Internal plastering in Farehamthat leaves walls paint-ready,not just patched.
Two-coat skim finishes flat under raking light, dried correctly, signed off when the painter can roll without prepping again. Free written quote within 24 hours.
30 years on the tools · Checkatrade approved · Quote within 24 hours
- 1,800+Rooms skimmed since 1993
- 30+ yrsSteve on the tools
- 24 hrQuote turnaround
- InsuredPublic liability cover
What this service is, and who it's for.
What it is
Internal plastering is the two-coat skim or float-and-set finish applied over plasterboard, bonding, or existing painted walls to give a true, flat, polished surface ready for decoration. On a typical Hampshire job that means feeding the surface, applying a tight first coat, laying-on a second skim, then trowelling through three passes until the wall reads flat under a 1m light at 200mm.
Who it's for
Homeowners re-decorating a tired room, landlords prepping a property between tenancies, builders who need a finishing trade to make their carcass work look intentional, and renovators stripping back old wallpaper or artex to start fresh. Almost every job we take begins as someone saying "the walls just don't sit right anymore."
When you need it
When paint won't sit flat, when hairline cracks keep reopening through filler, when the room has been wallpapered for 20 years and the surface underneath is no longer suitable for paint, when an extension or knock-through has left mismatched wall heights, or when you've torn down artex and need a clean substrate. New plasterboard ceilings and walls also need skimming before they can be painted.
Why professional matters
Plastering looks simple on a YouTube clip and brutal in real life. A skim that's polished too early traps water and blooms. A skim that's left too long picks up sponge marks and fat lines. A skim laid on dusty or unprimed board delaminates within two years. The price of getting it wrong is stripping it back to bare board and starting again - usually paid for twice.
What happens when these problems are left.
Hairline cracks that keep coming back
Cracks reopening through paint are almost always movement between dissimilar substrates - plasterboard meeting old lath, fresh patches against original lime. Filler alone won't hold. A full skim across the wall bridges the joint and finishes the issue.
Bumpy walls under low evening light
Old artex scraped back, badly filled patches, or skim laid by a chancer all read fine in daylight and terrible the moment a wall light goes on. Once you've seen it, you can't unsee it. Re-skimming gives you one continuous plane and the lighting problem disappears.
Paint refusing to cover
Patchy paint, polished spots, dead matt areas - all symptoms of a porous, contaminated or under-primed surface. Skimming gives the decorator a uniform substrate and three coats of paint will actually cover in three coats.
DIY skim that's now your problem
We re-do at least one DIY skim a month. Blown areas, scrim showing through, fat lines, dishing around plug sockets. Honest pricing: sometimes it's cheaper to overboard the whole room than chase the defects.
Damp returning through fresh plaster
If a wall has been damp, skimming over the symptom traps the cause. We test moisture before we quote and will tell you straight if the wall needs damp-proofing first - even if it costs us the job.
How the job actually runs, step by step.
- 01
Site visit & moisture check
Free, on-site, usually within the week. We test damp readings, check substrate suitability, agree the scope room-by-room and put everything in writing. No high-pressure quoting.
- 02
Prep & protection
Floors covered, sockets isolated, dust-sheeted from skirting up. Old wallpaper stripped, blown areas hacked off, scrim tape over board joints, PVA bonded into porous areas at the right dilution for the suction.
- 03
First coat (laying-in)
Multi-finish laid on at roughly 2mm, flattened off with the float, trowelled tight. Time between coats watched against the room temperature - too quick and it tears, too late and you've lost the suction.
- 04
Second coat & three trowels
Second skim laid on, levelled, then three timed trowel passes with water - fat trowel, tightening trowel, and the final polish. This is where the finish is made or lost.
- 05
Drying, sign-off & paint window
We leave you with written advice on when to mist coat (typically 4–7 days) and what dilution to use. We come back and check the room before you decorate if you'd like us to.
What you actually get.
True flat under any light
Finishes hold up under raking light, downlighters and floor lamps - not just daylight.
Paint goes further
A properly primed and skimmed wall takes 30–40% less paint than a patchy substrate. Real money on a full house.
Predictable drying
We tell you the exact day you can mist coat. No guessing, no painting too early and bringing the colour off in patches.
One trade, one accountability
If anything moves, cracks or fails, one phone call and it's sorted. No finger-pointing.
Quiet, clean working
Floors and furniture protected, waste taken away the same day, room left swept. We work in occupied homes every week.
Free written quote
Most quotes turned around within 24 hours - itemised, no day-rate surprises.
The materials, methods and situations.
For homeowners, specifiers and surveyors who want to know exactly what they're commissioning.
Materials we work with
British Gypsum Thistle Multi-Finish for standard skim, Board Finish for direct-to-board work, Hardwall for backing coats on masonry, and SBR or PVA primers depending on suction. For damp-affected walls we re-plaster with renovating plaster systems that allow salt migration without spoiling the finish.
Methods used
Float and set on bare brick, two-coat skim on bonded or boarded walls, overboarding with 9.5mm or 12.5mm plasterboard tacked to battens or dot-and-dabbed where the wall is too uneven to skim economically. Tape-and-joint on plasterboard ceilings where a skim coat isn't required.
Variations of the service
Full room re-skim, single feature wall, ceiling-only skim, patch repair after sockets or plumbing, overboard-and-skim for badly cracked walls, and skim-over-artex (popcorn ceilings) once tested as safe and stabilised. Each is priced separately so you only pay for what's actually needed.
Situations it applies to
Victorian terraces in Portsmouth with lath-and-plaster failing in patches, 1930s semis in Fareham with original lime walls cracking around door frames, modern Whiteley new-builds where the developer's skim has dried fat and bumpy, and ex-rental flats in Gosport needing a full reset before sale.
Residential vs. commercial
Residential work is quiet, dust-controlled, scheduled around the household - we work room-by-room so you keep functioning. Commercial work (offices, retail units, HMOs) tends to run out-of-hours or in compressed phases with longer working days; we price both differently and explain why up front.
Honest answers to the questions we get most.
How much does internal plastering cost in Fareham?
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Most rooms in Fareham fall between £450 and £950 to skim - driven by ceiling height, wall condition and access. A standard 3x4m bedroom in good order with no ceiling work usually sits around the lower end. We quote in writing within 24 hours so you're never guessing.
How long will it take?
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A single room is typically a one-day skim plus drying. A full downstairs (lounge, hall, kitchen-diner) usually runs 3–5 working days on site, plus drying time before you can paint. We give you a day-by-day plan with your quote.
When can I paint freshly plastered walls?
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Plan on 4–7 days for a standard skim in a heated, ventilated room. First coat is always a watered-down mist coat (typically 70/30 paint to water) - never neat paint, which won't bond properly and will peel within months.
Are quotes free?
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Yes - all quotes and estimates are free with no obligation. Most quotes are turned around within 24 hours in writing.
Can you skim over artex or popcorn ceilings?
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Usually yes, provided the artex tests safe for asbestos and is stable. We bond it back, scrim over fixed cracks, and skim across. On heavily textured artex we sometimes recommend overboarding - we'll tell you which is cheaper for your room.
Do you only do new plastering, or repairs too?
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Both. Patch repairs (after electricians, plumbers, removed fireplaces), full re-skims, brand new walls in extensions, and re-plastering after damp work. No job is too small if it's local.
Do you do weekend work?
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Most jobs run Monday to Friday with Saturday mornings available when needed. Larger jobs are scheduled into the normal calendar.
Which areas do you cover?
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Fareham, Titchfield, Whiteley, Park Gate, Stubbington, Portsmouth, Gosport, Southampton, Winchester and surrounding Hampshire villages. If you're inside that ring there's no travel surcharge.
Often booked alongside this work.
Local to you across Hampshire.
Can't see your village? Call 07907 511080 - we cover the surrounding ring as well.
Get walls that are actually paint-ready - quoted within 24 hours.
Free written quote, no obligation, no high-pressure sales. Tell us the room, we'll tell you the price.
Checkatrade · Permaguard · Fully insured · 30+ years on the tools