Flat under a low light
Hold a lamp or a phone torch close to the wall and shine it along the surface rather than at it. Low-angle light is unforgiving — hollows, ripples and high spots all throw a shadow. A flat wall stays flat under it.
A clean canvas for whatever comes next.
Good plastering should disappear into the room. This page sets out what that means in practice, what you can check with your own eyes, and how we go about getting there.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
What a proper finish looks like.
You don’t need a trade eye to judge plastering. You need a light, a few minutes and a short list of things to look at.
A finish is either flat, straight and clean or it is not, and the wall itself will tell you which. The checks below are the ones worth making on any plastering job, and you can make every one of them yourself. None of them need special kit.
Plaster also moves as it dries, so give it time to go off and lighten before you judge it. Patchy, darker areas are usually just damp plaster, not a fault in the work.
Straight edges, square corners
Internal corners should run straight from floor to ceiling without wandering. External corners, window reveals and the line where wall meets ceiling should be crisp and consistent, not rounded off or wavy.
Tight around the fittings
Sockets, switches, door linings and skirtings are where careless work shows first. Plaster should meet them cleanly, with no gaps opening up along the joint and no ragged edges left behind for the decorator to sort out.
No trowel lines or blowholes
Run the flat of your hand across the surface. You shouldn’t feel ridges where a trowel has stopped and started, and you shouldn’t see pinholes or small craters when you look across the wall at an angle.
Ready to take paint
A finished surface should be even and clean, with the dust and debris cleared away and nothing left needing filling or sanding back first. That is what “ready to decorate” actually means.
BEFORE AND AFTER
The same room, twice.
What the room looked like when we walked in, and what it looked like when we left.
Bare blockwork and floor joists, plastered out into a finished room.
A stairwell in bare block, plastered top to bottom including the head of the stairs.
A media wall built and plastered, and the same wall once the decorator had been in.
MORE OF THE WORK
A few more.
HOW WE WORK
How we get there.
Whether it is one patch repair or every room in the house, the job follows the same three steps.
Send the details
A quick call or a few photos is enough to get started.
Get a quote
We’ll send you a quote, or come out and price the job up in person.
Get it finished
We protect the room, do the work and tidy up afterwards.
READY WHEN YOU ARE
Get a free quote.
Tell us what needs doing — a quick call or a few photos is enough to get started.