Plastering London
Skim coating, full re-plastering, ceiling skim after leak repair, dot-and-dab plasterboard, coving and crack repair across London. Walls from £140, ceilings from £180, dust-controlled prep, paint-ready finish.
£5m Public Liability, 12-month workmanship guarantee. Combined with redecorating to hand back paint-ready in a single visit window.
Mobile? Call 07456 975436.
Plastering in London runs £140–£220 for a skim wall, £180–£280 for a ceiling, £220–£350 for a full re-plaster and £280–£400 for dot-and-dab plasterboard plus skim. Coving installs at £25–£45 per metre and crack repairs from £80. All work is dust-controlled, fully insured and guaranteed 12 months.
Plastering services across London
Plastering sits between the structural and the cosmetic — it's the layer that turns a sound wall or ceiling into a paint-ready surface. The trade splits into two distinct skills: float-and-set (a base coat of bonding or browning followed by finish skim, used where plaster has come away from the substrate) and skim coating (a thin two-coat finish over existing sound plaster). Reading the wall correctly to know which one is needed is half the job.
Across the London housing stock the work splits roughly into period properties with lime or gypsum plaster on lath, Edwardian and inter-war stock with cement-rendered solid walls, and post-war concrete or masonry block with modern gypsum board finishes. Each substrate takes a different bonding agent and a different finish coat — there's no single recipe, and getting the bond right is what stops the work blowing in two winters.
What we cover
- Skim coat over old plaster — bonding agent, two-coat multi-finish, trowel polish
- Full re-plaster of damaged walls — hack off, browning undercoat, finish skim
- Ceiling skim after a leak — stain block, bond patch, two-coat overskim
- Dot-and-dab plasterboard onto solid masonry — adhesive fix, tape and skim
- Coving and cornice install — Gyproc cove, plaster cornice, mitred corners
- Crack repair and patching — rake out, scrim, easi-fill, blend to existing finish
- Reveals, soffits and bulkheads around new windows, doors and steels
- Float and set onto new lath or expanded metal lath (EML) over chases
- Dust-controlled prep — corex floor protection, poly sheeting, low-dust sanding
- All waste removed and finished surfaces left ready for the decorator
Pricing — transparent, VAT-inclusive
Pricing is set on the call from a quick photo on WhatsApp or a description of the room. There's no call-out fee on quoted jobs, no surprise extras, and waste removal is included. VAT is in every figure shown.
| Job Type | What's Covered | Typical Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Skim ceiling (per room) | Bond to existing plaster, two-coat finish skim, sand-ready for paint. | £180–£280 |
| Skim wall (per wall) | PVA seal, two-coat multi-finish skim, trowel polish, ready to decorate. | £140–£220 |
| Re-plaster wall (browning + skim) | Hack off blown plaster, dub-out, browning undercoat, multi-finish skim. | £220–£350 |
| Plasterboard + skim (dot-and-dab) | 12.5mm board fixed to masonry with dri-wall adhesive, tape, two-coat skim. | £280–£400 |
| Ceiling skim after leak repair | Stain block, bonding patch where required, two-coat skim over full ceiling. | £200–£320 |
| Coving install | Gyproc cove or plaster cornice, mitred corners, jointed and filled. | £25–£45/m |
| Crack repair (single room) | Rake out, scrim tape or easi-fill, two-coat patch skim, feather to existing. | £80–£140 |
* Prices include VAT and waste removal. Full pricing list on the pricing page.
How it works
Quote on the call
Send a couple of photos on WhatsApp or describe the room on the phone — number of walls, ceiling condition, any blown plaster. A fixed price is confirmed before the visit, with VAT included.
Prep and protect
Floors are covered with corex and dust sheets, sockets and switches taped, doorways sealed with poly. Existing wallpaper is stripped, loose plaster cut back to sound substrate, edges PVA'd.
Plaster and finish
Bonding or browning undercoat where needed, then two coats of multi-finish skim worked from corners to centres. Final trowel pass at the right firmness leaves a polished, paint-ready surface.
Clean, sign-off, paint-ready
Tools and waste removed, floors swept and wiped. Walls left to dry for 3–5 days before mist coat. Photos taken for the file. Decorator can follow on directly under our redecorating service.
Ceiling skim after a leak — the most common London job
The single highest-volume plastering job across our London diary is a ceiling skim following a fixed leak — a flat above that ran a bath over, a frozen pipe that burst over Christmas, a slow weep from a soil stack joint that finally let go. Once the plumbing is sorted and the ceiling is dry to a damp meter reading under 12%, the plaster work runs in three steps.
First, a stain-blocking primer (Zinsser BIN or equivalent shellac-based) goes onto every water mark — without this, the tannin in the old water staining will bleed straight through the skim and reappear weeks after the paint goes on. Second, any blown patches are cut back to sound plasterboard, scrim-taped and bond-coated. Third, two coats of finish skim over the full ceiling for a uniform plane — patching just the damaged area always shows through the final paint as a slight halo.
If the underlying issue was an emergency plumbing repair we coordinate both trades on the file so the ceiling job is booked the moment the plumber signs off the dry-out. For landlords this keeps insurance claims clean and tenants back in a finished room inside a fortnight.
Areas covered
Plastering work is carried out across central and inner London with same-week booking, and the rest of the 32 boroughs on a 7–10 day lead time. Heaviest volumes come from Camden, Westminster, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Lambeth and Wandsworth.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does plastering cost in London?
What's the difference between a skim coat and a re-plaster?
Can you skim over old artex or textured ceilings?
How long after a leak before you can skim the ceiling?
How long does plaster take to dry before painting?
Will the work be dusty?
Do you do dot-and-dab plasterboard?
Can you install coving or cornice?
Do I need to move out during plastering?
Is the work guaranteed?
Related services
Plastering sits inside our wider redecorating London service, which co-ordinates plastering with painting, wallpapering and finishing under one quote and one visit window. Most plastered rooms are followed straight on by painting and decorating once the surface has dried, and finished with wallpaper hanging where a feature wall is planned.
Book your plasterer this week
Fixed price on the call, dust-controlled prep, 12-month workmanship guarantee. Combine with our redecorating service to hand the room back painted and finished in one visit window.
£5m Public Liability (Hiscox UK) • £5m Employers' Liability • Co. No. 17120057