DH Painter & Decorator decorates new plaster in Camp Hill, NN4, from a single re-skimmed ceiling to a full rear extension. Dean travels over from Northampton and handles the moisture check, mist coat, snagging and finish coats once your plasterer has finished.
Where new plaster comes from on a 1980s estate
Camp Hill was built in the 1980s, and those houses are now at the age where owners start altering them. On an estate of compact two-bedroom semis and small terraces, the new plaster we expect to see comes from three places. The first is single-storey rear extensions, usually a kitchen-diner or a garden room added to a semi. The second is loft conversions, which add sloping ceilings, dormer reveals and a new stair enclosure. The third, and on an estate of this age a likely one, is a ceiling that has been re-skimmed after textured artex coating was taken off or boarded over. Artex was widely used on ceilings when these houses were built, and many owners now want a flat finish.
Each of these leaves bare pink plaster that cannot be treated like an old painted wall. Fresh plaster is thirsty, and ordinary emulsion rolled straight onto it tends to sit on the surface and peel. The process we follow, from the moisture check to the final coat, is set out on our new plaster and extension decorating page.
Drying on the shaded side of Hunsbury Hill
Skim coats dry from the surface inwards, and how quickly depends on warmth, airflow and sunlight. Because the estate is laid out on the north-east flank of Hunsbury Hill, so plenty of back rooms and gardens see little direct sun. A new extension on a north-facing rear wall, or a ceiling re-skimmed in winter in a room with one small window, can take noticeably longer to dry than the same job on a south-facing house. Painting too early traps moisture behind the paint and leads to blistering and patchy colour.
We check the plaster before starting, looking for an even pale colour with no darker damp patches in corners, around window reveals and behind where radiators will go back. If it is not ready, we would rather move the start date than paint over it. Keeping the room heated and ventilated, with a window cracked open, speeds things up far more than a dehumidifier left in a closed room.
The mist coat, then matching the old house
The first coat on new plaster is a thinned, breathable mist coat that soaks in and gives later coats something to grip. It also shows up every trowel mark, nick and hairline crack, which we fill and sand before the finish coats go on. Our mist coat guide goes into the detail of mixes and drying times.
On an extension, the hard part is often the join. The new kitchen-diner opens into a 1980s lounge with forty-year-old walls, and if only the extension is painted, the colour and sheen rarely match. It is often simpler to carry the new colour through the adjoining room, or at least to a natural break such as an internal corner. In a small semi that is usually one extra room. New MDF skirtings and architraves need sealing and priming before they are painted, and the original softwood joinery alongside may need the same satin or eggshell so the two look like one house.
Loft rooms and awkward ceilings
Loft conversions on houses this size create sloping ceilings, short knee walls and dormer reveals in a small space. They are painted with a short pole and a low podium rather than stepladders, and the steep stair to the new room means carrying everything up carefully. Re-skimmed ceilings are different: one flat plane overhead in a room where furniture has to be moved or covered. We sheet the floor fully, because mist coat is thin and spatters.
Fitting in with your builder
Book us once the plasterer has a finish date, not after. That way the decorating can follow as soon as the plaster is dry. Access on the estate is worth thinking about early, because skips, builder’s vans and our van all compete for space on living streets such as Herne Hill Court and Cullahill Court, and in the shared courts around the Squares. More about the estate is on our Camp Hill area page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
