Textiles came to Stapleford in the 18th century as framework knitting and lace making, and the evidence is still standing. Broxtowe's appraisal of the Nottingham Road conservation area describes a large group of listed framework knitters' houses, many of them three storeys high, some with long workshop windows on the top floor. Many 18th-century knitters' cottages also survive to the east of the town, and the main crossroads, The Roach, is named after rock cut through by French prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars.
Three floors of stairwell
In a three-storey house the stair walls run from the hall to the top landing, and that is where skimming gets demanding. Each flight needs a safe platform built over the stairs, and every wall is finished top to bottom in one session so there is no line where the work paused. Wide windows mean long reveals, and those get metal angle beads so the edges stay crisp and straight. The finish is worked carefully into the corners where landings meet stair walls, which is where cracks most often show in an old house.
Listed? Check before you skim
Stapleford parish has 17 listed buildings, and its two conservation areas take in the knitters' houses on Nottingham Road and the area around the 13th-century St Helen's Church, including the late 18th and early 19th-century houses on Church Lane. If your home is listed, changes to original plaster inside can need listed building consent, and a modern gypsum skim may not be acceptable over old lime work. Talk to Broxtowe Borough Council before anything is stripped. For homes that are only inside a conservation area, interior skimming is not normally affected.
Later homes across the town
Stapleford's population went from under 800 in 1801 to over 4,000 by 1891 and kept climbing quickly through the 20th century with new housing developments, so many homes here are far younger than the knitters' houses. These usually have firm plaster, and the reasons to skim are familiar ones: filled holes, cracks over doorways, wall surfaces torn by stripping paper, or the patched area left behind after a fireplace or kitchen units come out. One continuous skim makes all of it disappear.
When the plaster has dried to an even pale colour, seal it with a thinned matt emulsion, then carry on decorating.
To arrange a quote for skimming in Stapleford, Toton or nearby, call 07877 353120 or use the enquiry form. We are working 7am to 5pm, seven days a week.
