Ceilings
Ceilings on the Wirral
Lath and plaster, plasterboard and artex ceilings, re-skimmed where they are sound and overboarded where they are not, with the cornice kept.
- Written quote
- Drying days given up front
- Floors covered first
Ceilings
Lath, board, and knowing which you have
There are two kinds of ceiling on the Wirral and they are not the same job. Anything pre war is likely lath and plaster: timber laths nailed across the joists with haired lime pushed through so it squeezes out behind and grips. Anything postwar is plasterboard screwed or nailed up.
Press it with a flat hand. A lath ceiling gives slightly and sounds dull and hollow between the joists; board is firmer and sharper. If there is a loft above, looking down between the joists settles it in a second. The distinction matters because what fails on a lath ceiling is the grip behind the laths, which you cannot see from below, and because the two are priced differently.
A lath ceiling that has let go in several places is usually cheaper taken down and boarded than patched, because patching one area buys you a year. One that is sound and merely tired can be bonded and skimmed, which keeps the original and costs less. Either way the cornice can be worked to rather than buried, and that is a decision to make in the room. Often asked about alongside artex removal, plasterboarding and dry lining and external rendering.
Get a price for the ceiling
Decided by hand and by eye from the loft, not assumed. The price and the method both follow from it.
What fails on a lath ceiling is the grip behind it. Where that has gone over most of the span, taking it down is the honest answer.
Cornice, roses and picture rails can be kept and cut in to. Boarding straight across is quicker and is the wrong answer in a room with detail.
Done across Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebington, and everywhere else on the peninsula.
Ceilings on the Wirral
What this job looks like
Example images of the kind of work described, each one labelled as such. They are not photographs of our own jobs and nothing here is borrowed from anybody else's. Our own photographs go in as jobs are finished and customers are happy for us to use them.
Why people use us
Working overhead
Ceilings cost more than walls for the same area, because of the angle and because everything below has to be protected.
- The room cleared or covered, floor to picture rail
- Lath or board established before the price is given
- Cornice and roses worked to rather than buried, if you want them kept
- Waste bagged and taken, not left in the garden
Frequently asked questions
Ceilings: the questions people ask
The ones that come up most. If yours is not here, ring and ask.
Is my ceiling lath and plaster or plasterboard?
Press it flat handed. Lath gives slightly and sounds dull and hollow between the joists. Plasterboard is firmer and sharper. From a loft, lath looks like thin timber slats with lime squeezed through the gaps.
Can a lath ceiling be saved?
Often, if the keys behind the laths are still gripping. Where the grip has gone across most of the span it is cleaner and usually cheaper over ten years to take it down and board it. Where it is sound, bonding and skimming keeps the original.
Is overboarding as good as taking the ceiling down?
It is quicker, cheaper and less mess, and it is a perfectly good answer when the existing ceiling is sound and firmly fixed. It is the wrong answer when the ceiling above is already letting go, because you are screwing new board to something that is coming down.
Will I lose my cornice?
Not unless that is the decision. Sound cornice can be cut in to, and cornice that has gone soft under layers of paint can be run again or matched. Say at the quote which you want.
Done across Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebington, and everywhere else on the peninsula.
Press the ceiling and tell us what it does
Whether it gives or stays firm tells us most of what we need before anybody comes out.
About Wirral Plastering
How the work is actually organised
Wirral Plastering takes the job as main contractor and puts the labour on it. That means one person quotes it, one person is answerable for it, and you are not chasing three numbers to find out who is coming on Tuesday.
It is worth saying plainly rather than implying a van and a family name, because the way a job is run changes what you can expect from it. What you get is a written scope, a date, and somebody whose problem it is if the date moves.
What we will tell you we are not
Damp proofing is a different trade and so is stone repair, and both come up constantly on Wirral housing. We do the plastering that follows damp work and the lime render that sits around stone, and we will tell you when the thing you are describing needs somebody else first.
Structural work is the same. A crack that runs in a line rather than a map pattern is not a plastering question and filling it is not an answer.
No photographs of our work, and why the site says so
There are no job photographs on this site. The slots are placeholders and they are labelled as placeholders. Nothing here is a stock picture presented as a job and nothing is borrowed from another company's gallery.
Real photographs go in as jobs are finished and customers are happy for us to use them, and not before. The same goes for anything that looks like a customer quote. There is a section built and ready for them, switched off, and it stays that way until there are real ones with permission attached.
Get in touch
Tell us what the wall or ceiling is doing and roughly how much of it there is. A photograph on the form answers half the questions before anybody rings you back.
- Phone0151 453 8836
- Emailcontact@wirralplastering.com
- WhatsAppSend us a photo of the job
- Based inWirral, Merseyside
- HoursMon to Fri 8 to 6, Sat 8 to 2, closed Sunday