Full House Re-skim and Hallway Plastering by a Plasterer in Kensington and Chelsea

This project took place in a Victorian terraced house in the W8 postcode area of Kensington and Chelsea. The property featured original period details including ornate coving, turned baluster staircase, and panelled doors — all typical of late 19th-century terrace houses in this part of west London. The house was undergoing a full renovation, with all rooms stripped back to their original brick substrate before replastering. The hallway, stairwell, and ground-floor rooms were all included within the scope of the re-skim contract.

When our team arrived on site, the walls throughout the property had been stripped entirely back to bare brick and original lime mortar joints. Large sections of the old sand-and-cement render and bonding coat had been hacked off, exposing uneven red brick and stone rubble walling on the staircase and hallway chimney breast. The ceiling in the upper hallway showed a removed access hatch opening with exposed joists and a dangling electrical cable. Plaster debris was scattered across the original timber floorboards, which were covered with protective sheeting. The stairwell walls, visible in multiple images, were completely bare and porous — presenting a challenging surface for direct skimming without preparatory bonding coats.

The full scope covered replastering of all stripped walls throughout the Victorian terraced house, with particular focus on the entrance hallway, stairwell, and ground-floor reception areas. Specific tasks included: applying a stabilising PVA bonding solution to all bare brick and rubble stone surfaces across the hallway and stairwell; mixing and applying a scratch coat of Thistle BonditingCoat to the highly porous and uneven brick substrate to bring the walls to a consistent level; following the bonding coat with a two-coat finish skim using British Gypsum Thistle Multi-Finish plaster; working around the original Victorian coving and cornice profiles, carefully cutting in plaster at the coving line to preserve the decorative mouldings; plastering the stairwell walls from ground floor through to first floor using a Werner extension ladder for access on the staircase; filling and making good around the ceiling access hatch opening in the upper hallway; and applying multi-finish skim coats to the stairwell soffit and adjacent walls. Protection sheeting (visible as green Naltec sheeting and white dust sheets) was laid across all floor areas before work commenced. Total wall area replastered across all spaces is estimated at approximately 90–110 square metres.

Before any plaster was applied, all loose debris and residual old bonding coat were knocked back and swept from the wall faces. Each bare brick surface was treated with a diluted PVA wash — a 1:4 solution of PVA to water — and allowed to dry fully overnight to seal the porous brick and improve adhesion of the subsequent bonding coat. Door architraves and skirting boards were masked and protected. Floor coverings, including Naltec green protective sheeting visible in the photos, were laid across the hallway, staircase treads, and ground-floor rooms. The access hatch void in the upper hallway ceiling was assessed, with the electrical cable routed safely out of the work zone prior to plastering commencing.

Work began with the application of Thistle Bonding Coat to all bare brick wall surfaces throughout the hallway and stairwell. The bonding coat was applied at approximately 8–11mm thickness, ruled off with a feather-edge rule to create a flat datum, and left to reach firm-but-not-fully-set before the finish skim was applied. On the stairwell walls, a Werner extension ladder was positioned on the stair treads to allow the plasterer access to the upper sections of the staircase wall — as visible in the third image, where finishing skim work is being carried out at height on the stairwell. The multi-finish plaster was then applied in two passes: a scratch coat trowelled firmly onto the bonding base, followed by a closing coat worked to a flat, even surface using a Marshalltown finishing trowel. The existing original coving and cornice moulding on the hallway ceiling was preserved in place; the plasterer carefully cut in the skim coat to meet the base of the coving without overrunning the decorative profile. In the fourth image, fresh multi-finish skim is clearly visible on the hallway walls surrounding the staircase, showing the even warm tone of freshly applied and partially dried Thistle Multi-Finish. Trowelling continued in sections to maintain a wet edge throughout. Each wall section was finished and left to dry before adjacent sections were completed.

The primary challenge on this project was the highly irregular and porous bare brick substrate throughout the hallway and stairwell. Victorian rubble-stone and brick walls of this type absorb moisture rapidly, which can cause bonding coat to dry too quickly and lose adhesion. The varied wall surfaces — red engineering brick in some areas and coursed rubble stone visible beneath the staircase — required different thicknesses of bonding coat to achieve a plumb, flat finish. Working within the confined stairwell without a full scaffold platform also required careful ladder positioning and staged working to safely reach the upper staircase walls.

To counteract the suction issue on the bare brick, two passes of diluted PVA were applied — the first as a soak coat and the second as a tacky bonding coat immediately before plastering. This controlled the moisture absorption and extended the open working time of the bonding coat. Where wall surfaces were particularly uneven or the rubble stone projected further from the wall plane, the bonding coat was built up in two passes rather than one, with the first pass ruled off and allowed to stiffen before the second straightening coat was applied. The stairwell was tackled in vertical sections, with the ladder repositioned between each section to maintain safe working access throughout.

The completed walls throughout the hallway and stairwell show an even, freshly skimmed surface in Thistle Multi-Finish — the characteristic warm buff tone visible in the fourth image demonstrates the consistency of the finish across the full wall height. The original Victorian coving and cornice mouldings have been preserved, with the new skim coat cutting cleanly up to the base of the decorative profile. The stairwell walls, previously exposed bare brick, are now fully plastered from skirting to ceiling, ready for mist coat and decoration. The upper hallway ceiling void has been made good and the overall surfaces are flat, plumb, and ready for the client's decorator.

The homeowner was mid-way through a full renovation of their Victorian terrace and needed the plastering completed on programme so their decorator could follow on directly. By completing all hallway, stairwell, and ground-floor wall re-skimming within the agreed schedule, the client was able to hand over to their decorator on time. The replastered walls gave a flat, consistent surface across all areas, removing the uneven, patchy appearance of the old stripped-back brick and preparing the property for its final decoration and fit-out ahead of the family moving back in.

Victorian terraced houses in Kensington and Chelsea present specific plastering challenges that differ from modern new-build properties. The original brick and rubble-stone substrates are highly porous and uneven, requiring preparatory bonding coats before any finish skim can be applied — a step often skipped by less experienced operatives, leading to delamination and cracking within months. Period properties also feature original coving, cornices, and decorative mouldings that require careful cutting-in to preserve. Working within confined stairwells at height adds a further layer of complexity. With over ten years working on period properties across west London, our plasterers understand how to manage suction, substrate preparation, and period detail preservation on every job.