Plastering Questions, Answered Plainly

It depends on the size of the room, the condition of the existing walls and how much preparation is needed. A single wall skim is a very different job to a full house. Send a few photos and the rough room sizes and you'll get a straight price rather than a guess.

A single room skim is often a day's work. Larger jobs, ceilings, or walls that need patching and preparing first will take longer. You'll be told how long the job should take before any work starts.

Skimming is a thin finishing coat applied over an existing surface or fresh plasterboard to make it smooth. Plastering is the wider job — that can include base coats, bonding out damaged areas, boarding and finishing.

Yes. Small repairs and single walls are welcome as well as full renovations. Plenty of jobs start as one patched wall.

Yes — external rendering on houses, extensions, garages and boundary walls, including patching and re-rendering where existing render has cracked or blown.

K-Rend is a well-known brand of through-coloured silicone render. The colour runs through the material rather than sitting on top as paint, and the surface is water-repellent, so it stays cleaner and needs less upkeep than a painted sand-and-cement finish.

Sometimes. If the damage is localised it can be cut out and patched. Where large areas sound hollow when tapped, taking it back and starting again usually gives a better long-term result.

Usually. Cracks, holes, blown patches and chases left by electricians and plumbers can be cut out, made good and finished so the repair disappears into the wall.

Not always. Some cracked ceilings can be repaired and skimmed over. Older lath and plaster ceilings that are sagging or hollow often do better being overboarded. Photos will usually tell the story.