Full House Re-Skim & Ceiling Replacement by a Plasterer in Bromley

This project was carried out at a period property in Lambeth, South London, serving as a reference project for our plastering work across BR1 and surrounding boroughs. The property features a distinctive curved bay window in the front reception room — a hallmark of early twentieth-century London residential architecture. The house had been stripped back to bare walls and exposed ceiling joists throughout, indicating a full gut renovation was underway before plastering could begin. The property was vacant and being prepared for full refurbishment prior to occupation.

The before images show two very different stages of the same front reception room. In the upper image, the walls retain an old painted skim coat — uneven, stained with age and showing discolouration across the plaster face, particularly around the bay window reveal. The floor had been stripped to bare boards. In the lower image, the ceiling had been fully removed back to the timber joists, with old lath and plaster debris cleared away. The walls in this stage show the old plaster had been hacked off in sections, leaving an inconsistent substrate. Green waterproof membrane is visible on the floor, confirming active renovation works were ongoing throughout the property at the time of our visit.

The scope of work for this project covered the full reception room from floor to ceiling. The ceiling required complete replacement — the old lath and plaster had been stripped back entirely, leaving exposed timber joists which needed to be boarded before any plastering could begin. New 12.5mm plasterboard was to be fixed across the full ceiling span, cut to fit neatly around the bay window projection and any existing structural timbers. The walls, which had been partially hacked back to bare substrate in places and retained failing painted plaster in others, required a full re-skim throughout. Where old plaster had been removed entirely, a bonding coat was required prior to the finish skim. The bay window reveals and internal angles needed careful attention to maintain straight, square lines given the curved nature of the bay. Electrical back boxes and cable chases that had been run during the rewire also needed to be filled, set and incorporated into the overall skim. The overall aim was to deliver flat, consistent walls and a new ceiling surface ready for decoration across the entire room.

Before any plaster was applied, the exposed ceiling joists were checked for level. Where minor deviations existed between joists, these were accounted for during the boarding process. New 12.5mm plasterboard sheets were cut to size and screwed directly to the joists at 150mm centres to ensure a solid, rattle-free ceiling board. All plasterboard joints were taped and feathered with jointing compound prior to the skim coat being applied. On the walls, any remaining loose or hollow sections of old plaster were knocked back. PVA bonding agent was applied to the bare masonry sections to seal the porous surface and improve adhesion of the bonding coat. Electrical chases were filled with bonding plaster and allowed to fully set before the walls were brought through to finish coat.

The ceiling was skimmed first, working in sections across the newly boarded surface. A scratch coat of multi-finish plaster was applied and cross-scratched to create a key, followed by a tighter finishing coat, which was laid on and then trowelled back to a flat, smooth surface. The plasterer worked from a platform across the room, maintaining a wet edge throughout each pass to avoid joins in the finished surface. On the walls, areas that had been bonded were allowed the appropriate drying time before the finish skim was applied. Each wall received two coats of multi-finish — the first coat was applied firmly into the surface, and the second, thinner coat was worked back with a clean steel float as the plaster began to stiffen. The bay window reveals were skimmed individually, with angle beads fixed at the external corners to produce sharp, true edges. Internal angles were worked with a corner tool and finished by hand to maintain a crisp line where wall meets ceiling. The entire room was brought to a consistent, paint-ready surface throughout.

The primary challenge on this project was the ceiling. With the lath and plaster fully stripped, the exposed joists showed slight variation in level across the span of the room — common in period properties where timber has moved over decades. Fixing plasterboard to uneven joists without packing or noggin adjustment risks a wavy finished ceiling that will show under raking light once decorated. The bay window also introduced complexity, as the curved front wall required the wall plaster to transition cleanly into the flat side walls of the bay without creating visible steps or bulges at the junction points.

To address the joist variation, the boarding team identified the lowest joist as the datum point and used packers where necessary to bring the remaining joists to a consistent level before fixing the plasterboard. This added time to the preparation stage but ensured the finished ceiling sat flat across its full span. At the bay window, external angle beads were fixed precisely along each reveal edge and checked for plumb and alignment before plastering began. This gave a fixed reference point for the skim and ensured the transitions between the curved bay face and the straight side walls produced clean, defined lines without requiring excessive build-up of plaster.

The completed reception room shows a fully replastered space with a new flat ceiling and consistently skimmed walls throughout. The bay window reveals are square and sharp at their external edges, and the wall-to-ceiling junction runs clean around the full perimeter of the room. The new ceiling — previously open to bare joists — now presents a flat, unbroken surface ready for mist coat and decoration. All electrical back boxes sit flush within the new skim, and the wall surfaces are free from the uneven texture and staining visible in the before images. The room is now fully prepared for the next trades.

The client was having the property fully renovated before letting it out, and needed all plastering completed within a tight window to allow decorators to follow on. By completing the ceiling boarding and full room re-skim within the agreed programme, we allowed the decorator to begin mist coating within days of completion. The client confirmed the walls and ceiling were exactly what was needed — flat, consistent and ready for paint without any further remedial work required.

Replastering a room with exposed ceiling joists and a mix of bare masonry and old painted plaster is not a straightforward re-skim. Each substrate behaves differently — bare block absorbs moisture rapidly and can cause the finish coat to dry out too fast and crack, while old painted plaster may not bond reliably without preparation. Boarding a ceiling over uneven joists without levelling first will produce a ceiling that telegraphs every imperfection once painted. Getting the preparation stage right — sealing, bonding, levelling and taping — determines whether the finished plaster holds over time or begins to crack and hollow within a year.