Loughborough's housing grew with its industries, from John Heathcoat's improved lace machine of 1809 to the Taylor bell foundry, Brush at the Falcon Works and the Herbert Morris crane factory. Charnwood has 38 conservation areas, including Victorian, Edwardian and 1920s suburbs, and eight are in Loughborough, among them Ashby Road and Queen's Park. Around them sit large 20th-century estates and newer homes at Grange Park and the Eastern Gateway by the station.
Shared student houses
Loughborough University says several areas of the town have become very popular with students, and the Loughborough Echo named the streets between the town centre and the campus as particularly affected. Since February 2012 an Article 4 Direction across the whole town has meant planning consent is needed to let to three or more unrelated tenants. For landlords with existing shared houses, the summer is the natural window for a re-skim, when rooms worn down by a year of posters, fixings and furniture can be reset with one hard, even finish. Plan for drying time as well as the skim itself: the plaster has to dry out and take a sealing coat of thinned matt emulsion before decorating, which is far easier with nobody living in the house.
No-fines concrete houses in Thorpe Acre
Thorpe Acre grew mainly in the 1950s for Brush Engineering workers, and about 100 of those homes were built of no-fines concrete: concrete cast in place using cement and coarse stone with no sand. The internal plaster on these houses is usually bonded straight onto the concrete, which behaves differently from brick. Before a skim, hollow areas are found and cut out, cracks are opened and taped, and the suction is evened out. No-fines walls can also run cold and attract condensation, so ventilating well while the skim dries matters even more here.
Shelthorpe, Dishley and the 1970s estates
Shelthorpe was begun in 1929, halted by the Second World War and resumed in 1946. Dishley was heavily developed in the 1970s, as were the Hazel Road and Fairmeadows Way estates, followed by the Haddon Way estates. Homes from these decades usually have sound plaster, so a skim is about the surface: stripped paper, layers of paint, holes from fixings, and long stair walls showing every old repair. Walls painted in silk or vinyl are keyed with a bonding primer, otherwise the new coat can peel. The stairwells are skimmed full height from a platform so the finish has no joins.
Call 07877 353120 or use the enquiry form to talk about skimming in Loughborough. We take calls seven days a week, 7am to 5pm.
