Plastering in Great Yarmouth

Skimming is a thin 2-3 mm finish coat applied over existing plaster or plasterboard to give a smooth paintable surface. Full plastering means building up base (browning/bonding) coats plus a finish coat, needed when old plaster is blown, damp-damaged or removed back to brick.

Fine crazing usually means the plaster dried too fast (heat, draughts) and is cosmetic — fill and paint. Straight-line cracks along boards or above doors indicate movement at joints. Wide or recurring cracks are worth a builder's inspection before redecorating.

Plastering is usually priced per square metre or per room. A skim coat over existing sound walls is the cheapest job; full re-plastering (hacking off old plaster and applying new base and finish coats) costs two to three times more, and exterior rendering is priced separately.

Yes, if the substrate is sound — plasterers key the surface and use bonding agents. But blown (hollow-sounding), crumbling, or damp-stained plaster must come off first. A good plasterer taps the walls during the quote to check; be wary of anyone who doesn't.

No — plaster over damp fails within months. The moisture source (rising damp, leaking gutter, condensation) must be fixed first, then damaged plaster cut back and replaced, sometimes with a salt-resistant renovation plaster. Any plasterer who skips the cause is selling you a repeat job.

A typical room skim (walls only) runs a few hundred pounds — Checkatrade's 2026 guide puts most rooms in the £400-700 range including materials, with ceilings extra. Full re-plaster after hack-off roughly doubles that.

Yes, overskimming artex is common and avoids disturbing it — but get it tested for asbestos first if it predates 2000. High-relief patterns may need a scrape (only after a negative test) or bonding coat before the skim.