MMJ Plastering Services is a family firm based in Sowerby Bridge. We take on ceilings, walls and whole rooms across Calderdale and the Calder Valley.
Most people ringing a plasterer are not worried about plaster. They are worried about dust, noise and how long the room is out of action. So here is a job in the order it happens.
Every room is different, so the days and the figure come from the visit. The order does not change. This is it.
Nothing gets quoted properly down the phone. We come out, tap round the damage and tell you what it needs — a patch, a fresh finish across the wall, or the ceiling down and replaced.
The price is agreed before anything starts. If the job is smaller than you feared, we will say so.
Get out what you can before we arrive. What is left goes into the middle under sheets, and doorways are sealed where work is coming down.
Why it matters: plaster dust is fine enough to travel. Covering up keeps it in one room instead of all over the house.
Anything hollow, blown or crumbling goes first. A ceiling being replaced comes down now too. This is the loud, dusty part, and there is no quiet version of it.
Waste is bagged as we go, so the room stays walkable.
Plastering over a damp wall is money thrown away. It comes back through, usually inside a year. A damp proof course goes in first where one is needed.
Worth knowing: not every stain is rising damp. Often it is a leak, a blocked gutter or condensation, and you will be told which.
The first coat does the heavy work: filling hollows and straightening what is behind it. It goes on wet and thick, then needs time to firm up.
The finish is worked in passes as it sets, each one tighter than the last. Timing is the whole skill. Too early and it drags; too late and it will not close up.
New plaster is dark going on and pales as the water leaves. Wait for that pale colour everywhere, corners and behind the radiator included.
Keep the air moving and do not cook it on full heating. The first coat of paint then wants watering down into a mist coat, or the emulsion peels off in sheets.
Sheets come up folded inwards so the dust leaves with them. Waste goes in the van and the floors get hoovered. Clearing up is part of the job, not a favour.
It is the thing everybody asks about, so here is the straight answer.
Almost all of it comes off the old work, an old ceiling especially. Plastering itself makes less mess than people expect.
Sheet up, seal the doorway, bag the waste, hoover before we leave. That does not make a strip-out dust-free, and we will not pretend it does.
Plastering is the short part. Drying is the long one, and it shifts with the room and the season.
Houses and commercial work, one room or a whole renovation.
Homes, flats, shops and units, same standard either way.
Repairs where a ceiling can be saved, replacement where it cannot. Old lath ceilings included.
Walls brought flat and even, ready for the decorator.
Fitted where a wall needs one, before new plaster goes over the top.
After other trades: chased-out walls, patched sockets, holes where a radiator moved.
Taken a room at a time, so you still have somewhere to sit.
If what you need is not on that list, ring and ask. If it is not our trade, we will say so.
MMJ is led by Martin, with family working alongside him. The man who quoted the job is the man on the wall.
Four things go with that.
A room is priced on its size, the state of the walls now, and whether a ceiling is coming down. Tell Martin those three and he will come and put a figure to it.
Based in Sowerby Bridge, working across Calderdale and the Calder Valley. Photographs help; a picture of the ceiling says more than a paragraph.
Those are the usual hours. We are on a job rather than by a desk, so ring before setting off.
Give Martin a ring instead on 07123 456789.