Skimming in Leyton

Leyton's Victorian and Edwardian terraces are full of walls that have been patched, papered and painted for a century. Under the wallpaper there is often a surface of old repairs, filler and cracks, and a skim coat is what brings it back to one smooth, even finish.

A skim is a thin coat of finishing plaster, two or three millimetres thick, trowelled on in two passes and polished smooth as it sets. It covers minor imperfections and gives paint a clean surface, but it does not fix plaster that is loose or blown underneath.

That is why every Leyton wall is checked first. Tapping the wall finds hollow areas where the old plaster has come away from the brick, and those are cut out and patched before the skim goes on. Skimming over blown plaster just means the new finish cracks along with the old.

Surfaces are prepared to suit what is there. Painted walls get a bonding coat so the skim grips, and cracks are taped with scrim so they do not reappear.

Floors, furniture and woodwork are protected, sockets and switches are loosened so the plaster runs behind them, and the room is left clean. New plaster needs to dry fully before painting, usually a week or so, and the first coat should be a watered-down mist coat.

A single Leyton room is usually a day, and a whole house can be planned room by room so you are never without somewhere to live. Photos of the wall or ceiling, and a note of any cracks, damp patches or hollow-sounding areas, are enough to say what the job involves.