Clear the room, strip the wallpaper, and leave the rest to us. Here is exactly what is your job and what is ours, so nobody is stood around on the day.
Short version: clear the room, take the wallpaper off, and leave the walls alone. Do not start hacking plaster off yourself. Everything else is our job.
Plenty of people worry they are supposed to have done more, and end up either doing work they did not need to, or making things harder for us. This page settles it.
Do these and the job runs smoothly.
Furniture out if you can. Anything that has to stay, move to the middle and we will sheet it. We need room to work and a clear route in and out with buckets and boards.
All of it. Plaster will not bond properly over wallpaper, and it will bubble. Some plasterers will strip it for you as an extra, but it is time-consuming, so it is cheaper if you do it.
Plaster splashes. If the carpet is staying, we will sheet it, but a bare floor is far safer and far easier to clean.
Anything on the wall. Curtain poles too. We cannot plaster around them properly.
Damp patch, leak last winter, cracks that keep coming back. Tell us. It changes what we do, and finding out on the day costs everyone time.
Somewhere to park within reasonable carrying distance, and water on site. Sounds obvious, but it is the thing that most often catches people out.
Please do not do these yourself. It usually makes it worse.
Do not start chipping at the walls. It is easy to take off far more than needed, damage what is sound underneath, and turn a re-skim into a re-board. If plaster needs removing, we will remove it.
Controlling suction is a skilled part of the job, and doing it wrong is a common cause of cracking. It is our call which product and how many coats.
We will scrim the joints and any cracks as part of the prep.
We loosen the faceplates and plaster behind them for a clean finish. Do not unscrew them yourself and leave live wires hanging.
Tell us if you want the skirting off. Leaving it on means we plaster down to it; taking it off means a cleaner line but new skirting to fit after. Decide beforehand. This catches a lot of people out.
We take our waste and leave the place clean. That is not an extra.
This is the single most common misunderstanding in plastering, so it is worth spelling out.
If the skirting stays on, we plaster down to the top of it. Quick, cheap, and the existing skirting stays put. But there will be a plaster line just above it.
If the skirting comes off, we plaster all the way down to the floor and you get a cleaner result, but the old skirting rarely goes back on nicely, so you are usually buying and fitting new skirting afterwards. It is worth it on a full renovation and a waste of money on a quick re-skim.
Just tell us which you want when we quote, and there is no confusion on the day.
Ventilate, open the windows, let air move through. Do not put heaters on it. Forcing plaster to dry fast causes cracking.
Then wait. New plaster typically needs 7 to 14 days before you can paint it, and it needs a mist coat first or the paint will peel. That page has the full detail.
The ones we get asked most.
Clear the room of furniture, strip off all wallpaper, take down curtains, blinds and pictures, and lift carpets if possible. Tell the plasterer about any known damp or recurring cracks. Do not hack off old plaster, apply PVA or remove socket faceplates yourself. All of that is the plasterer's job and doing it wrong can make the work harder and more expensive.
Yes. Plaster will not bond properly over wallpaper and will bubble and fail. All wallpaper must come off before plastering. Most plasterers will strip it for you as a chargeable extra, but it is time-consuming work so it is cheaper to do it yourself.
It depends on the finish you want. If the skirting stays on, the plasterer works down to the top of it, which is quicker and cheaper but leaves a plaster line just above the skirting. If it comes off, you get a cleaner finish down to the floor, but old skirting rarely refits neatly so you will usually need new skirting. Decide before the quote, not on the day.
No. It is easy to remove more than necessary, damage sound plaster underneath, and turn a straightforward re-skim into a full re-board, which costs considerably more. Let the plasterer assess what needs to come off.
Plasterers loosen socket and switch faceplates and plaster behind them for a clean finish. You should not unscrew them yourself and leave wiring exposed. If any electrical work is needed, that should be done by an electrician before the plastering starts.
Send a photo on WhatsApp. We'll tell you straight, even if the answer is that there's nothing wrong.