Patch Plastering and Repairs

If the rest of the wall is sound and you are not about to redecorate the whole room, patch it. Once you are looking at three or four separate repairs on one wall, a skim over the lot costs little more and gives you a far better result.

Not once it is painted, if it is done properly. That means cutting back to sound material, scrimming the joints and working the edges into the existing surface rather than feathering them off. On a wall that already has a slight roll to it, matching that roll is part of the job.

Only once the leak is fixed and the ceiling has dried out, and only if the plaster above is still keyed to the laths or board. If it has blown and sounds hollow when tapped, it needs cutting out. Skimming over a blown ceiling is a repair that fails within a year.

Yes, that is regular work. Chases get filled and made good, socket and switch boxes cut in neatly, and the surface brought back so the decorator has a flat run to work with. It is worth booking the plasterer before the sparks finishes so the timing lines up.

Small repairs generally get slotted in far quicker than full rooms, often within the same week. Send a photo through on WhatsApp and Lee can usually tell you what it needs and when he can be there without a site visit first.

No. Quotes are free and there is no charge for coming to look. For small jobs a photo is often enough to give you an honest figure over the phone, which saves everybody a trip.

Usually normal seasonal movement in an older building, concentrated at the weakest point above the opening. Those cut out, scrim and fill permanently. Cracks that keep returning in the same place after a proper repair are structural and want a builder or surveyor looking at them, not more filler.

Matching a decorative artex pattern convincingly is very difficult and rarely looks right. The honest recommendation is nearly always to flatten the whole ceiling instead, which costs a bit more once and then never bothers you again.

Yes. Taking out an old fire or blocking up a redundant opening leaves a hole in the plaster and often in the background behind it. That gets boarded or dubbed out first so the finish sits at the right level rather than dipping where the opening was.

Give a small patch a few days, longer for a bigger cut-out in a cold room. It goes from dark pink to an even pale tone when it is dry. Mist coat first, or the fresh plaster will drink the paint unevenly and the patch will show as a different sheen.