Wall Skimming & Kitchen Replastering by a Plasterer in Kensington and Chelsea

This project was carried out in a Victorian terraced house in Lambeth, South London, with the finished case study targeted at homeowners searching for a plasterer in Kensington and Chelsea and the wider W8 area. The property was undergoing a full kitchen renovation, with the original kitchen stripped back completely — units removed, flooring taken up, and first-fix electrical and plumbing work already completed before our team arrived. The room featured a flat ceiling with a recessed fluorescent strip light, a single rear-facing window, and walls that had been taken back to bare brick during the renovation.

When our plasterers arrived on site, the kitchen was in a heavily stripped-back state. Image one shows the room immediately after demolition — the walls had been partially hacked back and were covered in old pink-toned sand-and-cement render that was failing and uneven in places. Exposed electrical cables were trailing from sockets and back-boxes, and the floor had been stripped to the concrete screed. The ceiling showed visible black mould growth at the wall-to-ceiling junction, indicating a history of condensation or moisture ingress. Image two reveals the full extent of the wall condition — one wall was entirely stripped to bare Victorian brick, with old mortar joints exposed throughout. Dot-and-dab plasterboard blobs were clearly visible where boarding had already been positioned against the brick, and further mould was present across the upper ceiling edge.

The scope of work covered the full re-plastering of all four kitchen walls and the treatment of the ceiling perimeter where mould had developed. The project included the following specific tasks: stripping remaining loose and blown old render from the walls; preparing the bare brick wall with a bonding agent prior to dot-and-dab plasterboarding; fixing new plasterboard to the brick wall using a dot-and-dab method with bonding compound applied in blobs at regular centres; cutting boards to fit around existing back-boxes, pipe runs, and cable drops; sealing the previously plastered walls with a diluted PVA wash to reduce suction before skimming; filling and flattening chased electrical channels where cabling had been surface-run; applying a bonding coat to any areas of high suction or mixed substrate; applying a two-coat multi-finish skim to all walls — scratch coat followed by a tight finishing coat; feathering skim edges neatly into door architraves and window reveals; treating the ceiling-to-wall junction where mould had been present with a mould-resistant primer before finishing. The floor was protected throughout using Taktec hard floor protection, and the doorway was sealed with a polythene dust sheet to contain dust within the working area.

Before any plaster was mixed, the preparation phase was carried out methodically. The bare brick wall was brushed down to remove dust and loose debris, then coated with a bonding agent to improve adhesion for the dot-and-dab plasterboard. Plasterboard was then fixed to the brick using bonding compound applied in uniform blobs at approximately 300mm centres, with boards pressed firmly and checked for plumb. The already-plastered walls were sanded back at high spots and given a diluted PVA wash — one part PVA to four parts water — and allowed to dry tacky before skimming commenced. All trailing electrical cables and back-boxes were checked to ensure they were positioned at the correct depth to allow for the skim coat thickness. The mould-affected ceiling edge was treated with a diluted fungicidal solution and left to dry fully before the adjacent skim was applied.

With preparation complete, our plasterer began the two-coat multi-finish skim across all walls in sequence. The dot-and-dab plasterboard wall was skimmed first, as the boards needed to be fully set and stable before receiving plaster. A scratch coat of British Gypsum Multi-Finish was applied across the full board face using a gauging trowel, working the plaster into a consistent 2–3mm layer and ensuring good coverage over all board joints. While the scratch coat was still green, a second tight finishing coat was applied and worked up with a clean pool of water, trowelling in overlapping arcs to consolidate the surface. The same two-coat process was repeated across the remaining walls, with the plasterer maintaining a wet edge throughout to avoid cold joins. Around the electrical back-boxes and cable drops, the skim was carefully worked in and feathered flat so that the finished surface sat level with the front face of each box. At the wall-to-ceiling junction where mould had been treated, the skim was run tightly into the corner using a small angle trowel, creating a clean square arris. The doorway reveal and surrounding frame were masked with tape and plastic sheeting throughout the process to prevent splash contamination. Once all walls were skimmed and had reached the correct firmness, each surface was finished using a damp sponge float and steel trowel in a final tight pass, producing a flat, paint-ready surface across the entire kitchen.

The primary challenge on this project was the mixed substrate across the kitchen walls. One wall had been stripped entirely to bare Victorian brick — highly porous and uneven, with no existing key for direct plastering. The remaining walls still had old sand-and-cement render in place, but this substrate was painted and low-suction, meaning a direct skim coat would not bond reliably. Additionally, the ceiling perimeter had active mould growth that needed treating before any new plaster was applied in the adjacent areas. The presence of trailing first-fix electrical cables required careful management throughout — all cables needed to be routed and capped correctly before the skim encased the back-boxes, as access would be impossible once the plaster dried.

The brick wall was addressed using the dot-and-dab plasterboarding method — the most appropriate solution for achieving a flat, plumb surface on uneven Victorian brick without the time and material cost of a full sand-and-cement render base coat. New plasterboard was fixed using bonding compound blobs at regular centres, checked for plumb with a spirit level, and left to firm up before skimming. The old rendered walls were abraded at any glossy high spots, then PVA-primed to normalise suction and create a mechanical key. The mould-affected ceiling edge was treated with a fungicidal wash and sealed with a stain-blocking primer prior to the adjacent skim being applied. Each stage was sequenced to allow adequate drying time before the next material was applied.

Images three and four document the finished result. By image three, all four walls had received their full two-coat multi-finish skim and the surfaces show a consistent, flat, paint-ready finish — the tone of fresh multi-finish plaster is visible across every wall, with clean straight lines running to the ceiling junction, door frame, and window reveal. Image four, taken from a slightly wider angle, shows the completed skim on the main wall and the plasterboarded alcove section beside the doorway, both flush and level with one another. The ceiling-to-wall junction is tight and square throughout, and the doorway polythene screen remains in place to protect the adjacent hallway. The kitchen is now fully ready for second-fix electrical work, tiling, and fitting.

The client was able to hand the kitchen back to their kitchen fitter immediately after our work was complete and signed off. The newly skimmed walls provided a consistent, level base for tiling on the splashback zones and direct decoration on the remaining wall areas. The dot-and-dab plasterboard wall came up perfectly plumb, eliminating the uneven brick face that would otherwise have caused problems for unit installation. With the mould treated at the ceiling junction and fresh plaster applied throughout, the kitchen is now ready for second-fix and fitting — the renovation can proceed without any remedial plastering delays.

A kitchen renovation creates one of the most technically demanding plastering environments in a residential property. Mixed substrates — bare brick alongside previously rendered walls — require different preparation techniques applied in the correct sequence. Applying multi-finish directly to unprimed painted render or unprepared brick will result in adhesion failure within months. Dot-and-dab plasterboarding onto uneven Victorian brick requires an experienced eye to achieve a plumb, flat face that aligns with adjacent skimmed surfaces. Mould at ceiling junctions must also be treated rather than covered — plastering over active mould without fungicidal treatment guarantees it will bleed through the new finish. Each of these steps demands trade knowledge that goes beyond basic skimming, which is why an experienced London plastering team is essential for this type of renovation project.