Plastering & Rendering
Cracked ceilings, tired walls or render coming away from the brickwork? EDDI Construction Ltd carries out plastering, skimming and rendering across North West London — properly prepared, cleanly worked, and quoted in writing before we start.
Call +44 7492 350404Most plastering work falls into one of three jobs, and they cost very different amounts. Skimming is a thin finish coat over existing sound plaster or over new plasterboard, and it is what you want when the wall behind is solid but the surface is tired, patchy or covered in old textured coating. Patching is making good a limited area — where a wall has been chased for cables, a doorway has been blocked up, or a section has been damaged — and blending it so the repair does not read as a repair once it is decorated. Full re-plastering means taking the old material off back to the brick or block and building the wall back up in coats, which is the honest answer when the existing plaster is blown, hollow-sounding or coming away in sheets. We tell you which of the three your wall actually needs rather than quoting the cheapest and hoping.
Plaster fails for a reason, and the reason matters more than the plaster. On the older stock across Willesden, Cricklewood and Hendon the usual causes are damp reaching the wall — through a bridged damp course, a failed gutter or downpipe, a raised external ground level, or cement render trapping moisture in a solid wall — and movement, where a lintel, a removed chimney breast or settlement is opening the same crack again each year. If plaster is skimmed straight over a wall that is still wet or still moving, the new finish will fail exactly like the old one did, usually within a couple of winters. We look for the cause first and say so plainly. Sometimes that means the plastering has to wait until a gutter is fixed or a wall has dried, which is not what anybody wants to hear, but it is cheaper than paying twice.
External rendering has to do a harder job than internal plaster: it takes weather, movement and frost, and it has to let a wall breathe or it will do more harm than good. We carry out sand and cement render, repairs to existing render where sections have cracked or hollowed, and the associated brickwork and pointing when the wall underneath turns out to need attention first. Hollow render is worth investigating rather than painting over — once water gets behind a render coat, it has nowhere to go, and the frost does the rest. We tap it, tell you how much is actually loose, and price cutting out the failed areas honestly rather than assuming the whole elevation has to come off.
Plastering is a wet, dusty trade and the difference between a good job and a bad experience is mostly preparation. We sheet floors and cover what stays in the room, take down or protect fittings rather than working around them, seal doorways where we can, and prepare and prime the background properly so the coat bonds instead of hollowing later. Waste goes out at the end of each day rather than accumulating in the hall. We would rather spend the first hour covering up than spend the last day apologising, and a good share of our work comes from referrals, which does not happen if you leave people's homes in a state.
A great deal of our plastering happens inside bigger projects — a loft conversion, an extension, a kitchen or bathroom refit, or a full refurbishment — where the timing matters as much as the workmanship. Plaster cannot go on until first-fix electrics and plumbing are in and signed off, and decorating cannot start until the plaster has properly dried, which takes longer than most people expect and longer still in winter. Because we run carpentry, plumbing, tiling, brickwork and decorating as one team, the sequencing is our problem rather than yours. If you only need the plastering and another trade is doing the rest, that is fine too — tell us who is on either side of us and we will work to their programme.
Longer than most people expect. Fresh plaster needs to change colour evenly from dark to pale right across the wall before it takes paint, and in winter or on a thick coat that can take a good while. Painting too early traps moisture and the decoration suffers. We will tell you what to expect for your job and it is worth waiting.
Often yes, depending on how heavy the texture is and how sound it is underneath. Where the coating is thin and well bonded it can be prepared and skimmed over. Where it is very heavy or loose, over-boarding gives a better and more reliable result. We will look at it and tell you which applies rather than guessing.
Usually not on its own. A crack that returns in the same line each year is normally movement or damp rather than a plaster failure, so a new coat will crack again in the same place. We look for the cause first — a lintel, a removed chimney breast, a failed gutter, a bridged damp course — and tell you plainly if something needs sorting before the plastering is worth doing.
It depends on whether the existing plaster is sound. If it is solid and only the surface is tired, skimming or patching is enough and costs far less. If it sounds hollow when tapped or is coming away, patching over it just moves the problem along. We tap the wall, show you what is loose and quote for what genuinely needs doing.
Yes. We carry out sand and cement rendering and repairs to existing render, along with the brickwork and pointing underneath when the wall needs attention first. Where only part of an elevation has failed we price cutting out the loose sections rather than assuming the whole wall has to come off.
It is a wet and dusty trade, so preparation matters. We sheet floors, cover or remove what is in the room, protect the access route and clear waste at the end of each day rather than letting it pile up. It will not be invisible, but you should not be left with a mess.
Yes. Every job is quoted in writing and itemised before we start, and if the scope changes once we open something up we price the change and get your agreement before carrying on.
North West London, including Wembley, Harrow, Edgware, Hendon, Kingsbury, Stanmore, Cricklewood, Willesden and the surrounding Brent and Barnet areas.