Student lets and landlords
Loughborough University says several parts of the town have become very popular with students, and Charnwood Borough Council brought in an Article 4 Direction for the whole town in February 2012, so renting to three or more unrelated tenants needs planning consent. The areas between the town centre and the campus have been singled out as particularly affected. For landlords, plasterboard work can run alongside fire safety upgrades, with fire-rated board on ceilings and escape routes, and acoustic board where tenants' bedrooms share walls. We board and skim to the standard set by your building control officer, licensing team or fire risk assessment, rather than guessing at it.
Post-war estates and no-fines concrete
Thorpe Acre grew mainly in the 1950s for Brush Engineering workers and included 100 homes built of no-fines concrete, with a new estate following in the 1960s and early 1970s. No-fines concrete is cast in place as solid walls, which affects how boards are fixed: adhesive dabs can work on a sound, clean surface, fixings need choosing carefully, and any cracking in the concrete should be looked at before it is covered. Shelthorpe was started in 1929 and resumed in 1946, Dishley was heavily developed in the 1970s, and the Hazel Road and Fairmeadows Way estates also date from the 1970s. Homes built in the 1970s would normally have plasterboard ceilings, which can be re-fixed or overboarded when they start to sag.
Conservation areas and older houses
Charnwood has eight conservation areas in Loughborough, including Ashby Road, Queen's Park, Victoria Street and Leicester Road. A conservation area mainly controls changes to the outside, such as windows and demolition, but listed buildings need consent for interior changes too. In older houses, lath and plaster ceilings that have started to crack and drop can be boarded over or taken down to the joists. Where a room has a high ceiling, we work from a platform and set out the boards so the joints land on joists and stagger across the room.
Newer homes and getting in touch
Grange Park, started in 2006, and the Eastern Gateway housing near the station, completed in 2013, are boarded throughout, so the jobs there are mostly alterations: lofts, garage conversions and new partitions. Loughborough is within the 30 miles we cover. If you are a landlord, tell us how many tenants the house holds and whether you have a fire risk assessment. Call 07877 353120 or send photos through the enquiry form. We work seven days a week, 7am to 5pm.
