Great Harwood, BB6
Finishing the job you started: new plaster misted, cut in and topped out so one tradesman sees it through.
10/10
From 69 Checkatrade reviews
Free
Quotes, with no call-out charge
2020
Checkatrade member since
Local
Rossendale based, Lancashire wide
Great Harwood keeps Lee busy with painting and decorating, and the reason is in the building stock. Older solid-walled stone terraces and cottages with inconsistent backgrounds, walls carrying a slight roll, and a good deal of original coving and cornice. Work with that rather than against it and the result lasts. Ignore it, price the job on area alone, and you get the patchy, cracked finishes that give the trade a bad name around here.
The most common frustration after a plastering job is the wait. The walls are beautiful, the room is unusable until it is painted, and the decorator cannot fit you in for three weeks. Offering the painting as well closes that gap: the plaster goes on, it dries, and the same person comes back and finishes it, so the room comes back into use on a schedule you were told about at the start.
Being straight about scope: this is finishing work that follows a plastering job, not a full decorating firm. Wallpapering, specialist finishes, spraying and large commercial decorating contracts are not what Lee does, and you will get pointed at somebody who does rather than getting a stretched yes.
What that means for a Great Harwood job in practice is that the quote follows the property rather than a rate per square metre. Two houses on the same street can be very different jobs once you know what is behind the surface, and painting and decorating is one of the areas where that gap is widest. Lee looks first, prices second, and tells you which of the two you have got.
Much of the older housing here is stone and solid-walled, with the mix of previous repairs you would expect from properties that have been lived in continuously for over a century. Walls carry a slight roll, backgrounds are inconsistent, and patches from three different decades sit alongside each other. Working with that rather than against it is the whole trick: a repair matched into the wall as it actually is disappears, and one worked to a theoretical flat plane shows as a shadow line the first time low sunlight comes across it.
Great Harwood also produces a steady run of hallway and staircase work, which is worth calling out because it is the job most people put off longest and regret leaving. The stairwell is awkward: a high ceiling that cannot be reached from a step ladder, a wall that runs the full height of the house, and no easy way to sheet it without blocking the only route upstairs. Done properly it needs the access setting up once and the whole void worked in a single visit. Done badly, in pieces off a ladder over three evenings, it never quite matches and every join shows once the light comes through the front door.
Practicalities. A single room is typically a day to a day and a half once the plaster is fully dry. Usually quoted alongside the plastering as one figure, which is cheaper than booking it separately because the set-up and access are already there. Great Harwood and the surrounding area, Rishton, Clayton-le-Moors, Whalley included, are all covered from Rossendale. Floors and furniture get sheeted before work starts, and the debris leaves with Lee rather than sitting in your hallway.
Great Harwood at a glance
- Postcodes
- BB6
- District
- Hyndburn, Lancashire
- Also covered from here
- Rishton, Clayton-le-Moors, Whalley, Wilpshire, Billington
- Typical timescale
- A single room is typically a day to a day and a half once the plaster is fully dry.
What is included
- New plaster misted correctly before its top coats
- Walls and ceilings finished so the room comes back into use sooner
- Junctions caulked and filled before painting rather than after
- Clean cut-ins at ceilings, coving and skirtings
- Everything masked and sheeted, no touching up afterwards
- One tradesman from bare wall to finished room
Local proof
- Period detail matchedOriginal coving profiles taken from a surviving run and reproduced where a section has been lost.
- Repairs that disappearMatched into the wall as it actually is, not to a straight line the wall never had.
- Short run from AccringtonCovered on the Hyndburn rounds, so quotes are quick and small jobs are worth doing.
Common questions
Painting In Great Harwood: Your Questions
Ten questions people in Great Harwood actually ask about painting and decorating, answered straight.
How much does painting and decorating cost in Great Harwood?
Usually quoted alongside the plastering as one figure, which is cheaper than booking it separately because the set-up and access are already there. In Great Harwood specifically, the biggest variable is the background: older solid-walled stone terraces and cottages with inconsistent backgrounds, walls carrying a slight roll, and a good deal of original coving and cornice. That is why Lee quotes off a look or a photo rather than a price list. Quotes are free and there is no call-out charge.
How long does painting and decorating take in a Great Harwood property?
A single room is typically a day to a day and a half once the plaster is fully dry. Older Great Harwood properties can take a little longer than that because the preparation is heavier, and you will be told which category yours falls into when the quote is given rather than discovering it partway through.
Do you cover the areas around Great Harwood?
Yes. Rishton, Clayton-le-Moors, Whalley, Wilpshire, Billington are all covered from the same rounds as Great Harwood, along with the neighbouring towns. LD Plastering works out of Rossendale, so this is a genuine local patch rather than a national firm with a local phone number.
Is painting and decorating the right job for my Great Harwood house?
LD Plastering offers painting alongside its plastering work across East Lancashire, so newly skimmed walls and ceilings can be misted and finished by the same tradesman rather than waiting on a separate decorator. Fresh plaster needs a thinned mist coat before its top coats, which is where most self-decorated new plaster goes wrong. Whether it suits your property depends on what is behind the wall, and in Great Harwood that means older solid-walled stone terraces and cottages with inconsistent backgrounds, walls carrying a slight roll, and a good deal of original coving and cornice. Lee will tell you if a different or smaller job would serve you better.
Is it cheaper to have you paint than to book a decorator?
Usually, when it is quoted with the plastering, because the set-up, sheeting and access are already in place and there is no second mobilisation. As a standalone painting job with no plastering attached it will not be, and Lee will tell you that.
Can I paint it myself after you have plastered?
Absolutely, and plenty of people do. Ask Lee about the mist coat before you start and he will tell you the ratio and what to watch for. He would far rather spend two minutes explaining it than come back to a wall that has been painted wrong.
Why does new plaster need a mist coat?
Fresh plaster is very porous and pulls the moisture out of full-strength emulsion before it can bond. The result is patchy coverage that peels at the edges. A mist coat, emulsion thinned with water, soaks in and gives the top coats something to key to. It is the single most important step and the one most often skipped.
Can you match the original cornice in my Great Harwood house?
Usually, where a surviving run exists somewhere in the room or the house to take the profile from. Where nothing survives to copy, the honest option is the nearest available profile, and Lee will tell you that before it goes up rather than after.
My walls are not straight. Will a repair show?
Not if it is matched into the wall that is actually there. Older Great Harwood walls carry a roll, and following it is what makes a patch vanish. Repairs worked to a theoretical flat plane are exactly the ones that show up as a shadow line under low light.
How much does plastering cost in Great Harwood?
Single rooms are typically in the low hundreds, with older property costing a little more because of the preparation. Coving is priced by the metre plus the profile. Quotes are free with no call-out charge.
Looking for something else in this town? See everything Lee does in Great Harwood.
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Painting In Great Harwood?
Tell Lee what needs doing and where in Great Harwood you are, and you will get an honest figure back, usually the same day. Free, no obligation, no call-out charge.