Plastering & Render · Highworth · Swindon · Cotswolds
Smooth internal plastering and clean external render, done by the same three-person family team that laid the walls. Walls that finish flat, arrises that stay sharp, render that doesn't crack.
40 years' experience · In-house · Free site visits · Estimates in 3–5 days
Overview
Plaster is where all the earlier trades show up. Uneven brickwork, out-of-plumb blocks, dropped lintels, missing beads: the plasterer sees it all. Doing our own plaster and render means the trade before doesn't leave problems for the trade after, because both trades are us.
Skim finish over sound existing plaster, plaster onto plasterboard (dot-and-dab or timber-batten), plaster onto brick and block with sand-and-cement float coat and skim finish, re-plaster after removal of failed plaster or damp treatment, external sand-and-cement render on new blockwork, patch render repairs on existing elevations, and finish coats including scratched and floated render. Decorative finishes are handled separately by your decorator.
Homeowners re-plastering ceilings and walls that have cracked or blown. Landlords making a rental smart between tenancies. Anyone with a new extension needing full first- and second-fix plaster. Owners of older properties whose external render is cracking, hollow or falling off in sections.
Cracked or bulging plaster, blown plaster from damp, tired walls that a quick cosmetic refresh won't rescue. New extension or alteration walls to be plastered from bare block. External render cracking, staining, sounding hollow when tapped, or coming off in sheets after a wet winter.
Plaster and render are the finishes homeowners look at every day. A bad plaster job shows up under every light source. Bad render shows up at fifty paces. Getting them right is a preparation and technique problem, not a product problem.
The cost of getting it wrong
Wall finishes fail visibly. That's the good news and the bad news.
Hairline cracks are usually cosmetic; wider or stepped cracks mean the substrate has moved, and just filling over the top hides the cause rather than fixing it.
Once plaster has separated from the wall it will not stick back. Sounding hollow when tapped is the sign: the fix is stripping back and re-plastering that section.
Cracked or hollow render lets water sit against the wall. That water gets into the brick, freezes in winter, blows the render off in slabs and damages the wall behind.
Cement render on soft lime-built walls, gypsum plaster in damp cellars, thick coats without proper preparation: all recipes for failure inside a couple of winters.
Common mistake, The most common homeowner mistake with render: coating cracked render with a masonry sealer hoping it will keep the water out. It won't: water still gets in from above, and a sealed surface stops the wall drying out.
Our process
Same honest four-step system.
We tap the existing walls, look for damp, and diagnose whether it's a re-skim, a full strip-and-re-plaster, or a render repair.
Itemised: labour, materials and prep separated out so you can see where the cost is.
The bulk of the quality is in the preparation: scraping off failed plaster, sealing dusty substrates with PVA, fitting beads and stops properly. We don't rush this bit.
Two-coat skim to smooth finish on internal walls; scratch and float on render. We polish edges, arrises and internal corners crisp and walk the job with you before leaving.
The benefits
The test of a plaster job is a lamp at floor level. Ours holds up to it.
Beads fitted properly, corners polished: the details that separate a proper plasterer from a general trade.
Right mix, right suction on the substrate, proper key coat, correct thickness: render as an actual weather barrier, not a decorative coating.
Plaster is messy. We contain it: protection down, waste bagged, floors and surfaces cleaned as we go.
The same family plastering that laid the bricks means the finish is planned into the earlier stages, not fought against later.
We tell you honestly when the plaster is fully cured and ready for the decorator (usually two to four weeks depending on conditions), and we don't rush the finish coats.
In detail
Materials, methods and situations.
Multi-finish skim onto sound existing plaster or fresh backing coat. Bonding coat onto engineering brick, concrete and dense substrates. Browning or hardwall onto ordinary brick and block. Board finish onto plasterboard. Dot-and-dab or batten-and-board plasterboarding on external walls where insulation and warmth are the priority.
Traditional sand-and-cement render: scratch coat, float coat, finish coat, with beads and stop-beads properly fitted. Where the property is older and lime-based, lime render with appropriate NHL binder. Coloured monocouche or through-coloured render systems are offered where the client already has a preferred system.
Patch re-plastering of blown sections after damp treatment, cutting out and re-rendering hollow patches on external walls, re-plastering ceilings and cornices where movement or leaks have caused failure. Matching in the finish level so the patch reads flat with the surrounding wall.
Where there's a history of damp we work with the damp specialist: waterproof render backing, sacrificial lime plaster, or renovation plaster systems depending on the diagnosis. We don't just plaster over rising damp and hope.
Almost all our plastering is residential: full extension finishes, room re-plasters, and repair. Light commercial (offices, small units) taken on selectively.
Recent works
Where we work
Usually two to four weeks depending on conditions. Applying decorative finishes too early traps moisture and they peel. We'll give you a realistic date at handover.
If the existing plaster is sound and firmly stuck to the wall, yes. If it sounds hollow or is blown, no, it needs stripping back first. We'll tap-test at the site visit.
Usually one of three things: movement below the render, the wrong mix for the substrate, or water getting in from above through failed detailing. We diagnose before we quote a repair.
Yes: where the property calls for it (older cottages, listed buildings, walls with historic damp issues) we work in NHL-based lime plaster and render.
Plaster is messy in the moment; we contain it with floor protection, sheeting on furniture, and daily clean-down. You'll never come home to a bomb-site.
Yes: both re-skim and full plasterboard-and-skim on ceilings, including artex removal (which we treat carefully: where necessary we get it tested first).
We don't issue formal certificates. Our commitment is to finish every job to a standard we'd want in our own homes: right mix for the substrate, right thickness, correct drying times, and the same experienced hands from float coat to final skim.
Yes: plastering and render work across Swindon, Highworth, Faringdon, Cirencester, Lechlade, Fairford, Witney, Burford and Shrivenham.
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Free site visit at a time that suits. Written, itemised estimate in 3–5 working days. Staged payments, nothing due before we start.
