Full House Re-skim & Ceiling Replacement by a Plasterer in Kingston upon Thames

This project took place in a substantial period property in South London, completed for a client now based in Kingston upon Thames (KT1). The house featured tall ceilings with original dark hardwood cornices and door architraves throughout, indicating an Edwardian or late Victorian construction. The property had clearly been untouched for many decades, retaining its original lath-and-plaster ceiling construction and heavily degraded wall plaster across multiple rooms, including a large reception hallway with a sweeping timber staircase. The scale and age of the property made this a complex, multi-room full house re-skim.

The images clearly show the extent of deterioration throughout the property. In the upper-left photo, an entire wall has been stripped back to expose the original timber stud framework and lath strips — the old plaster had completely failed and been removed in full. Loose debris, old wiring, and exposed lath nails were all visible. The ceiling and upper wall areas across multiple rooms showed severe delamination of the old lime-based plaster coat. In the hallway, the walls retained patches of old painted plaster in poor condition, with visible staining and surface breakdown consistent with age, minor damp ingress, and structural movement over many years.

The scope of work across this period property was extensive and covered multiple rooms and surfaces. The primary tasks included: full removal of the failed lath-and-plaster wall system in the main reception room, which had been stripped back to bare timber studwork; supply and fix of new 12.5mm plasterboard sheets across all exposed stud bays to create a flat, sound substrate for skimming; full ceiling replacement in the hallway and reception areas using new plasterboard fixed to the existing joists, with boards butted tightly against the retained hardwood cornice mouldings; two-coat skim application across all newly boarded ceilings using British Gypsum multi-finish plaster — a scratch coat followed by a tightened finishing coat; re-skim of all remaining walls throughout the ground floor hallway and connecting rooms where the existing plaster substrate was sound enough to bond to; dust sheeting and full floor protection laid across all working areas, including the original hardwood staircase and balustrade; and making good around all existing light drops, electrical back boxes, and ceiling pendants exposed during the replastering works. The project was carried out room by room to allow earlier sections to dry while work progressed through the property.

Before any plastering began, the stripped stud wall in the main reception room was inspected for structural integrity. Loose and protruding lath nails were removed, and the timber frame was checked for plumb and level before boarding commenced. All ceiling joists were assessed for sag or unevenness — any low points were packed out prior to board fixing. New plasterboard sheets were secured using drywall screws at 150mm centres into the studs and joists. All board joints and screw heads were filled with Thistle Bonding prior to skimming. The existing wall surfaces in the hallway were brushed down and treated with a diluted PVA bond coat to reduce suction and improve adhesion of the new skim coat.

Once all boards were fixed and the preparation work was complete, the plastering process began with the ceilings. Each new plasterboard ceiling received a full two-coat application of British Gypsum Thistle Multi-Finish. The first coat — the scratch coat — was applied at approximately 3mm thickness, spread evenly across the full ceiling area and then cross-scratched to provide a mechanical key for the second coat. The second finishing coat was applied once the first had begun to firm up, brought back with a clean steel trowel to a flat, smooth surface. The ceiling in the hallway, visible in the upper-right image, shows the freshly boarded plasterboard with wet jointing compound still visible at the board edges — the stage immediately before the skim coat was applied. The bottom-left image shows the completed skim on the hallway ceiling, taken from below the original dark hardwood cornice beams — the plaster has been trowelled tight to the timber moulding line. The bottom-right image captures the wider hallway view with the freshly skimmed ceiling complete, dust sheets across the floor, plaster buckets visible, and the walls still in their stripped state awaiting their own skim coats. Wall skimming followed the same two-coat process, with particular care taken around the staircase newel post and balustrade.

The principal challenge on this project was the removal and replacement of the original lath-and-plaster wall system in the main room. Old lime plaster over timber lath is fragile to dismantle — the risk of disturbing adjacent retained wall sections or damaging the original hardwood cornice and architrave mouldings required careful, methodical strip-out work. A secondary challenge was achieving a consistent skim finish across new plasterboard ceilings that abutted dark, polished hardwood cornice beams. Any deviation in level or any plaster overlap onto the timber would have been highly visible once decorated, demanding precise trowel work right up to each timber edge.

The lath-and-plaster strip-out was carried out by hand using bolster chisels, working carefully section by section to avoid vibration damage to adjacent surfaces. The retained hardwood cornices were masked before any bonding or skim coat was applied. Plasterboard sheets were cut to fit flush against each timber beam, minimising the joint gap to under 3mm, which was then filled with scrim tape and bonding before skimming. When trowelling the finishing coat on the ceiling, the plasterer worked the coat tight to the timber edge using a smaller margin trowel, producing a clean plaster-to-timber line that required no additional caulking or overfilling.

The completed photographs show a dramatically transformed property interior. The hallway ceiling, previously a deteriorating lath-and-plaster structure, is now a flat, freshly skimmed plasterboard surface ready for mist coat and decoration. The new skim sits cleanly against the retained dark hardwood cornice beams, with no visible stepping or gaps at the timber junctions. The wider hallway view confirms the uniformity of the finished ceiling across the full span of the room, with the staircase, window bay, and original balustrading all retained and unaffected. The walls, though still awaiting their final skim in some areas of the photo, confirm the systematic, room-by-room approach taken throughout the project.

The client received a full ceiling replacement and comprehensive wall re-skim across the ground floor of their period property, completed systematically to allow each section to cure before the next was started. The retained hardwood features — cornices, architraves, and staircase — were fully protected and left undamaged throughout. On completion, every ceiling and wall surface was primed and ready for the decorator to mist coat and finish. The client reported the property felt entirely renewed and ready for the next phase of its renovation programme.

Period properties like this one require a plasterer who understands how to work around original architectural features — hardwood cornices, timber beam soffits, and original staircase joinery — without causing damage. New plasterboard abutting polished timber must be scrimmed, bonded, and skimmed in sequence to avoid cracking at the junction. Applying a skim coat over new boards too early, before the bonding has cured, causes the finish to slide and crack. An experienced plasterer working in Kingston upon Thames and across South London will know how to sequence the work, control drying times, and deliver a surface that is genuinely flat and ready for a decorator — not one that needs remedial filling.