Plastering services in Shropshire
Plaster repairs after rewiring and electrical chases
Making good after a rewire, new sockets, replumbing or chased-out walls. Send photos of the chases and we will help get it quoted.
About 60 seconds · Photos optional · No obligation
Electricians and plumbers cut chases; they do not usually fill them to a decorating standard, and they will normally tell you so up front. What is left is a set of channels and back-box openings that need bonding, filling and then either patching or a full skim, depending on how much of the wall has been cut about.
The honest question is whether to patch or skim the whole wall. A handful of neat chases in a sound wall can be filled and patched. A wall with chases running across it in several directions, plus new back boxes, is usually better skimmed in full — patching it will read through the paint, and you will see every line when the light is right.
Timing matters on these jobs. First fix has to be signed off and the electrician finished with the wall before it gets closed up, and the plasterer needs to be in before the decorator. Say what your sequence looks like in the enquiry and it will get planned rather than squeezed.
Typical making-good jobs
- Full house rewire making good, room by room
- New sockets, switches or a consumer unit relocation
- Chases for replumbing, a new shower or radiator moves
- Removing an old fireplace, boiler or storage heater
- Filling and patching after fixings, brackets or an alarm system come out
- Making good around a new door or window opening
What changes the price
- How many chases, and how far they run
- Whether patching or a full skim of each wall makes sense
- Number of rooms — a whole-house rewire is a very different job to one socket
- Whether the walls are masonry or plasterboard
- How the room will be decorated afterwards
- Whether the property is occupied, and how much protection is needed
- Coordination with the electrician and decorator
Plaster repairs after rewiring: common questions
Should the electrician not make good?
Most do not, and most say so in their quote. Making good to a finish you would decorate over is plastering work. It is worth checking what your electrician has included so you are not paying twice or, more commonly, discovering a gap between the two trades.
Patch the chases or skim the whole wall?
If there are a few chases in a sound wall, patching is fine and cheaper. If a wall has been cut about in several directions, skim it in full. Patched chases have a habit of showing through emulsion once the light comes across the wall, and by then the decorating is already done.
When should the plasterer come in?
After the electrician has finished at the wall and the work has been signed off, and before the decorator. Getting that order wrong is the usual cause of a rewire dragging on. Say what is booked and when in your enquiry.
Can we live in the house while this happens?
Usually yes, particularly if it is done room by room. There will be dust and the rooms being worked on will be out of use for a while, including drying time before decorating. Mention it in your enquiry so the work can be planned around you.