The Southport and Birkdale Neighbourhoods We Work In
Home ground, from the seafront terraces to the villas off Lord Street.
Southport, the Sefton coast, Liverpool and West Lancashire
What the housing stock here actually demands
Southport's centre is dominated by tall Victorian and Edwardian property: solid brick walls with no cavity, generous ceiling heights, deep cornice inside and a lot of original detail that is worth keeping. Solid walls behave completely differently to a modern cavity build. They are designed to absorb some water and then let it dry back out, and anything that stops them drying causes the problem it was meant to fix.
That is why we are careful about what goes onto them. A hard, closed sand-and-cement render traps moisture in a solid wall, which is why so much of it round here is blown and drummy. A breathable silicone system keeps driving rain out while still letting the wall dry outwards, which is the behaviour these walls were built for.
Sea air, and what it does to a finish
Anything west-facing in Southport takes weather straight off the Irish Sea, and the salt in it is the part people underestimate. Salt gets into porous masonry and old render, holds moisture, and crystallises as it dries, and that expansion is what quietly pushes a finish off the wall over a few winters.
Practically, that means the weather elevation of a Southport house needs more than the sheltered one: sound prep, no shortcuts on the mesh and primer coats, and a top coat that sheds water rather than soaking it up. It also means the honest answer to 'can you just patch it?' is sometimes no.
Inside the older stock
Internally, the big three here are ceilings, cornice and chimney breasts. Original lath and plaster ceilings in the tall rooms eventually bow and crack and are usually best overboarded and skimmed rather than patched again. Cornice and roses are almost always worth restoring rather than replacing.
Where chimney breasts have been taken out, the making-good is often the giveaway: a flat patch on a wall that is not flat. Skimming the full wall, sometimes the full room, is what makes that disappear.
What we are asked for most in Southport
Silicone Rendering Systems
Breathable, through-coloured render built up over Atlas basecoat and mesh. No paint film to fail.
Read moreExternal Rendering
Re-rendering tired, cracked and blown elevations, including stripping off failed pebbledash first.
Read moreInternal Plastering
Skimming, float and set, ceilings and repairs. Flat walls that take paint evenly and stay that way.
Read moreDecorative Plasterwork
Cornice, ceiling roses and panelled ceilings restored, matched and run in where sections are missing.
Read moreWork we have written up here: an Edwardian end terrace rendered with band detail, a bungalow side extension and a floor to ceiling media wall. Everything else is on our work.
Questions from Southport customers
My house is solid brick with no cavity. Can it still be rendered?
Yes, and a lot of central Southport is exactly that. The important thing is using a breathable system so the wall can still dry outwards. Hard cement render on a solid wall traps moisture, which is why so much of it round here has blown.
Can you work on a house with original cornice and ceiling roses?
Yes. The older Southport stock is full of it and it is worth keeping. Detail is protected and worked up to rather than skimmed across, and where sections are missing we take the profile off the original and run new work to match.
Do you cover the whole of Southport?
Yes. We are based on Liverpool Road in Southport, so Southport is a short run out and there is no travel charge. We are usually able to come and look at a job within a few days of you calling.
Can I see work you have done near Southport?
The gallery on this site is all our own work across Southport and the coast, grouped by service. Ask when you call if you want to see something specific: a silicone render, a media wall, a restored ceiling. We will point you at the relevant photos.
What customers said
4.7 out of 5 on Google and 5.0 from 35 reviews on MyBuilder, plus 100% recommended from 6 recommendations on Facebook. Every review below is verbatim from those profiles, and each one says which.
I received a first class service from Birkdale Plastering. Anthony always attended as arranged. He was invariably polite and hard-working and cleared any mess before leaving. I am very pleased with the finished job.
Antony did a great job would highly recommend him
Render of an outside wall. Excellent job and finish Turned up when he said, cleaned up and took the time to protect the areas around the job. Would highly recommend to family and friends.
Anthony did an outstanding job pebble-dashing our entire house. It was a challenging project but he handled every aspect with professionalism and care—nothing was ever too much trouble. He worked incredibly hard and maintained a clean and tidy worksite throughout. We couldn’t be happier with the result.
Anthony has done an excellent plastering job today for us in Formby. Repaired a hole on our kitchen ceiling after a leak whilst on holiday. Very good finish and so tidy too! Would Definitely recommend him!
Outstanding work would highly recommend went above and behond with everything, if anyone needs rendering this is your man.
Other areas we cover
Based on Liverpool Road in Southport. We work right along the Sefton coast, down into Liverpool, and inland across West Lancashire as far as Preston. Every town below has a page of its own.
Plastering and rendering work in Southport
Southport sits right on the coast, and the weather coming in off the Irish Sea decides most render jobs here. West facing walls on the roads running down towards the Marine Lake take salt laden wind and driving rain all year, so a render has to shed water and stay clean on an exposed elevation. That is why we fit silicone rendering systems on a lot of Southport properties, and why we spend time on the detailing at verges, sills and reveals before any render goes on the wall.
Much of the older housing between Lord Street and the station is Victorian and Edwardian, with solid brick walls, high ceilings and original lath and plaster. On those houses we patch and reskim rather than strip out where the old plaster is still sound, and we dry line internally where a solid wall needs a flatter, straighter finish. Decorative plasterwork is common in Southport's older rooms, and cornice can be run and matched to what is already there instead of being lost when a room gets redone.
Away from the town centre the housing changes and so does the work. The inter war semis and bungalows through Birkdale, Ainsdale and Hillside are the ones we are asked about most for loft conversions, garage conversions and extensions, where the plastering follows on behind the building work. Out towards Churchtown, Crossens and Marshside there are older cottages and newer estates sitting side by side. If you are in Southport and unsure whether a wall wants render, a patch or a full reskim, tell us where you are and what you are seeing.
Get a free written estimate
Tell us what the walls are doing and we will come and look. You will get an honest assessment and a written price, with no obligation and no pressure.
Get in touch
Tell us what the walls are doing and we will come and look. Free written estimate, no obligation.
- Phone 07923 545449
- Email anthony9thompson@yahoo.co.uk
- Address
Birkdale Plastering and Rendering
546 Liverpool Road, Southport PR8 3BG - Opening hours Every day, 7am to 9pm