Full House Re-skim & Plasterboard Wall Lining by a Plasterer in Merton

This project took place in a Victorian terraced house in Lambeth, London — a property type common across south London boroughs including Merton and the surrounding SW20 postcode area. The house was undergoing a full internal renovation, with multiple rooms stripped back to bare brick and exposed timber stud work. The property showed characteristic signs of an older terraced house mid-refurbishment: original tile remnants on walls, exposed cable runs, and a mix of old plaster and raw masonry requiring complete re-lining and re-skimming throughout.

At the start of the project, the rooms were stripped to bare structure. The image shows a bedroom or small reception room with the front wall entirely removed down to exposed timber stud framing, with green moisture-resistant plasterboard already partially fixed to the studs around the window reveal. Old decorative wall tiles — likely original to the property — were still visible on sections of the remaining masonry. Electrical cables had been re-routed and chased in, with back boxes positioned but not yet plastered over. The ceiling showed bare plasterboard with no skim applied. The floor was protected with dust sheets throughout, indicating the room was mid-way through a controlled strip and re-line process.

The scope of work for this full house renovation plastering package included the following across multiple rooms: 1. Timber stud wall frames were constructed to the front window wall to create a clean, insulated surface away from the original masonry. Green moisture-resistant plasterboard (12.5mm) was fixed to the studs, particularly around the window reveal and bay area. 2. Where existing walls were intact but in poor condition — rough, uneven, or previously tiled — a bonding coat was applied to provide a stable base before the finish skim. 3. All ceilings received a two-coat multi-finish skim. The before photos show bare plasterboard ceilings with no skim applied; the after photos show freshly skimmed ceilings with a consistent, flat surface ready for decoration. 4. Window reveals were boarded and skimmed to match the surrounding walls, creating a clean return around each frame. 5. Electrical back boxes and socket positions were accommodated during the skim process, with the plasterer working around the first-fix electrical layout. 6. Each wall received a bonding or browning undercoat where required, followed by a two-coat Thistle Multi-Finish skim — a scratch coat worked into the surface and a finishing coat trowelled flat and polished back.

Before any plaster was applied, the following preparation steps were carried out across the property. All loose and blown sections of old plaster were hacked off and the substrate swept down. Where timber stud walls had been erected, the framework was checked for plumb and level before plasterboard was screwed into position. All plasterboard joints were taped with fibreglass scrim tape to prevent cracking at the seams. Electrical back boxes were masked or set proud to allow for plaster depth. Porous masonry surfaces received a diluted PVA bonding solution applied by brush and left to reach a tacky consistency before the bonding coat was applied. Dust sheets were laid across floors throughout.

The plastering was carried out in a logical sequence across the rooms, starting with ceilings before moving to walls — a standard approach that prevents wall plaster being contaminated by ceiling droppings. For the stud wall around the window, 12.5mm moisture-resistant plasterboard was screwed to the timber frame at 300mm centres. Scrim tape was applied to all butt joints. A scratch coat of Thistle Bonding Coat was spread across the boards and keyed with a devil float to create mechanical adhesion for the finish coat. For masonry walls — including the rough section where old tiles had been removed — Thistle BondIt or a diluted PVA wash was brushed on and left until tacky. A browning undercoat was then applied to these sections and ruled flat to bring the surface level before the skim. Once the undercoat had set to the correct hardness, Thistle Multi-Finish was mixed to a smooth, creamy consistency and applied as a first coat across the full wall area. This was spread at approximately 2mm thickness using a steel plastering trowel, working from the top of the wall downward. A second coat was applied shortly after, trowelled tight and brought to a smooth, flat finish by working the trowel at a low angle with water mist. Ceilings were skimmed using the same two-coat multi-finish method, with the plasterer working from one end of the room to the other in continuous passes to avoid cold joints.

The primary challenge on this project was managing a room that had been stripped to multiple different substrate types simultaneously. The front wall had been rebuilt using timber stud and plasterboard, while adjacent walls retained original rough masonry from which old wall tiles had been removed. These two surfaces behave very differently during plastering — plasterboard absorbs moisture from the plaster at a different rate to bare brick or sand-cement render, meaning the suction levels had to be carefully controlled. Applying finish plaster across surfaces with mismatched suction can cause the skim coat to dry unevenly, leading to cracking or poor adhesion. Additionally, the window reveal required careful boarding to ensure a square, plumb return.

To address the mixed substrate problem, each surface type was treated individually before any finish plaster was applied. The plasterboard stud wall was scrim taped at all joints and given a mist coat of diluted PVA to reduce suction slightly and unify the board surface. The bare masonry sections — where tiles had been removed — received a full bonding coat to bring them level and create a consistent base. The window reveal was measured and boarded square using off-cuts of 9.5mm plasterboard, scrimmed at the corners and bonded before skimming. By treating each substrate correctly before the finish coat, the plasterer ensured the multi-finish skim dried at a consistent rate across the entire room, producing a flat, crack-free surface throughout.

The finished rooms show a complete transformation from stripped-out shell to freshly plastered, decoration-ready spaces. The before images reveal a room with exposed timber studs, bare green plasterboard, old tile remnants and exposed cables. The after images show walls and ceilings covered in a smooth, flat, freshly set multi-finish skim with a consistent mid-tan colour indicating even drying across all surfaces. The window reveal has been neatly boarded and skimmed with clean, square internal corners. Electrical back boxes sit flush and ready for second-fix fittings. The ceiling is flat and blemish-free with a recessed downlight already fitted, demonstrating that the plaster depth was maintained accurately around the light fitting.

The client was renovating a Victorian terraced house across multiple rooms and needed all plastering completed within a tight timeframe to allow decorators and second-fix trades to follow on. By working systematically — stud wall lining first, then undercoats, then two-coat skim across walls and ceilings — the team handed over freshly plastered, dry rooms ready for painting within the agreed schedule. The client was able to move forward with the decoration phase without delays. The walls and ceilings throughout the renovated rooms were flat, consistent and required no remedial patching before the decorator began.

Re-skimming a room mid-renovation — where multiple wall types, new plasterboard, bare masonry and old substrates all exist side by side — requires an experienced plasterer who understands how different materials behave. An inexperienced applicator skimming across mixed substrates without correct preparation will see cracking appear within weeks as sections dry at different rates. A professional plasterer assesses each surface, applies the correct undercoat or bonding treatment, and controls the thickness of each coat. In a Victorian terraced house in Merton or Lambeth, where walls are rarely perfectly plumb or level, the plasterer must also judge how to build out uneven areas without creating a heavy, cracking build-up.