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Plastering

Plastering in Worksop, Mansfield & North Derbyshire

Barbers Bathroom & Kitchens carries out plastering, skimming, boarding and rendering repairs across North Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire — as part of a full renovation or as a standalone job. Flat walls, clean lines, and a surface that is actually ready for paint.

  • Est. 30+ years' trade experience
  • NVQ Level 3 Carpentry & Joinery
  • Fully insured
  • All trades in-house
Typical timescale
One room in 1–2 days; a house in 1–2 weeks
Drying time
5–7 days before painting, longer in winter
Quotes
Free, fixed, after we have tapped the actual walls
Where we work
Chesterfield, Staveley, Worksop, Bolsover & 30 miles of Creswell

What Does Plastering Involve?

Plastering is the application of a smooth finish coat to a wall or ceiling — either over existing sound plaster (skimming) or over new plasterboard (board and skim).

Where the original plaster has blown or is damp, it is stripped back to the brick and rebuilt in a backing coat and a finish coat. That is a re-plaster, not a skim.

The distinction matters because it is where quotes diverge. Skimming a sound wall is a day's work; a blown, damp or artex-covered wall in a solid-walled terrace needs preparation that doubles the labour.

  • Skimming over sound existing plaster
  • Board and skim over new or overboarded surfaces
  • Full re-plaster where the original has blown or is damp
  • Skimming over artex, stabilised and sealed first
  • Lath and plaster ceilings in older property
  • Making good after a wall removal, first fix or a knock-through
Freestanding bath, walk-in shower and countertop basin in a large tiled bathroom

Why So Many Plastering Jobs Go Wrong

Plastering is the trade most often rushed. It sits between the messy work and the visible work, and everyone wants it over with.

Skim goes on over an unstable surface, or over artex that was never properly stabilised. Eighteen months later there is a hairline crack across the ceiling that reappears every time it is filled.

The other common failure is timing. Plaster needs drying time — a tiler booked too early tiles onto damp backing, and a decorator booked too early paints a wall that is still shrinking.

  • We tap the wall before quoting, so skim-or-strip is decided on evidence
  • Artex is scraped back and sealed properly, not skimmed straight over
  • Plaster gets its full drying time because the next trade is ours to schedule
  • Floors protected, doorways sealed and everything cleaned down daily
Wall tiles being set with levelling clips during a bathroom installation

Planning plastering? A survey and a fixed written quote cost you nothing.

How we work

How We Work

01

Assessment

We check whether the existing surface is sound. Tapping a wall tells us in two minutes whether it can be skimmed or needs stripping — and that determines the price, so it is worth getting right before quoting.

02

Preparation and protection

Floors and fittings are covered, surfaces are stabilised or stripped, and artex is treated properly rather than skimmed straight over and hoped for.

03

Boarding or backing coat

Where walls have been stripped or studs formed, we board and tape, or apply a backing coat to solid walls, ensuring the substrate is flat before any finish goes near it.

04

Skim and finish

Two coats of finish plaster, trowelled up to a flat, polished surface ready for decorating. We clean up as we go and take the waste away with us.

A single room skim is usually a one to two day job. A full house re-plaster runs to one to three weeks depending on size and whether walls are being stripped back.

Shower enclosure and vanity unit under a sloping ceiling with roof windows
Tapping the wall tells us in two minutes whether it can be skimmed or needs stripping — and that decides the price.
Quadrant shower enclosure and toilet beside a chrome towel radiator
Artex and old coverings are scraped back and sealed so the finish coat has something reliable to key to.
Quadrant shower enclosure and toilet in a tiled shower room with a window
Floors protected, doorways sealed, everything cleaned down at the end of each day.
Scope

What We Cover

Quotes vary between companies mostly because of what they leave out. Here is exactly what is in ours, what counts as extra, and what you would normally supply.

Included as standard

  • Skimming over existing sound plaster
  • Skimming over artex, correctly stabilised first
  • Board and skim to walls and ceilings
  • Full re-plaster of stripped solid walls
  • Ceiling repairs and overboarding
  • Patching and making good after electrical and plumbing first fix
  • Forming and boarding stud walls
  • Bonding, dot-and-dab and floating coats
  • External rendering repairs and making good
  • Waste removal and clean down

Quoted separately

  • Damp-proofing works where a wall is failing because of rising or penetrating damp
  • Structural repairs to lath and plaster ceilings beyond normal overboarding
  • Decoration — although we can price it alongside

Usually supplied by you

  • Nothing. Materials, protection and waste removal are all included in the quotation.

How Much Does Plastering Cost?

Plastering is priced by area and by condition — and condition moves the figure far more than area does.

What moves the price

  • Skim or full re-plaster. The same room stripped back to brick, backing-coated and skimmed can cost two to three times a straight skim.
  • Ceilings versus walls. Ceilings cost more than walls of the same area. Working overhead is slower and harder.
  • Access. A stairwell takes longer than a bedroom of identical square metres, because of the staging.
  • Artex and old coverings. Stabilising and sealing before skimming is extra labour — and skipping it is why ceilings crack a year later.
  • How much is in one visit. A whole house plastered in one go carries less setup cost per room than three separate visits.

We look at the actual walls before quoting, and we will tell you honestly if a skim will do rather than talking you into a re-plaster you do not need.

We publish price ranges only once they are current and accurate for this area, rather than quoting a national average that would not survive a home visit. Call or WhatsApp us on 07811 466054 and we will give you a realistic ballpark for your room over the phone, then a fixed written figure after we have seen it.

Black marble-effect bathroom with a brass towel radiator and a lit mirror
Free · No obligation

Get a fixed quote for plastering

We visit, measure up, check what is behind the walls, and put a written price in your hands. No charge, no obligation, no follow-up sales visit.

Rather talk? Call 07811 466054 or message us on WhatsApp. Mon–Fri 7:30am–8:30pm.

Why Barbers

Why Choose Barbers for Plastering

Vanity basin, toilet and white ladder radiator in a grey-tiled bathroom

Part of the sequence, not a gap in it

When plastering is part of a bathroom, kitchen or refurbishment we are already running, it happens the day it should happen. No waiting for a plasterer to have a window free.

Vanity unit and toilet against dark blue metro tiling

Honest about what the wall needs

We will tell you if a wall can be skimmed rather than stripped, which is the cheaper answer. We will also tell you when a skim will crack within a year, which is the more expensive one.

Slate-effect shower tray beside patterned floor tiles and blue herringbone walls

Older housing stock experience

Solid-walled colliery terraces, lath and plaster ceilings and 1930s semis with original render all behave differently. Thirty years in this specific housing stock is worth more here than anywhere else.

Shower tray and warm marble-effect tiling beside a panelled door

Tidy work in occupied homes

Plastering is the messiest trade in the house. Floors are protected, doorways sealed, and everything cleaned down at the end of each day.

Where we work

Plastering Across Our Coverage Area

We plaster across the whole radius, and the work changes noticeably from town to town.

In Chesterfield and Staveley, where much of the housing is 1950s to 1970s, the common request is skimming over artex ceilings across a whole house.

In Creswell, Whitwell and Bolsover, solid-walled stone and brick terraces more often need stripping back and rebuilding in backing coat.

In Barlborough, Dronfield and the newer estates, plastering is usually making good after a layout change — a removed wall, a new opening, or a knock-through into a kitchen-diner.

See the full list of areas we cover — no travel charge anywhere within 30 miles of Creswell.

Black marble-effect wall tiling being set out during installation
Our work

Recent Plastering

View the full gallery

Good to know

Frequently Asked Questions About Plastering

Can you plaster over artex?
Yes, artex can be skimmed over provided it is stabilised first — the surface is scraped back where it is heavily textured, then sealed with a bonding agent so the finish plaster has something reliable to key to. Skimming straight over artex without preparation is the single most common cause of cracking a year later. Where the artex is very heavy or unsound, overboarding is a better answer and we will say so.
How long does plaster take to dry before I can paint it?
Fresh plaster usually needs 5 to 7 days to dry fully in a normal heated room, and longer in winter or in a cold, solid-walled property. It is dry when the dark patches have gone and the whole surface is an even pale pink. The first coat should be a watered-down mist coat rather than ordinary emulsion, or the paint will peel.
Do I need to move out while a room is plastered?
No, plastering a single room does not require you to move out, though the room itself will be unusable for a couple of days. We protect floors and access routes and seal doorways to keep dust contained. For a full-house re-plaster, most customers stay but clear one room at a time.
Can you plaster just one wall or one ceiling?
Yes, we take on single-room and single-wall plastering as standalone work as well as within larger projects. Small jobs are scheduled around bigger ones, so lead times vary — call and we will tell you honestly when we could get to you. There is no minimum job value within our coverage area.
Do you do the making good after a wall is removed?
Yes, patching and making good after structural work, electrical first fix or plumbing alterations is a routine part of what we do. Where a wall has been removed we form and finish the reveals, tie the ceiling line together and skim the whole surface so the join does not read. This work is included as standard within our renovation projects.

Still deciding? A survey costs nothing and you will know exactly what the job involves.

Free, no-obligation quote

Planning plastering? Get a fixed quote.

We visit, measure up, check what's behind the walls and give you a written price with the exclusions stated plainly. No obligation, no charge, no sales visit.

Much of our work comes from repeat customers and recommendations, reflecting the standard we work to.

Contact us

Barbers Bathroom & Kitchens

Creswell, Derbyshire Service area business — we work in your home

We cover a 30-mile radius of Creswell, including Worksop, Clowne, Bolsover, Mansfield, Chesterfield, Retford, Sheffield and Nottingham. There is no travel charge anywhere within that area.

Phone
07811 466054
Hours
Monday to Friday: 7:30am – 8:30pm
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