Two sides of the valley
Carlton lies in a valley, and its housing splits roughly in two. The northern side was built mainly during the Industrial Revolution and the early 1900s, as the railways and then the tram from Nottingham, completed in 1914, turned a small township of farmers and framework knitters into a suburb. The southern side came mostly in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. In Netherfield, rows of Victorian terraces went up as the population climbed from 60 in 1801 to more than 4,600 by 1901. Gedling Borough Council does not list a conservation area in Carlton, so most interior work is a matter for you and building regulations. For plasterboarding, the history matters because it tells us what we are likely to find when we look up.
What is overhead
In the older northern streets and the Netherfield terraces, ceilings were originally lime plaster on wooden laths. Many have been patched over the decades, and a ceiling carrying several generations of repairs can be uneven, cracked and heavy. Boarding over it, or stripping it and boarding to the joists, gives a clean start. On the southern side, homes from the 1930s to the 1950s can have either lath and plaster or early plasterboard, depending on exactly when and how they were built. Early boards were often thin and nailed rather than screwed, so they can sag between joists or show lines along the joints. New board fixed over them, screwed securely into the joists, sorts both problems.
Party walls and blown plaster
Terraced homes share walls with the neighbours, and noise through a party wall is a common complaint. Acoustic plasterboard, ideally on its own frame with insulation behind, does more than a single layer stuck to the brick. Where a terrace has an uneven back wall or blown plaster, boards fixed on adhesive dabs give a straight surface without hacking the whole wall back to brick. A bathroom squeezed into a back bedroom gets moisture-resistant board. If you are thinking about a loft room, the same kind of choices apply: fire-rated board where building control asks for it, and insulation between the rafters before any board goes up. Every job is taped and skimmed by the same person, so there is no handover between a boarder and a plasterer.
Arranging a visit
We cover Carlton Hill, Netherfield, Colwick and Gedling next door, all a short trip from our base in Mapperley. Phone 07877 353120 or fill in the enquiry form, ideally with a photo of the ceiling or wall in question. We are available seven days a week, 7am to 5pm.
