House Refurbishment in Fulham & South West London

What refurbishment covers

Most of the properties we refurbish across Fulham, Kensington and Wandsworth are structurally sound but tired. The wiring is thirty years old, the plaster is blown in places, the sash windows rattle and leak heat, and someone in the nineteen eighties boxed in the fireplaces and took out the cornice.

A refurbishment addresses all of that in one programme rather than as a string of separate trades over several years. It is usually the right answer when the layout works and the building is sound, but the fabric and the services have reached the end of their life.

• Rewire and consumer unit replacement
• Replumb and heating upgrade
• Damp proofing and ventilation improvement
• Replastering and ceiling repairs
• Cornice and joinery restoration
• Sash window overhaul and draught proofing
• Floor sanding, repair and finishing
• Full redecoration

Damp, and getting the diagnosis right

Damp in a Victorian property is usually one of three things, and they need entirely different remedies. Penetrating damp comes through the fabric, generally from a failed gutter, cracked render or a bridged cavity. Rising damp comes up from the ground through a failed or absent damp proof course. Condensation is warm moist air meeting a cold surface, and it is by far the most common of the three.

Injecting a chemical damp proof course into a wall suffering from condensation achieves nothing except the cost of doing it. We diagnose before we treat, because the wrong remedy on the right symptom is money spent for no result.

Working with solid walls and lime

Victorian and Edwardian properties in south west London are built with solid brick walls and no cavity. Those walls were designed to absorb moisture and release it, and lime plaster and lime mortar allow that to happen.

Sealing them with modern cement render or gypsum plaster traps the moisture inside the wall, which is why so much of the blown plaster we strip out was applied in the last twenty years. Where the original construction is lime, we repair in lime. Where the wall has already been cement rendered we will tell you honestly what your options are rather than repeating the mistake.

Conservation areas and listed buildings

Much of Chelsea and Kensington, and significant parts of Fulham, Wimbledon and Barnes, sit within conservation areas. That restricts what can be changed on the elevations, particularly windows, doors, roof materials and anything visible from the street.

Some properties are also listed, and there internal features are protected too, including cornices, staircases, panelling and fireplaces. Listed building consent is a separate application from planning permission and works carried out without it are a criminal offence, not just a planning breach. We establish the status of your property before quoting.