What kind of plastering does a Bingham home need? Usually the answer starts with its age. Bingham is about 8 miles east of Mapperley, and although it received its market charter in 1341, most of its buildings are relatively new. After the Second World War, Bingham Rural District Council inspected over 2,000 houses to decide which to demolish or repair, and the 1960s and 1970s brought almost constant house building.
Houses from the 1960s and 1970s
Homes from these decades are generally straightforward to plaster but have their own habits. Ceilings are usually plasterboard, and the joints between boards can open into fine straight cracks. Textured ceilings were fashionable at the time, and walls may have been patched for new sockets, radiators and kitchens several times over. A full skim is often the tidiest fix: joints and cracks are reinforced with scrim tape, damaged areas filled, and then walls and ceilings finished in one smooth coat. On a textured ceiling, the pattern is filled level before the final coat goes on.
Houses like these are also where knock-throughs happen. Opening a kitchen into a dining room leaves a beam to plaster, a floor-to-ceiling strip to make good and a line where old meets new. Plastering the whole wall rather than just the strip stops that line showing.
Some homes of this era have an open staircase rising straight out of the living room, which puts a tall stair wall in the main room of the house. Plastering that wall at the same time as the room means the finish matches from floor to landing.
Romans' Quarter and other new homes
North of the town, the Romans' Quarter development began around 2018 with plans for around 1,000 homes. New houses like these are generally dry-lined. Hairline cracks and fixings showing in the first year or two are part of a new house settling. Note them, check your warranty, and plan any skimming for after that settling period. If you are adding sockets or moving a doorway soon after moving in, the boards can be cut, patched and finished to blend with the rest of the wall.
Cottages around the Market Place
Bingham's conservation area, designated in 1970 as the first in Rushcliffe, has early cottages and vernacular buildings between the church and the Market Place and along Long Acre, with 24 listed buildings or structures. Older cottages often have uneven solid walls and soft original plaster, which need gentle treatment and compatible materials. If your home is listed, check with Rushcliffe Borough Council before changing original interior plaster.
To book indoor plastering in Bingham, call 07877 353120 or send photos through the enquiry form. We are open seven days a week, 7am to 5pm.
