neighbours, helping projects run smoothly. He works to a high standard and, should you decide to have him work for you, will leave you with a feeling that you would willingly use him again.
Grant and his team carried out our flat conversion (converting the top two floors of our Victorian house to two self contained flats) last year.
For our works they started on the agreed date and finished within days of the predicted finish date. For us the work was all to a very good standard and we have been very pleased with the finished job.
The team were friendly and approachable, happy to change or add little things as the conversion evolved. Grant and John were always at the end of the phone if needed. I would not hesitate to recommend them and if I need further construction works carried out would look to them first.
Tell us a little about your project and we will call you back. If you have drawings or photos, mention it and we can arrange a site visit.
County Structures Ltd
Stanford Gate
2nd Floor, South Road
Brighton
BN1 6SB
