East Sussex
Plastering, rendering and damp proofing in Brighton
Plastering, rendering and damp proofing throughout Brighton, from the terraces around Hanover and Kemptown to the Regency squares and the villas up in Preston Park.
Brighton housing stock keeps us busy with the same three problems. Walls plastered decades ago have gone hollow behind layers of paint, render on the sea-facing elevations takes the weather, and damp finds its way in around basement lightwells, ground-level doors and the flint and rubble walls behind older finishes.
We skim and re-plaster interiors, repair and replace external render, and trace damp back to its cause before treating it. Being based just along the coast at Portslade means most Brighton postcodes are a short journey for a look at the job, whether it is a sea-front flat, a Hanover terrace or a house of multiple occupation that has to stay lettable.
Areas covered: Hanover · Kemptown · North Laine · Preston Park · Patcham · Hollingdean · Moulsecoomb
Services in Brighton
Based at Unit 10, Tungsten Building, George Street, BN41 1RA.
In detail
Plastering work in Brighton, in practice
Re-plastering Brighton's Victorian terraces
The streets between Queen's Park and the station went up between the 1860s and the 1900s, and most still have their original lath and plaster ceilings beneath later layers of skim and paint. Where a ceiling has bellied or gone hollow, patching rarely holds: the key has gone from the laths, and the rest of the ceiling is usually on its way out too.
We take those ceilings and walls back to the timbers and the brickwork, board and skim them flat, and match the finish to the rest of the room so a repaired ceiling does not read as a repair. Cornices and ceiling roses are kept wherever they can be saved.
Render, flint and sea air
Brighton's weather side is unforgiving. Render on the sea-facing elevations of Kemptown and the seafront squares has usually been patched across the decades, and once water sits behind it the blockwork or flint soaks and the plaster inside blows.
We strip the failed areas, sort out the background, and re-render so the elevation reads as one wall rather than a patchwork. On the flint and rubble behind the Regency facades, lime-based finishes are used where a hard cement render would only push the damp further in.
Where damp in Brighton usually starts
Basement lightwells, raised front gardens, blocked gullies and gutters that only fail in a south-westerly account for most of it, along with condensation in flats where kitchens and bathrooms have no extract.
We work out which of those you have before recommending a treatment, because an injected damp course will not stop water running down the inside of a wall from a broken hopper. Houses split into flats and HMOs are quoted room by room, so a landlord can see exactly what is being done for the money.
Questions