Danny Mulligan Plastering Services offer the following:


Landing area, ready for painting

Skimming is the application of the outermost smooth coat of plaster that after its dry is then painted.  Its the hardest to get right as any imperfection will show through the paint. Its normally applied to a rougher coat of render or plaster or on top of the plasterboard.  It helps to cover the imperfections of the wall and plasterboards mounting.

Its done to both walls and ceilings to give that icing sugar perfect finish.


Float and Set

The final finish is applied and smoothed

Float and Set is the term used for more traditional plastering ( ie not using plasterboard ) A thick layer ( around 1 cm / half and inch ) of rough wet undercoat plaster such as sand and cement is troweled onto the bare walls and smoothed.  When this layer has dried to a semi firm state the skim coat is then applied over the top to give the smooth surface that when dry is ready for painting.

This technique requires a more skilled plaster than one who can only do skimming over plasterboard, as the first wet coat needs to be screeded off level with a straight edge to a tolerance of 3mm ( or 5mm in the old days).  This coupled with the fact that there is much more mixing, with each batch of plaster being made to the same consistency, means it is generally a little more messy and harder to do, but the advantages are it gives a much greater sound density than boards and it is an excellent insulator too!


Dry Lining and Tacking

Lots of complex angles and joins

Tacking is the modern way or putting up walls with plaster board on wooden or metal frames.  Its fast and clean ( compared to more traditional methods).  Tacking is where the boards are nailed, screwed or fixed using special fixings to the frame or wall.

Its also common practice to fix the plaster board to a masonry wall using plasterboard adhesive often called Dot and Dab.  This is slightly trickier harder to do than tacking, but both will give a great foundation for a skim layer of plaster.


Artex removal and skimming

Plastering on Stilts to get to the ceiling

What was once fashionable or used to hide sloppy and speedy building techniques isn’t now, the flat smooth ceilings are back in vogue.  Its a relatively simple job to remove or flatten down the original artex layer, then a skim finish will give you a wonderfully smooth flat finish.



Coving can be added to bring a little elegance to a room.  Its fixed after the plaster skims and comes in many different patterns. The corners are mitred to fit exactly and once finished can be painted to the colour of your choice.


Sand and Cement Rendering

Rendering is normally done on an outside wall using Portland cement and sand.  The render is applied to the block work or bricks, it can be given a textured finish or smoothed and after it dries you can paint it with the appropriate paint.  Its a two stage process normally with coarser sand for the first layer, then when this is still slightly damp, the second layer using smoother sand is applied.  Its best to allow the layers to slowly dry and harden as if its done when the weather is too dry it can crack.


Specialised Rendering

Rendering on a bungalow

Modern and traditional renders are available depending on the type of property and special ingredients can be added to the render to aid water resistance or to give a particular finish.


Painting and Decorating

Painting and Decorating

I am now offering a full start to end service of both plastering and decorating!
Single rooms to full houses, I can paint your walls, skirting, coving and ceilings, gloss to matt paints and everything in between!

You choose the colour scheme and I will do the rest.

The above give you an idea of the basic services Danny Mulligan Plastering Services can offer, but as always its not easy to list everything, so if you have something particular in mind, please call for a quote.