Full House Re-Skim & Wall Plasterboarding by a Plasterer in Barnet

This project was carried out on a Victorian terraced house in Brixton, South London, though the techniques and scope are directly relevant to similar period properties across Barnet and the EN5 postcode. Victorian terraced homes of this era typically feature original lime-based plaster on solid brick walls, Artex-coated ceilings, and older plaster that has reached the end of its serviceable life. The property was being fully refurbished prior to re-letting, with all rooms stripped back and prepared for fresh plastering throughout.

On arrival, the property was in a heavily stripped-back state across multiple rooms. One room showed a textured Artex ceiling still in place, with a section of ceiling completely open — exposing the timber joists above where damaged boards had already been removed. The walls in this room had been partially stripped of old plaster, revealing bare brick and patchy bonding coat beneath. A separate room showed walls fully stripped back to bare brick with old plaster hacked off, and the ceiling had already been cleared of its original surface. Horizontal lines of old plaster remaining at dado height indicated previous wall coverings had been removed in stages. Red plastic wall plugs were visible across the brick, left from previously removed fittings.

The scope covered a full re-skim across multiple rooms of the property, involving three distinct phases of work visible across the images. First, walls in the main room required full plasterboard lining — new boards were fixed directly to the bare brick using a dot and dab method, with the boards butted tightly together and jointed with scrim tape across every seam and angle. Second, the ceiling in one room — which had an original Artex-textured surface and a partially open section where boards had been removed — required the open area to be patched with new plasterboard fixed to the exposed joists, before the entire ceiling received a full skim coat of multi-finish plaster. The walls in this room also needed preparation before skimming could begin. Third, the completed ceiling skim coat in a further room was photographed at the trowelled-off stage, showing the full flat surface achieved under a temporary pendant light. Red plastic dome-head screws were visible around the perimeter, confirming the plasterboard had been fixed to a timber frame at the ceiling edge prior to skimming.

Before any plaster was applied, all loose and failing old plaster was hacked back to a firm substrate across the walls. The floors throughout were fully sheeted with yellow polythene dust sheets taped at the edges, and furniture was wrapped in orange protective dust covers. Plasterboard sheets were brought on site and cut to size ready for fixing. Scrim tape was applied to all board joints and internal angles prior to skimming to prevent cracking at the seams. Where the ceiling had an open section exposing the joists, replacement plasterboard was cut and fixed into the void before the skim coat could be applied across the full ceiling area.

Once the plasterboard wall lining was complete — with boards fixed to the bare brick walls and all joints and angles taped with fibreglass scrim — the walls were ready to receive multi-finish plaster. A scratch coat was applied across the full board surface, pressed firmly into the scrim tape to embed it and create an even base. A finishing coat of multi-finish was then applied and trowelled back progressively as the plaster began to stiffen, bringing the surface to a flat, paint-ready finish. On the ceiling, the same two-coat multi-finish process was used. The scratch coat was applied first across the full ceiling area — including the newly patched section — before a finishing coat was trowelled off tightly. The image of the completed ceiling shows the skim coat at the trowelled-off stage with a uniform flat surface and no visible joins between the patched section and the original board. The pendant light rose was masked during application. Walls in the same room visible beneath the completed ceiling show the stripped brick substrate and remaining old plaster at the base, indicating ceiling work was completed first before wall skimming continued below.

The most significant challenge on this project was the partially open ceiling in one of the rooms. A section of the original ceiling boards had already been removed prior to our visit, leaving exposed timber joists and an uneven edge where the old boards had been cut back. Skimming over this area without first patching it correctly would have resulted in a visible ridge and a weak point prone to cracking. Additionally, the Artex textured surface on the remaining portion of the ceiling could not simply be skimmed over without risk of the texture telegraphing through the finish coat, particularly under raking light.

New plasterboard was cut precisely to fit the open ceiling void and fixed securely to the exposed joists, bringing the patched section flush with the existing ceiling level. The join between the new board and the original surface was taped with scrim before any plaster was applied. Rather than attempting to skim over the Artex surface directly, the approach ensured a consistent base across the full ceiling before the scratch coat was applied. This meant the finished skim coat could be trowelled back as a single continuous surface with no visible transition between the old and new sections, as confirmed in the completed ceiling photograph.

The completed ceiling skim — visible in the first image — shows a flat, continuous surface trowelled to a smooth finish ready for mist coat and decoration. No visible joins are present between the patched section and the original ceiling, and the surface holds an even tone under the pendant work light. The plasterboard-lined wall in the second image shows all boards correctly fixed, joints scrim-taped and flush, and the surface ready to receive its skim coat. The room shown in the preparation image was staged correctly with protective sheeting in place before work commenced.

The landlord instructed us as part of a full refurbishment ahead of re-letting the property. With the walls plasterboard-lined, all ceilings freshly skimmed, and every room protected and prepared correctly throughout, the property was handed back ready for the decorator to apply a mist coat directly to the new plaster. The client confirmed the work was completed within the agreed two-day programme, keeping the wider refurbishment schedule on track.

Patching an open ceiling and skimming over it to produce a flat, join-free surface requires accurate board cutting, correct fixing into the joists, and the ability to feather a skim coat across two different substrates without leaving a ridge. Applying plasterboard directly to bare brick walls also requires correct adhesive coverage and board alignment to ensure the finished surface is plumb and ready to skim. Errors at either stage — misaligned boards, poorly embedded scrim, or an uneven scratch coat — will show through the finished paint, particularly under natural light. Getting the substrate preparation right before the plaster goes on is what determines the quality of the final surface.