Full House Re-skim & Media Wall Build in Lewisham, South East London

This project was carried out at a Victorian terraced house in Lewisham, SE13. The property had undergone a wider interior renovation, with the living room being the centrepiece of the scheme. The room featured a built-in alcove shelving unit with geometric-patterned wallpaper already applied to adjacent walls, oak-effect laminate flooring, and recessed downlights in the ceiling — indicating a property mid-way through a full modernisation and in need of plastering to complete the renovation.

On arrival, the living room walls showed areas of stripped and worn plaster where old fixings, picture rails, and surface features had been removed. A section of the chimney breast wall had been partially stripped back, exposing bare patchy substrate where the old plaster had been hacked off in preparation for the media wall build. The ceiling showed faint discolouration near the ceiling-wall junction — consistent with old hairline cracking or minor historical damp ingress — which had been resolved prior to the plastering visit. The surrounding walls awaiting re-skim were in rough, uneven condition with inconsistent suction across different sections of the substrate.

The scope of work covered two primary elements: a full re-skim of the living room walls and the construction and skim of a bespoke media wall unit. For the media wall, a timber and metal stud frame was erected against the chimney breast wall and faced with moisture-resistant plasterboard. The media wall was designed with two open recessed niches — one above the other — to house a TV bracket and AV equipment respectively. Cabling and conduit were routed through the frame prior to boarding, with socket backboxes positioned and secured. The frame was then boarded using 12.5mm standard plasterboard, taped at all joints, and finished with metal corner bead on all external angles to produce sharp, defined edges. The surrounding living room walls, including areas adjacent to the built-in shelving unit and the chimney breast flanks, were prepared and re-skimmed throughout. Floor protection sheeting (Atakte hard floor protector, visible in green in the photos) was laid across the full floor area before work commenced. The finished media wall was skimmed with two coats of Thistle Multi-Finish plaster — a scratch coat followed by a trowelled finishing coat — to achieve a flat, paintable surface across all faces of the unit.

Before any plastering began, the floor was fully covered with Atakte hard floor protection sheeting to guard the existing oak-effect laminate from plaster splashes and foot traffic. All existing wall surfaces to be re-skimmed were assessed for suction and stability. Porous or inconsistently absorbent areas were treated with a diluted PVA bonding solution and allowed to tack before skimming commenced. All external corners on the media wall frame received metal angle bead, fixed and checked for plumb using a spirit level. Plasterboard joints were taped with scrim tape prior to skimming to prevent cracking along the board seams. Electrical cabling and socket positions were confirmed with the client before boarding was completed.

The media wall frame was built using a combination of timber noggins and metal channel, fixed securely to the chimney breast wall and floor. The frame was then faced with 12.5mm plasterboard, screwed at regular intervals to avoid board flex. The two recessed niches were formed within the frame, with the plasterboard cut and fixed to define the recess openings cleanly. Metal angle bead was applied to all external corners — including the top edge of the unit, the niche openings, and the side returns — and checked for plumb and level throughout. Scrim tape was applied across all plasterboard joints before any skim was applied. The entire media wall was then given a firm scratch coat of Thistle Multi-Finish plaster, worked into all corners and recesses, and allowed to firm up. A second finishing coat was then applied across all faces of the unit, trowelled to a flat, even surface. The living room walls adjacent to the media wall and shelving unit were similarly treated: PVA-primed where required, scratch-coated, and finished with a second trowelled coat of Multi-Finish. The ceiling-wall junctions were carefully cut in by hand to produce clean, straight arrises without tool marks.

The primary challenge on this project was achieving a consistent, flat skim across a media wall that incorporated two recessed niches of different heights, multiple external and internal corners, and integrated cabling. Ensuring the metal angle bead was perfectly plumb on all corners — particularly on the narrow side returns of the niches — required careful setting out before any plaster was applied. The surrounding wall areas also presented variable suction due to the patchwork of stripped plaster and remaining original substrate, which risked the skim coat drying at different rates and producing an uneven surface.

To address the variable suction on the existing walls, all surfaces were treated with a diluted PVA wash at a ratio of 3:1 water to PVA and allowed to reach a tacky consistency before the first coat of Multi-Finish was applied. This equalised the suction across the substrate and allowed the scratch coat to be worked evenly. On the media wall, each section of angle bead was individually checked for plumb with a long spirit level before skimming began, ensuring the finished corners would be sharp and true. The niches were skimmed in sequence — inside faces first, then the surrounding frame faces — to maintain a wet edge and avoid visible join lines in the finished plaster.

The completed media wall presented two cleanly defined recessed niches with sharp, plumb external corners and flat internal faces — ready for the TV bracket and AV equipment to be installed. The skim coat across the entire unit was consistent in texture and level, with no visible joint lines or bead marks. The surrounding living room walls were equally even, producing a continuous flat surface across the full room ready for the client's chosen paint finish. The ceiling-wall junctions were cut in cleanly, and the floor protection was removed to reveal the undamaged laminate beneath.

The client was able to hand the room directly to their decorator following completion of the plastering, with no additional remedial work required. The media wall niches were exactly the dimensions specified, allowing the TV bracket to be fitted without adjustment. The re-skimmed walls throughout the living room provided a continuous, flat surface that took the client's chosen paint with no patchy absorption or telegraphing of old substrate lines. The Atakte floor protection meant the laminate flooring was handed back in perfect condition.

A media wall build involves far more than standard wall skimming — it requires accurate framing, precise angle bead setting, and the ability to skim complex recessed forms without leaving visible joint lines or uneven surfaces. On a project like this in Lewisham, where the media wall sits as the focal point of a renovated living room, any deviation in the corners or inconsistency in the skim coat face would be immediately visible once painted. Routing cabling through the frame before boarding also demands coordination with the client's electrician to ensure socket positions and cable drops are correct before the plasterboard goes on — a step that cannot be undone once the wall is skimmed.