Plaster skimming in Walthamstow, Leyton and Chingford. Surfaces stabilised, two coats of finish worked flat to the corners, rooms sheeted and left clean.
Skimming is the job people mean when they say plastering, and on a sound Walthamstow wall it is a day a room. The whole question is whether the plaster underneath is still keyed to the lath — because a beautiful skim over a wall that has let go is eighteen months of smooth and then a crack across the middle of it.
Around Walthamstow Village and the Warner estate streets, many rooms have been skimmed before, sometimes twice, and the real question is whether the last coat is still bonded to what is underneath. Layers of old paint and wallpaper paste stop a new finish gripping, so the surface is scraped back and sealed first rather than skimmed straight over whatever is there.
Every square metre knuckled before a price is given. Hollow means the key has gone, and no amount of finish on top of that will hold.
Old surfaces sealed and, where they are uneven, a bonding coat first. Finish plaster on a dusty or absorbent wall goes off too fast and never trowels flat.
The second coat is where flat happens. Internal angles run properly rather than filled afterwards, which is where a rushed job shows under a lamp.
Floors and doorways covered, the route in and out protected. It is a clean job done properly and a filthy one done fast.
Flaking layers scraped back and the wall sealed, so the new finish bonds to the wall rather than to a coat that is already letting go.
Socket and switch faceplates loosened so the finish runs behind them and the edges sit flat when they go back. Anything beyond loosening a faceplate is work for an electrician.
Send a photo or a quick video of the room on WhatsApp, or get a free fixed quote — no obligation, and we’ll tell you straight what it needs.
If it is still keyed to the lath, yes, and that is the ideal outcome - it is quick, cheap and leaves the original behind the wall. We tap the whole thing through before quoting. Where it sounds hollow we will tell you, because skimming over it is money you spend twice.
A standard E17 bedroom is a day for a straight skim, plus drying time before you paint. A through-lounge is usually a day and a half. If the wall needs a bonding coat first that adds most of another day, and we say so before starting.
Three to seven days. Fresh plaster goes from dark brown to a uniform pale pink when it is ready - if there are still dark patches it is not. Then a watered-down mist coat first; straight emulsion onto new plaster peels off in sheets.
Usually, once the texture has been checked. Some older textured coatings contain asbestos, so a sample is tested before anything is sanded or scraped. If it comes back clear the ceiling is sealed and skimmed flat; if not, removal is a job for a licensed specialist first.
Fine settlement cracks, yes, once they are raked out and taped. A crack that keeps reopening is movement in the wall, and that needs looking at before any plaster goes on, or the new finish will split along the same line.